AITA for choosing to elope with my partner instead of having a big wedding?

I (25F) have been with my fiancé, Ben (28M), for three years. Our relationship has always been easygoing, and we’ve built a solid foundation together. We’re both passionate about travel and have spent a lot of our relationship exploring new places and creating unforgettable memories. When we got engaged last year, we knew we wanted a wedding, but we also knew we didn’t want to have a traditional, lavish event.

From the moment we announced our engagement, both of our families started pushing us to have the “dream wedding.” My parents and Ben’s parents are both pretty traditional, and they had ideas of their own about what the wedding should look like. They envisioned a huge event—hundreds of guests, elaborate décor, expensive venues, and all the frills that come with a big, traditional wedding. At first, we tried to go along with their ideas, even though neither of us was truly excited about the thought of a massive celebration.

The more we thought about it, the more we realized that what we really wanted was to be married in an intimate, meaningful way. We didn’t want to go into debt just to please our families. What we really wanted was a small, private ceremony, maybe on a beach or in a beautiful foreign city. Just the two of us, maybe a few close friends, and the person who’d marry us. A moment that was truly ours, without all the stress and pressure of a big, expensive wedding.

We had a conversation with our families, but they were not happy. They felt hurt that we didn’t want the wedding they had imagined for us. They told us that we were being selfish for choosing our own happiness over their dreams for us. They said we were “ruining the family tradition” and even guilted us by saying that we would be disappointing everyone by eloping.

Despite the backlash, we stuck to our decision. We eloped in a small, beautiful ceremony in the countryside, with just a few close friends who supported our decision. It was everything we had dreamed of—quiet, peaceful, and so full of love.

When we told our families afterward, they were furious. Some refused to speak to us for a while, and others expressed their discontent in other ways. We received a lot of judgment, and even our friends were divided. Some thought we did the right thing, while others criticized us for not honoring family expectations.

Now, I’m wondering if I was wrong. I love my partner, and this was our decision, but did we overstep by going against our families’ wishes? AITA for eloping instead of having the big wedding my parents and Ben’s family wanted?