Frequently Asked Questions
“We decided at the last minute to elope to Monterey instead of getting married in Italy. Brian and his team of professionals for flowers, hair, makeup and photography made the day magical. Everyone involved over-delivered because they love working with Brian and his clients. His follow-through, communication and thoughtfulness made the day perfect!” - MaryAnn Malkoff
Q: How far in advance should I book my wedding elopement on the Monterey Peninsula?
A: We take reservations up to one year in advance. It’s never too late to book your event (we can plan a small wedding with as little as a few days notice if necessary - perfect for those looking for a pop-up wedding on the Monterey Peninsula).
Q: How many weddings have your planned?
A: As of December, 2022, we have planned and set up more than 850 weddings. Our owners, Brian and Heidi Borgia, have been a part of over 2,300 weddings since 2009 and we have a combined 50+ years of hospitality industry experience.
Q: Are you flexible with the wedding ceremony (e.g. can we completely make it our own?)
A: YES - absolutely! Our company is completely flexible to provide you with the wedding you've always dreamed about. For the ceremony, our elopement packages come with our beautiful love and marriage ceremony and incorporates your preferences. For a small upgrade fee, we can write your ceremony completely from scratch and incorporate your love story.
Q: What size wedding is considered an Elopement?
A: Our Monterey Elopement packages, depending on the level, can accommodate up to 20 people. However, we also offer packages for up to 50 guests on our sister site at www.WeddingsInMonterey.com.
Q: Why should I consider having a small, intimate wedding?
A: Read Here.
Q: What makes you different from the other wedding companies out there?
A: There are a lot of great wedding professionals in Monterey County. If you read through our reviews, you will see a common theme which is that we LOVE weddings! We have always had a passion for romance -- and what's more romantic than your wedding day? Before we started our wedding business, we assisted over 3,500 people with their honeymoon and anniversary celebrations. To date, we have coordinated over 390 creative marriage proposals. We feel very lucky to be able to be a part of someone's special celebration!
Elope in Monterey is also a locally owned, locally operated wedding elopement business in Monterey County. Why is that important? Some companies plan elopements in locations all around the country. Will they know when your chosen beach location is closed due to the steps washing out from an unusual high tide the night before? Are they aware of all of the permits, restrictions and insurance required for the different outdoor locations? If it rains on a day that was projected to be sunny, can they come up with a good backup plan with just a few hours notice? Since they need to make revenue from their packages using vendors that are not their own, are they charging you more than reasonable for services? Or are they hiring part-time, out-of-area vendors willing to work for below the typical fee?
For the past 14 years, we have coordinated elopement packages in the Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur area with a professional, local vendor team. Our goal is to provide you with a beautiful wedding experience, stress-free and at a reasonable cost. Contact us for more details.
Q: Where can I read reviews about your company?
A: We have many reviews on Wedding Wire as well as Yelp (or just Google our name "Weddings In Monterey" for more 5-star reviews) When looking for a wedding company, we highly encourage you to check out these reviews for everyone that you are considering for your wedding day. Upon request, we can also provide recommendations from local venues that have worked with us. Our individual reviews can also be found on Wedding Wire, Google Reviews and Yelp for our officiant (Monterey Bay Wedding Officiants) and our photographer (Heidi Borgia Photography).
Q: How flexible are your packages?
A: We are always open to mixing and matching and substituting or even eliminating an item. The only thing we cannot change is that you must use our officiant and photographer (if you have your own officiant, they can certainly perform the ceremony but the cost of our officiant will remain as he will be the “back up” as well as perform the planning of your wedding; the photographer can serve as a second “shooter” if you like). For most of our packages, many of the items we provide (other than the photographer and officiant) are provided for free or at our cost (or subsidized with the fees paid to the officiant and photographer).
Q: Can I bring in my own officiant and/or photographer?
A: The thing that makes us super unique, is that all but one of our elopement packages include our officiant and photographer (both WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Award Winners - making them amongst the top 5% in their category from 2012-2022). Since our officiant and photographer also assist with the overall wedding planning, they cannot be taken out of a package. However, if you would like to have your own officiant, our officiant will still be there to assist in planning and as a “backup”. If you would like to bring your own photographer, our photographer would serve as a “second shooter" and your photographer would take the lead.
Q: Where are you located?
A: We are conveniently located just one mile north of the city of Monterey and the beach. As a local company using local vendors, we have the ability to make last minute changes and we are familiar with local weather and traffic patterns. As a mobile wedding company, we have offered our services as far north as Santa Cruz and as far south as Big Sur. It's always great to book someone who is local as we know the area extremely well.
Q: Where can we have our elopement ceremony
A: We have an internal list of over 190 indoor/outdoor locations for wedding ceremonies. Check out our Locations tab for more details.
Q: What is your deposit policy?
A: Once we decide to hire us, we send you out a wedding agreement which needs to be signed within about 7 days. A retainer of 50% needs to be remitted with the agreement and the balance is due approximately 4 weeks prior to the wedding or renewal date.
Q: How can I find out more about how well you did for other couples?
A: Getting people to review on multiple sites can be difficult so we have chosen WeddingWire.com as our preferred means of “spreading the word.” You can look us up under Monterey for “Weddings in Monterey” as well as “Monterey Bay Wedding Officiants” and “Heidi Borgia Photography.”
Q: Do you include a wedding license?
A: We send in your completed marriage license the next business day after the ceremony has concluded. Getting your wedding license is easy. Simply go to any county clerks office within California (you and your future spouse along with your identification) and fill out a form (or in many cases, pre-fill out the form online and it will be waiting for you when you arrive to the clerks office). The whole process typically takes only about 30 minutes and you bring the marriage license to the wedding. After the ceremony has concluded, we have 1-2 witnesses of your choice sign the license and we are legally responsible to mail it back to the county clerk. In the event you need a certified copy of the license right away, we can provide you with the license to take into the county yourselves (with a waiver). If you are coming into town only the day before, we have access to two notaries who can issue a wedding license at their office or on the spot.
Q: Can we write our own vows?
A: Yes. Whether you have one of our beautiful love and marriage ceremonies or one that is custom written, our officiant will assist you with your vows. We encourage our couples to say their own personal statements/vows to each other as it helps to personalize your wedding.
A: We take reservations up to one year in advance. It’s never too late to book your event (we can plan a small wedding with as little as a few days notice if necessary - perfect for those looking for a pop-up wedding on the Monterey Peninsula).
Q: How many weddings have your planned?
A: As of December, 2022, we have planned and set up more than 850 weddings. Our owners, Brian and Heidi Borgia, have been a part of over 2,300 weddings since 2009 and we have a combined 50+ years of hospitality industry experience.
Q: Are you flexible with the wedding ceremony (e.g. can we completely make it our own?)
A: YES - absolutely! Our company is completely flexible to provide you with the wedding you've always dreamed about. For the ceremony, our elopement packages come with our beautiful love and marriage ceremony and incorporates your preferences. For a small upgrade fee, we can write your ceremony completely from scratch and incorporate your love story.
Q: What size wedding is considered an Elopement?
A: Our Monterey Elopement packages, depending on the level, can accommodate up to 20 people. However, we also offer packages for up to 50 guests on our sister site at www.WeddingsInMonterey.com.
Q: Why should I consider having a small, intimate wedding?
A: Read Here.
Q: What makes you different from the other wedding companies out there?
A: There are a lot of great wedding professionals in Monterey County. If you read through our reviews, you will see a common theme which is that we LOVE weddings! We have always had a passion for romance -- and what's more romantic than your wedding day? Before we started our wedding business, we assisted over 3,500 people with their honeymoon and anniversary celebrations. To date, we have coordinated over 390 creative marriage proposals. We feel very lucky to be able to be a part of someone's special celebration!
Elope in Monterey is also a locally owned, locally operated wedding elopement business in Monterey County. Why is that important? Some companies plan elopements in locations all around the country. Will they know when your chosen beach location is closed due to the steps washing out from an unusual high tide the night before? Are they aware of all of the permits, restrictions and insurance required for the different outdoor locations? If it rains on a day that was projected to be sunny, can they come up with a good backup plan with just a few hours notice? Since they need to make revenue from their packages using vendors that are not their own, are they charging you more than reasonable for services? Or are they hiring part-time, out-of-area vendors willing to work for below the typical fee?
For the past 14 years, we have coordinated elopement packages in the Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur area with a professional, local vendor team. Our goal is to provide you with a beautiful wedding experience, stress-free and at a reasonable cost. Contact us for more details.
Q: Where can I read reviews about your company?
A: We have many reviews on Wedding Wire as well as Yelp (or just Google our name "Weddings In Monterey" for more 5-star reviews) When looking for a wedding company, we highly encourage you to check out these reviews for everyone that you are considering for your wedding day. Upon request, we can also provide recommendations from local venues that have worked with us. Our individual reviews can also be found on Wedding Wire, Google Reviews and Yelp for our officiant (Monterey Bay Wedding Officiants) and our photographer (Heidi Borgia Photography).
Q: How flexible are your packages?
A: We are always open to mixing and matching and substituting or even eliminating an item. The only thing we cannot change is that you must use our officiant and photographer (if you have your own officiant, they can certainly perform the ceremony but the cost of our officiant will remain as he will be the “back up” as well as perform the planning of your wedding; the photographer can serve as a second “shooter” if you like). For most of our packages, many of the items we provide (other than the photographer and officiant) are provided for free or at our cost (or subsidized with the fees paid to the officiant and photographer).
Q: Can I bring in my own officiant and/or photographer?
A: The thing that makes us super unique, is that all but one of our elopement packages include our officiant and photographer (both WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Award Winners - making them amongst the top 5% in their category from 2012-2022). Since our officiant and photographer also assist with the overall wedding planning, they cannot be taken out of a package. However, if you would like to have your own officiant, our officiant will still be there to assist in planning and as a “backup”. If you would like to bring your own photographer, our photographer would serve as a “second shooter" and your photographer would take the lead.
Q: Where are you located?
A: We are conveniently located just one mile north of the city of Monterey and the beach. As a local company using local vendors, we have the ability to make last minute changes and we are familiar with local weather and traffic patterns. As a mobile wedding company, we have offered our services as far north as Santa Cruz and as far south as Big Sur. It's always great to book someone who is local as we know the area extremely well.
Q: Where can we have our elopement ceremony
A: We have an internal list of over 190 indoor/outdoor locations for wedding ceremonies. Check out our Locations tab for more details.
Q: What is your deposit policy?
A: Once we decide to hire us, we send you out a wedding agreement which needs to be signed within about 7 days. A retainer of 50% needs to be remitted with the agreement and the balance is due approximately 4 weeks prior to the wedding or renewal date.
Q: How can I find out more about how well you did for other couples?
A: Getting people to review on multiple sites can be difficult so we have chosen WeddingWire.com as our preferred means of “spreading the word.” You can look us up under Monterey for “Weddings in Monterey” as well as “Monterey Bay Wedding Officiants” and “Heidi Borgia Photography.”
Q: Do you include a wedding license?
A: We send in your completed marriage license the next business day after the ceremony has concluded. Getting your wedding license is easy. Simply go to any county clerks office within California (you and your future spouse along with your identification) and fill out a form (or in many cases, pre-fill out the form online and it will be waiting for you when you arrive to the clerks office). The whole process typically takes only about 30 minutes and you bring the marriage license to the wedding. After the ceremony has concluded, we have 1-2 witnesses of your choice sign the license and we are legally responsible to mail it back to the county clerk. In the event you need a certified copy of the license right away, we can provide you with the license to take into the county yourselves (with a waiver). If you are coming into town only the day before, we have access to two notaries who can issue a wedding license at their office or on the spot.
Q: Can we write our own vows?
A: Yes. Whether you have one of our beautiful love and marriage ceremonies or one that is custom written, our officiant will assist you with your vows. We encourage our couples to say their own personal statements/vows to each other as it helps to personalize your wedding.