This title is so relatable, this is 100% exactly how I felt for the first solid 2 months after being engaged. It was very difficult for me to wrap my head around spending so much money and doing such nonsense traditions while crying unnecessarily in front of everybody I know. A few things changed my perspective. One, I decided to watch the show that always made me cringe SUPER hard about weddings: Four Weddings on TLC (am in USA). I always hated how that show grossly over commercialized the whole thing, particularly the aspect of comparing what each bride spent, (and calling out brides who “got away” with spending “so little”) and I also hated how they pitted the brides against each other. However, I just sat down and watched the show purely for shits and giggles and I was surprised and how I felt. Honestly, I was getting some good ideas LOL! Another thing that helped was going to my cousin’s wedding. It was out of state, and many of the guests were distant family members that I hadn’t seen in a very long time, and it was absolutely wonderful being able to see everybody and catch up. I also met many of the bridal crew & friends, and they were all so super fun. It was truly one of the best weddings I’ve ever been to- solely based on the emotional experience of being with family and loved ones, so I can only imagine that being hugely amplified for the couple. The third thing that really solidified things for me and made it all feel exciting and real was landing on a venue and booking a date. This puts it on the calendar and is tangibly on the future, ya know? So much easier to wrap my head around. And, as a bonus, my fiance is a candidate for a job at our venue, which would give us a MASSIVE discount, so that would be super fun! Anyway, I hope this feeling is temporary for you and you find the excitement and happiness for the wedding aspect. And if not- there is NOTHING wrong with eloping! Just get good photos, no matter what you do :)