How to Elope in New Brunswick
Elopements are a genuine way for couples to get married, removing the obligations and allowing you to focus on the heart of the wedding—the ceremony.
Eloping is an intentional choice to keep your wedding day about what matters most to you. Whether you want to get married in your living room, along the Fundy coastline at sunset, on the dock of your camp, or at the place you first met—the possibilities are endless when you choose to elope.
You may have always wanted to elope, or perhaps you’ve never really thought about it, but you know you don’t want a big complicated wedding!
Eloping in New Brunswick is not too complex—there are 5 simple steps to take to elope in New Brunswick and we’ve outlined them below.
Step one: Find an officiant for your wedding ceremony in New Brunswick
In New Brunswick, only someone registered through a church—such as Clergy, or who is an authorized Civil Officiant through the provincial Law Society can perform a marriage ceremony.
Since most Clergy are attached to a church community and only perform ceremonies for their community members or someone they know personally it is less likely that they will be available for an elopement. However, there are many wonderful Civil Officiants in the province of New Brunswick that will be happy to perform a basic legal ceremony for you.
Here is an up-to-date list of Civil Officiants authorized to perform marriage ceremonies.
Step two: Choose a date for your elopement
Without an extensive guest list to accommodate you have a lot of flexibility when choosing a date to get married. This means you can choose a date that is already important to you—such as the anniversary of when you first met. Or choose a date that simply works with your schedule or vacation plans!
Pro tip: choose a weekday—Monday-Thursday. This way you’re not competing with bigger weddings for locations or vendors; if you want to hire a photographer to document your elopement or if you are looking to hire someone for hair and makeup, you will have a lot more options and flexibility when getting married during the week.
Step three: Hire your photographer
Your wedding day—big or small, is one of those rare experiences in life that is worth documenting. You definitely want to invest in a good photographer who will collect and preserve the moment when you say “I do”, and create some timeless portraits of your love on your wedding day.
In most cases, when couples elope they do this in secret or only with a few friends or family members present. Photographs will act as an important witness to the moment when you committed your life to one another and help you remember how you felt on this day.
Step four: Choose a location for your New Brunswick elopement
New Brunswick’s natural beauty and historic venues provide the perfect settings for any elopement. Whether you wish to say I do on the ocean floor of the Bay of Fundy, or deep inside the boreal forests that surround it. Or, get married in a historic Canadian resort like the Algonquin Resort, the possibilities are endless.
Choosing a location might actually be the most difficult step as you plan your elopement because there are so many incredible options. But, we’ve got you covered—we wrote a post all about where you can elope in New Brunswick! You can read the post here.
Step five: Apply for your New Brunswick marriage license
Once you’ve found an officiant, have chosen a location, and settled on a date, you will need to get your New Brunswick marriage license. And this may be the simplest step of all!
A marriage license is required as it tells the powers that be that you are of legal age to be married. Marriage licenses are issued by Service New Brunswick and you can apply for this online beginning 90 days from your wedding date. You can find the online application for your marriage license here. Please note that you must pick up your marriage license in person at a Service New Brunswick centre before your elopement day and present all the supporting documents.
There is no rush to apply for your New Brunswick marriage license as long as you have it before your elopement day. The cost of a marriage license is $115.
For full information on how to obtain a marriage license in New Brunswick please visit the Service New Brunswick website here.
Optional—hire Elope New Brunswick and let us do the work for you
We help couples plan their elopements and have created simple yet elevated options so you can focus on what matters to your most. Our inclusive elopement options include a personalized ceremony written and performed by our in-house officiant—Jess, timeless and candid photography by one of New Brunswick’s premier photographers—Shannon-May, and planning support by both women to help you choose the perfect location for your ceremony and photos, and plan the logistics of your day.
Our inclusive elopement collections also include flowers for both partners, sparkling wine to toast your nuptials, cake and charcuterie to go, and personal vow books, and we tailor each and every elopement experience to each couple.
We work with only a limited number of coupes each year to ensure we are delivering a deeply personalized experience. Visit the Elope New Brunswick website to learn more about what we do, why we do and who we are.
If you know that eloping in New Brunswick is the right choice for you and your partner, then we’d love to hear from you! You can reach out to us on our contact form found here or email us at hello@elopenb.com.
