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Article snippet: As Amy Jones and her fiancé, Rich, exchanged handwritten vows overlooking their favorite surfing beach in Playa Avellana in Costa Rica, a family of monkeys ran by. After the couple sealed their union with a kiss, Mr. Jones challenged his new wife to jump in the ocean, fully clothed, which inspired Ms. Jones to try surfing in her crochet wedding dress. Soaked, the newlyweds returned to their hotel room to change and stripped to their underwear. On impulse, they slow-danced to their favorite song, “I Found You” by Alabama Shakes. No one missed them at the reception; they didn’t have one. The couple had eloped, and it was the happiest experience of their lives. “The best parts of any wedding are the ones you can’t plan — I tell all my brides that,” said Ms. Jones, 34, who has organized hundreds of weddings as owner of Amy Champagne Events, which has offices in Milford, Conn., Manhattan and Philadelphia. She said it wasn’t so odd for a wedding planner to elope. She’s had too many brides call her in tears over seating arrangements or guest lists to take on that kind of stress for her own exchange of vows. “I wanted the wedding to only be about us,” she said. Gone are the days when elopement almost always meant only that spontaneous trip to City Hall. Many of today’s couples are planning their elopements more closely than ever, some plotting secret ceremonies several months in advance and spending $15,000 or more for their dream weddings — without a hundred of their cl... Link to the full article to read more