My DH and I 'eloped' - we picked a nice location, booked the celebrant and had 2 witnesses (DH's boss and his boss's wife). We married on a Friday, then went away for the weekend. When we came home Sunday afternoon, we visited my parents and announced it by showing them our marriage certificate. They were shocked, surprised, mostly happy. I printed out onto some pretty paper, a short note announcing our marriage, and posted it out to family and friends, plus made a slideshow and emailed it to the internet savvy friends.

Apparently my sister copped it a bit from my parents. They made their feelings clear in the weeks after that they weren't happy to have missed it, but nothing much was ever said to me about it! My poor sister haha, no idea why they vented to her, as she wasn't in on the secret or anything!

My only regret is the witnesses... DH had a falling out with his boss a year or two later and left his job. We no longer speak to either of them.