With just their children present, Emma and Lindsay opted for an intimate beachside elopement in St Augustine to celebrate their union as wives.
Tell us about the proposal, and planning your elopement before the engagment.
We actually planned our elopement before the proposal!
Lindsay called me into our dining room on a rainy evening and asked me to edit a photo. This is weird because she usually does all of the editing (we are photographers). When I sat down, I found a picture of a beautiful diamond ring on the screen. As I looked at the image for a moment, I turned to find Lindsay down on one knee with that same beautiful diamond ring in hand. Our two daughters were so excited while witnessing everything happening, and with tears in my eyes, I said YES!
It was such a beautiful moment. And then she realized she had forgotten to hit play on the hidden camera afterward.
Talk us through the decision to elope.
Well, this was a pretty easy decision for both of us. We both dreamed of a small, intimate beach wedding and knew that all we really wanted was the four of us together. We also considered that with it still being a pandemic, it would have been challenging to get a lot of our family and friends together hours away.
Talk us through the actual elopement.
We actually searched for St. Augustine officiants almost immediately after becoming engaged. I reached out to quite a few and only heard back from one who was LGBTQ+ friendly. She was so excited for us and welcoming. So we started shopping online for our wedding outfits and wound up choosing both from LuLu’s online boutique.
We booked a condo right on the beach at Beacher’s Lodge, where a friend of ours helped us with our hair and makeup. We got all dolled up and ready to go and noticed that storm clouds were rolling in on the drive there. It was pretty windy when we arrived. And we were lucky to have had about seven total minutes of clear skies for our ceremony. I have known Lena for a few years and knew she was who I wanted to capture our big day. Lena was amazing at capturing all of our special moments and even stayed and shot our photos in the pouring rain. We find it funny that it rained when we got engaged and on our wedding day and call it our good luck.
We are so excited for our future as a married couple and to see our family grow. Looking forward to our journey together, as each year is a new chapter in our love story.
Photography by Bold Soul Photos
Officiant For Love Notary
