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Want to elope? A whole host of venues want to make it even easier

Jessica Persing always dreamed of a beach wedding, surrounded by lots of friends and family. But after watching her grandfather elope last year at Marry Me Philadelphia, she changed her mind.

Stacey Thomas, an ordained wedding minister and owner of the Philadelphia Wedding Chapel, performs the marriage ceremony for Franchesca Henry, 24, and Henry Parker, 32, both of Germantown, on September 26, 2016.   CLEM MURRAY / Staff Photographer
Stacey Thomas, an ordained wedding minister and owner of the Philadelphia Wedding Chapel, performs the marriage ceremony for Franchesca Henry, 24, and Henry Parker, 32, both of Germantown, on September 26, 2016. CLEM MURRAY / Staff PhotographerRead moreClem Murray

Jessica Persing always dreamed of a beach wedding, surrounded by lots of friends and family. But after watching her grandfather elope last year at Marry Me Philadelphia, she changed her mind.

"I fell in love with the place," said Persing, who suddenly liked the idea of a small, simple affair in the Northeast. It didn't hurt that the ceremony would cost less than $400, compared to the $10,000 she expected to pay for her beach affair.

So on March 19, seven carloads of 20 friends and family members, including her 3-year-old son, Xavier, caravanned to Philadelphia from her Wilkes-Barre home.

"Michael and I had been dating for five years and were engaged for two years, and I was a month-and-a-half pregnant," said Persing, 28. "Eloping was simple, right to the point, fit our budget, and we could get married right away."

Persing chose the Elope package ($250) - a 20-minute private ceremony with vows and a ring exchange, with yellow and white flowers and a sparkly tulle backdrop. She added a photographer for an extra $100, but opted out of other extras like music, rose petals, or a champagne toast.

"Everything was my taste, and it was intimate," Persing said. After the ceremony, the party moved on to celebrate at the Miller Ale House on Roosevelt Boulevard.

The ceremony was officiated by the venue's owner, Colleen McDermott, who was ordained in 2012 to marry 100 couples that first year in her living room. In September 2015, as her business swiftly took off, she opened Marry Me Philadelphia, and this year she expects to marry close to 500 couples, with 70 percent of her business being elopements.

Like the Persings, more and more couples are choosing to elope, a word whose definition has evolved and broadened since the early days of Las Vegas escapes. "It's not couples running away to get married in secret anymore, but couples who want a small, intimate ceremony without all the fuss," said the Rev. Judith Guasch, who in 2011 created ElopePA.com, which facilitates elopements in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Another way that eloping is different these days: the number of venues catering to the no-fuss crowd. As the cost of a wedding is climbing (the national average is $26,645, according to costofwedding.com) and, with it, more stress negotiating the endless details, companies offer a fix: simple, for people who have been married before; quick, for those in the military who may have limited leave; discreet, for couples with disapproving family members.

Guasch has grown her Gettysburg business from about 20 ceremonies in 2014 to an estimated 50 this year. Part of the attraction is that the couple can create their own rules.

"I've married couples in sports jerseys, and couples in full dress and tux, even though it was just the two of them," she said. Some exchange rings, but not all, and they can be of any denomination, spiritual leaning, or gender. Packages range from the basic Sign & Drive ($125), "literally just the legal stuff, and it takes about two minutes plus a few minutes to do the paperwork," to the Stay Package ($495) that includes an overnight at the Lodges at Gettysburg.

She cautions couples wanting to elope to think carefully about who they want at their wedding - so they avoid regrets later. "If you really want mom and dad to be there," she said, "talk to them about it, explain why you want to elope, and let them be there."

Franchesca Henry, 24, married Henry Parker on a Monday afternoon in September in an intimate ceremony at the Philadelphia Wedding Chapel, she in a white wedding dress and he in a black suit. "When you walked in, it took your breath away," she said of the venue's warmth, evoked through nice furnishings and quotes on the wall about love. The couple had just one guest, her uncle, for the Vegas Style Package ($200), which included the officiant and standard music.

"Eloping was easier - I wanted to minimize the stress," said Henry. "I wanted to focus on just us without anything taking away from our day."

The Philadelphia Wedding Chapel, opened in March 2013 by Stacey Thomas, was initially located in Frankford and is now in a converted 2,500-square-foot loft space in East Falls. After planning weddings for 12 years, Thomas realized that there was a market for more-intimate ceremonies, where the focus would be solely on the couple and less on the pomp and circumstance.

"Everything is done for them - they just pick a date, pay the deposit, and show up," she said. About a quarter of her clients had planned a big wedding, even putting a deposit on a venue. But when the stress descended, they opted to make the affair much less complicated. The first year, the company conducted 101 weddings; this year they project 275. One package, Wedding Wednesday ($100), offers just the processed license without a ceremony.

"Sometimes, people just need to get the paperwork started because there's an insurance or visa issue, or perhaps they are getting married in a larger ceremony where a friend is marrying them, and they want to make sure all the paperwork is done properly," said Thomas. Her largest wedding for up to 40 guests ($650, not including food) involves the ceremony, reception with cake and champagne, and decorations.

About three years ago, BG Productions Photography in East Falls shot about three elopements a year. Now, it's about 10 annually. Elopement packages accommodate a simpler affair - fewer people and location offerings, and only digital pictures.

"It honors the smaller, more intimate wedding," said owner Cathie Berrey-Green.

A 30-minute shoot in one location with 10 digital pictures costs $350, and a 90-minute session in two locations with 45 photos is $800.

Recognizing a need for more elopement options, Hotel Palomar in Center City launched four packages in August, from a simple ceremony - the Quickie, a 60-minute event with ceremony space, officiant, music, and champagne toast ($1,250) - to the Happily Ever After, three hours, a celebration space, cocktail hour with a three-course meal, 21/2-hour open bar, and petite wedding cake ($7,000).

"A lot of brides and grooms want to keep it easy," said Amanda Grover, director of catering. This "will appeal to a unique bride, maybe the second-time-around bride, who wants something different with a lot less stress."