britt & eric’s courthouse wedding photos // seattle, washington

I hold wedding elopements very near and dear to my heart, as that’s how Michael and I had chosen to get married. Ironically, we chose to not have a photographer at our wedding—we sort of just passed the camera between the six of us there—but that doesn’t stop me from encouraging my wedding couples from having a photographer at their wedding, if they choose to elope. In fact, I think our desire to keep our wedding very intimate and very personally between “just us,” really lends itself to how I hope to photograph elopement ceremonies… I hope for my couples to always see themselves in the photos, instead of merely seeing a photo that I took of them. If that makes sense? I hope for the images from that day to feel exactly like memories, quiet but vivid, and I hope that they’ll continue to serve as memories even as their own slowly fade. This is their legacy, after all.

Britt and Eric came down to Seattle from their home on Orcas Island to get married, and quite hilariously talked their two out of town friends to come along to be their witnesses. The day itself was quietly uneventful and the city seemed almost as if it were in winter hibernation, as Britt and Eric held hands, together, and went to get married. It was calm and simple, and just so beautiful and intentional. I don’t get to see what couples are like together in their everyday lives, but I get to see them on a day high on nerves and when they’re 100% totally committed to being in love… and just for a few hours, with Britt and Eric, I got to see that equality = love, and that romance still very much lives in the simplest ways with which one looks at the person they love most.

Maybe it was the weather, but I still look at these photos and feel like a cup of hot cocoa with heart shaped marshmallows.

Seattle Municipal Courthouse // Catherine Abegg Photography // Garden Party Flowers