Like many loners, I hate being the center of attention. Prior to being married I dreaded the idea of a wedding day because to me, it meant I would have to wear uncomfortable shoes, uncomfortable clothes, too much make up, be on my best behaviour for hours on end dealing with a bunch of people I probably didn’t want to be around (which would include both our families). However my husband is about as thrifty as me and suggested eloping. Which we did. I even got to wear my favorite clothing to my own wedding. Needless to say, it was a perfect day.

I don’t have financial records of that day, but here is a rough estimate.

We got a marriage license from City Hall. Currently it costs $80. We then asked if there was someone who could marry us. City Hall outsources marriage services to some non-denominational pastor who performs the service for about $120. We made an appointment with the pastor.

On our wedding day we took public transit to the venue by ourselves. We didn’t bother with rings and stuff because neither of us like wearing them. And they cost money. At the wedding venue, the pastor had an assistant who served as our witness. We scraped a majority of the vows (such as the wife being obedient to the husband) and basically swore to be faithful to each other for the rest of our lives. The assistant took a polaroid picture of us (the only picture of our wedding day) and gave us each a small piece of chocolate. After the ceremony (which lasted about 15 mins) we walked over to a hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurant and had a cheap, delicious lunch for under $10. Then we took public transit home. The last memory I have of that day is that we came home and listened to a Pixies album, Doolittle.

What did we wear? Husband wore an old suit. I wore my favorite jeans and a white turtleneck top. It was the most perfect wedding for us and it makes for a good story at dinner parties.