‘Preloping’ - A Cute Name for Signing a Marriage License Before the Wedding

Published Monday, Dec. 18th, 2023

Prelope now, party later: Discover the growing trend of ‘Preloping’, where couples meet with an officiant to sign their marriage license before holding a traditional wedding. These signing ceremonies are a cute twist on elopements, mini-monies, and sequel wedding ceremonies…‘Pre-eloping’!

Two newlyweds celebrate their new marriage outdoors. The woman rides a blue vintage bike, and the man walks beside her in a casual slacks and button up shirt. — Photo: LaylaBird / iStock

Wedding Reddit has done it again, breathing new life into an old trend with a cute new name… ‘Preloping,’ or ‘Pre-eloping’

The practice of signing a marriage license in private before a formal wedding has been around for years. Now it’s gaining new popularity, and possibly a new name, thanks to one creative Reddit user.

A few months ago, a newlywed posted in the r/weddingplanning forum about their recent ‘make it legal’ license signing ceremony, held a year before their formal wedding for tax and insurance purposes. They wrote:

“Just wanted to share a new word I invented last night 😅

My husband and I did a mini-elopement ceremony even though our wedding won’t be for another year, just for logistics like taxes and health insurance.

So I’m now saying that we “preloped” — i.e. “pre-eloped”, since we eloped prior to our actual wedding. Unlike normal eloping, which is done instead of the wedding, we preloped fully intending to still have an actual wedding.

Anyone else here “prelope” and have some fun words you’ve been using to describe it?”

(u: lock-confusion / See the full post here.)

Dozens of other users quickly jumped in to share their own experiences with this type of license signing ceremony – a small informal marriage ceremony held before a larger wedding in order to ‘make things legal’ ahead of the formal celebration.

During these informal signings, couples meet with an officiant in private, complete their paperwork, and then celebrate with friends and family at a later time – sometimes the next day, the next year, or on a special anniversary.

“My fiance and I are doing this! We're not having a marriage ceremony until the fall of '24, but he has great health insurance and I do not. So rather than waiting we're gonna 'prelope'!

We'll still refer to each other as fiances until the ceremony with all our families and friends though.” (Fangy_Yelly)

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“We did all the licensing and paperwork a couple days before the wedding ceremony itself, just because we were having a destination wedding and it was a lot simpler to do everything beforehand at home. (Stellalunawitchbaby)

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“We are doing this tomorrow!! We picked up our marriage license today and tomorrow are going back to SF city hall to do the thing! There were plentiful appointments available for Valentine’s Day 😆

It’s a secret ceremony, we’re not telling anyone. Our “real” wedding is in May but is overseas so we need to sign the paperwork here anyway…” (needweddingadvice1)

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“Congrats! We did the same! We went to the court house with just us, before work, in a casual white dress, and we’re having our wedding on our one year anniversary!” (balilove1111)

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“We are doing the same in July! We're signing on the 14th with just parents and siblings, and having the big wedding with friends et all the next day…” (m-meh)

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This practice has been around for years, and became incredibly popular in 2020 and 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic, when gathering in large groups wasn’t possible.

It continues to be a popular choice, especially for military couples, couples on a budget, couples who are planning a destination wedding in another country, couples who want to marry in secret before a certain date, or couples who have family living in multiple states or countries.

And the practice has many different names – including ‘License Signing Ceremony,’ 'Sign and Go,' ‘Make it Legal Ceremony,’ ‘Sequel Wedding,’ ‘Second Ceremony,’ and now, perhaps, ‘Preloping’!

Other cute terms suggested by users included ‘prevowed,’ and ‘paper wedding’...

Officiants, what’s your favorite name for this type of ceremony?

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A young couple playfully pose outdoors in a field, the groom carries the bride on his back and their arms are extended as if they're 'flying,' they are both dressed in casual clothing and laughing happily