I know- it sounds crazy. It might be! It wasn’t even our plan- but looking back, I could not imagine it to have been any more perfect. We got engaged in the spring of 2019, and planned our dream wedding for the summer of 2020.
Well, life had other plans.. and a global pandemic came and changed everything for everyone. After several date changes, I got frustrated and told Ethan I wanted to go elope at the courthouse because as magical as the dresses and pictures and dancing are, I knew the symbolism would not change whether there were 100 people, or just us. It just so happened that the double date 10/10/2020 fell that year, and I had made a joke when we first started dating that I wanted that to be a monumental date for us, but ended up not using it because I was a teacher and didn’t want to have to worry about vacation days if we wanted to celebrate.
Apparently it was in the cards for us though, because after all of the headache of canceling our original June wedding, we ended up using that date. We all know that I can be impulsive and a bit stubborn, so about 2 weeks before the date, I called Ethan on my lunch break and convinced him that’s what we should do. I called down to the courthouse to find out what needed to be done on our part, and it all unfolded perfectly.
That weekend we went to the mall and he got a suit and I found a fun white jumpsuit that I LOVED (couldn’t find exact, but linked similar here!) We used one of my sweet friends and local photographer to capture the day for us, and one of my other girlfriends created the bouquet of my dreams. It was the sweetest ceremony at the local courthouse. There was no pressure, yet full of love and emotion. We were able to really be present and focus on each other because we did not have to coordinate a million other things.
After taking some pictures downtown, we stayed at the Omni Hotel in Dallas for the night where we had a delicious dinner at Bob’s Steakhouse, then we ventured to Broken Bow, Oklahoma for a sweet little weekend getaway!
I honestly couldn’t have dreamed of it going more perfect. It was so low key and stress free, and gave us time to plan our full wedding and reception for the next summer without the legalities and initial anxieties. Plus, having two anniversaries is SO fun!
Happy Anniversary, Mr. Russell! Thanks for letting me take your name (and closet space.) ❤️
