Editor's note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan Second Wave's On the Ground Battle Creek series.
 
BATTLE CREEK, MI — Couples looking to say “I do” are agreeing to a lot more than becoming husband and wife, husband and husband, or wife and wife.

Depending on the size and extravagance of the actual ceremony and reception, they could be spending five figures or more to get married.

This has not gone unnoticed by Bridgett Blough and her husband, Trent Thompson, who are offering elopement packages as an option to the more traditional weddings they host at their farm called Of the Land.

They are dubbing June 7 as Elopement Day at their farm and have space for six couples to tie the knot in two-hour time slots throughout the day. The total cost is $2,900 per couple, which is well below the national average cost of $33,000.

“What’s happened in the wedding industry and with family traditions signals that there is one right way to get married and there hasn’t been space to do other things,”

Blough says. “Right now, people who don’t want a big wedding may be going to the courthouse or they fly somewhere like Las Vegas or to some tropical place, and by design, no one else is there with them.”

Courtesy: Of the LandThe Elopement Day ceremonies, she says, are “geared towards local couples who want family and friends to be there, but don’t want to make it an all-day or all-weekend event.”

Packages include the Bridal bouquet, cookies and cupcakes, an Espresso Bar in one of the farm’s gardens, the officiant, and a photographer.

“You can show up with 20 of your family members and closest friends and have a ceremony and a small reception in our gardens,” Blough says. “We’re really trying to make it so it’s an easy decision. If you wanted to go out to dinner afterwards, you could continue on with some other unique ceremony.

“We’re just kind of challenging the status quo. A lot of wedding slogans say that it’s your best day ever. That feels very tricky that these couples have a story in their head from our culture that these weddings are supposed to be the best day of their lives, and if they don’t have a big wedding, they’re missing out.”

Although Blough and her husband are pushing boundaries with their Elopement Day event in June, their choice of this particular month acknowledges the long-held tradition of June weddings, which has a history rooted in fertility, hygiene, and the fall harvest.

If a bride married in June, she was more likely to give birth to her first child, says a post on the Brombergs’ (a high-end, luxury jewelry chain) website.

Many sources say that the tradition of the June bride actually began in ancient Roman times, says the Bromberg post.

Courtesy: Of the Land“The month of June is named for the Roman goddess Juno. Juno, wife of Jupiter, was not only thought of in connection with feminine vitality, fertility, and considered a protectress of Roman women, but also considered the equivalent of Hera, the Greek goddess of love and marriage.”

The popularity of a June wedding in European tradition has a less mythical history.

“During the Middle Ages, bathing was thought by many to increase the chance of disease so nobility tended to only bathe monthly or a few times a year. The peasant class might only bathe once a year, if that often, and that bath usually happened in late spring,” according to Bromberg’s. “So it made sense to marry in June because people would have smelled better for their weddings. Brides also carried bouquets of fragrant herbs and flowers to help keep everything smelling sweet.”

Scandalous no more

For hundreds of years, words like “scandal” and “secretive” surrounded couples who chose to elope.

The earliest use of the word “elope” was in the 14th century, when the root of the word “aloper” meant “leap”, says the Oxford English Dictionary.

But by the 17th century, the term elope held a precise definition: “To run away from her husband in the company of a paramour.” While its history may sound scandalous, eloping nowadays is hardly shocking. If anything, elopement weddings are becoming increasingly common for modern couples, says a post on the Simply Eloped website.

Courtesy: Of the Land“As history progressed, the idea of eloping and the meaning of the word changed significantly. During the Great Depression, eloping grew popular because the resources to throw a big wedding were seemingly nonexistent for most. Elopements were practical, and that’s how they got their reputation for being a cost-saving alternative to the traditional wedding,” according to a website post.

Blough’s grandmother, who passed away 20 years ago, was part of this generation.

“I was reading my grandmother’s journal about her own wedding, and she wrote about her and her fiancé getting new outfits, which was a really big deal,” Blough says.

Though not intentional, Blough and Thompson, who had both been married before, opted to tie the knot on their farm, which they say symbolized what was most meaningful to them.

“We didn’t spend a lot of money,” she says. “We value other things,”

This includes honoring all manner of decisions made by brides and grooms who choose On the Farm as their wedding venue. In 2016, the couple began hosting weddings and now do about 30 to 35 per year, with the majority being traditional weddings at an average cost of $31,000, although Blough says she isn’t privy to what her clients actually spend.

Courtesy: Of the Land“Some are more and some are less,” Blough says. “Now it’s like a whole weekend where they come in on Friday and leave on Sunday.”

The overall average wedding cost is $33,000, and the average cost per guest is $284, according to a post on The Knot website.

“Guest count significantly affects how much weddings cost. Those spending under $15,000 invited an average of 89 guests; couples who spent $15,000–$40,000 invited 118 guests; couples who spent over $40,000 invited 142 on average.”

The post also says that wedding locations “greatly affect the average price of a wedding. An average destination wedding is $39,000 while an average hometown wedding is $32,000.”

In discovery calls, Blough has with brides and grooms, she walks them through their options and price points. In 2021, she and Thompson began offering 12-hour rentals, in addition to an entire weekend. Baked into the cost are services including photography and the use of an on-site Airbnb.

The couple has a preferred list of vendors they work with who provide everything from catering to table and chair rentals to flowers.

Blough says that as weddings become a larger part of their revenue stream, they have made improvements to their farm to make it more appealing. There are eight gardens on the property, which will soon be bursting with the vibrant colors of different perennials and flowers, most notably 10 million poppies on June 7.

This attention to aesthetics has led to price increases that are less of a concern for those couples who have the financial means and more of a concern for those who don’t.

“People who have lower incomes can’t afford our place anymore,” she says. “Our clients who spend between $30,000 and $50,000 have an amazing wedding and an amazing time, and they’re super happy. But we want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to feel beautiful and special and have ritual to mark this special part of their life.”

One of the six weddings on Elopement Day will be free to a bride and groom who will be putting money towards a home instead of a costly wedding. Up until 2022, when Blough and Thompson had their third child, they gave away one free wedding a year when weddings became part of their farm's business portfolio.

“We sponsor a couple because it’s hard for them when everything is a product and service and transactional or financial,” she says.

“One of the reasons we have our property is so that we can share it with people. We want to reach people from all walks of life. This is a space for people to express themselves and do things in a different way.”