Northwest Arkansas · Arkansas
Elope near Fayetteville.
About two hours south. For a lot of Northwest Arkansas couples, that drive is the single best financial decision in their whole wedding.
Let's talk plainly about Northwest Arkansas prices
Northwest Arkansas has the most expensive wedding market in the state, and it is not close. Between Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville, it is completely normal to be quoted $8,000 to $15,000 for a venue before you have hired a florist, ordered a cake, or found a coordinator. Some of those venues are gorgeous. They are also priced for the region's economy, not for a couple in their twenties paying for their own wedding.
Two hours south, our weekday minimony is $2,900 all in, Monday through Thursday, up to 30 guests. That includes the venue, the florals I design myself, your cake, the cake and punch reception, the planning, and me running your day. It is frequently a $6,000 to $10,000 swing, and I have watched couples put that straight into a house.
The drive, and why it is a feature
I-49 south to Alma, then east on I-40 to Russellville, then Highway 7 south across the Dardanelle bridge. Right around two hours, and the last thirty minutes of it are lovely.
Two hours is far enough that this becomes a small trip rather than an errand, which for an intimate wedding is a good thing. Your closest people drive down together, they stay somewhere nice, and nobody is squeezing your ceremony between a work call and a soccer game. Russellville has hotels fifteen minutes away and Mt. Nebo has cabins and a lodge right up the mountain with a view over the whole river valley.
Worth knowing about weekdays
If you are coming from Northwest Arkansas you are probably already asking guests to travel, so you have the conversation with them either way. Once people are taking a day off to drive, whether that day is a Tuesday or a Saturday genuinely stops mattering to them. Northwest Arkansas couples are some of the easiest for me to talk into a weekday for exactly that reason.
The other piece is availability. Photographers, hair and makeup artists, everybody in this state is jammed on Saturdays. Book a Wednesday in September and your first choice is probably free.
What is included, plainly
Four hours of venue time with two hours in the bridal suite, bridal bouquet, two boutonnieres, arbor floral swag on the gold arch or the wooden cross, cake florals, wedding cake, cake and punch reception with a champagne toast, music, first dance and send-off, on-site planner and day-of coordinator, and complete setup and cleanup.
You bring a photographer, an officiant, and hair and makeup. Everything else is handled.
Come see ours
We are on 20 acres at the foot of Mt. Nebo in Dardanelle. My husband Josh built our chapel by hand and I planted the gardens. I design every bride's flowers myself and I am there on your wedding day running it, start to finish. Send me your date and I will tell you the same day whether it is open.
If a weekday works for you, $2,900 covers just about all of it.