Early Pandemic Washington, DC Elopement
Flexibility is the lead contender for the motto of 2020 weddings and rightfully so. Being open and agile when it comes to wedding planning has always been important to help avoid being overwhelmed and this year it has become a vital necessity.
When it first became clear that the coronavirus was going to cause big changes for the year, all of our couples worked diligently to make quick pivots. Diving in to email threads with all of their vendors and coordinating with each of them to solve the riddle of how to get married while complying with state and local guidelines as they abruptly changed.
Caroline, a Texas native, and her fiancé Chris had planned to get married surrounded by bluebonnets in Buda, Texas, but as close relatives began to change their rsvp from attending to not, it became clear that the safer route would be to get creative and come up with a new paired-down plan for their ceremony. They didn’t want to let the postponement of their big wedding keep them from celebrating so they decided to still get married on their original wedding date, just in their current hometown of Washington, DC. Caroline and Chris acted quickly, calling upon their close friends and family to assist. Just five days before their wedding, they got to work. Coordinating with Caroline’s tailor to rush ship her dress to DC, hurrying into the license bureau to obtain their marriage license, booking a room at the Hay Adams only to have to move to the St. Regis Hotel when the Hay Adams closed, and enlisting a friend, the CEO of Poppy, to put together a bouquet and boutonniere. The final detail to iron out was finding the perfect spot for their mini-ceremony. Caroline had her heart set on being surrounded by flowers, so she reached out to me for a few suggestions that she and Chris could go and scout to see which one still had the best blooms. Cherry blossom season in DC is always a big draw (even with a pandemic going on, the area around the Tidal Basin was packed). Being willing to find colorful trees off the beaten path allowed their ceremony to be intimate, open, and personal. Caroline and Chris decided on Rawlins Park, a small park in Northwest DC lined with pink magnolia trees.
When it all came together, the day was filled with excitement, a little bit of nerves, and heaps of love and support. Every detail was so sweetly personal. Chris, wearing a custom bolo tie, turned around to see Caroline, in her Floravere dress and cowboy boots, and beamed with an animated joy.
Each of the select few friends that were there to cheer them on gave them the warmest welcome as they walked up to their ceremony site. Even their dog Mika couldn’t keep it together and wiggled her cute little butt with glee. From the pre-ceremony sing-a-long to ‘Cowboy Take Me Away’, to the sister lead, self-officiated nuptials, to the Twitch live-streamed celebration this day was the perfect make the best of it pivot.
**This wedding was featured on Washingtonian Weddings, check it out!
