We eloped in Italy. We married in Northern Italy though.
We married in September. It was gorgeous. Just DH and I.
I never had any regrets until many many years later and my parents are elderly and I don't know, I guess I wish I'd included them. Years later, for various reasons, DH regretted not including his family. But mostly our regrets centred around life taking unexpected turns and us wishing we'd been more inclusive when we had a chance. I know I'm being cryptic- just being honest. I doubt you will feel the same!
I loved our wedding, we had to visit in advance in order to plan as there were no international wedding planners then and we actually had to write handwritten letters to the priest who married us to organise things. We aren't religious but loved the huge beautiful church.
The only snags we hit were that we were married in a large church that is a tourist attraction and is also financed by the local city - we couldn't turn up the lights as they were controlled by the council to save electricity so the photographers had a difficult time getting good photos indoors. Also we did have to have witnesses and it was odd having 2 unknown people stand for us.
Also, since the church was open to the public our wedding was the subject of many a Japanese tourists video as there was a huge group that descended on the city that day. That was unexpected. But just made for more of the fun really.
Yes, afterwards was a bit of a let down - afternoon and everything was shut so back to the hotel to scarf down all the mini bar stuff as we hadn't planned it well. But even that bit I look back on very fondly.
The lovely woman who steamed my dress from the hotel and carried on in Italian about it all, the tourists and locals who queued to bless us after, totally unexpected.
Threw my dress into a suitcase and travelled for the next few weeks which was great fun.
And it's great to go back, we've been back on our anniversary several times.
Not sure if it's helpful.
Hope you have a lovely wedding no matter what you decide. 