A Pi Day Elopement in Washington DC : Aeri + Elizabeth

A: We always knew it was going to be a small and intimate affair. We saw that what we wanted was something called a “micro wedding” and some would categorize it as an elopement, but we had plans to shape it just as we wanted it. Getting married meant something to us many might not understand. It was well after college when the US government legalized LGBTQ marriages, legalized our love and union. The first detail we knew before anything else was the date— March14, Pi Day. Between the two of us you had a baking enthusiast and an engineer, so Pi was something special to us. And you know, Pi is forever. After that all the details fell into place. Scouring the internet for articles, there were some first steps that would make the entire planning process easier, securing certain details like color themes, cake, wedding attire, location, vendors etc. We looked at museums we liked for a location but finally decided to get married on the steps of the Library of Congress, with our love of books and the picturesque surroundings (the Capitol building sitting in the background), it made the most sense for us. We put miniature lemons and roses in our boutonnières and pins for our small entourage of guests, donned our blue and turquoise suits, and carried our rainbow flag with us.  What happened next made the day feel even more historic. The afternoon before, DC began to close down due to the spread of COVID-19. We woke up very early that Saturday morning and drove into an empty DC. Our friends had kept referring to our special day as “Love in the Time of Corona” (but with a happier ending). One even attended wearing a Renaissance inspired plague doctor mask. Few to no people were around the area except for a roving journalist or two and us. We stood on the terrace of the Library of Congress and began. Our ceremony was brief, but we wanted to share that moment with all of our friends across the world or who couldn’t be there. We had a Live Stream running of our ceremony, when a loud siren began blaring all around us. An emergency PSA sounded in the middle of our vows and we paused, laughed, and waited. The whole thing felt very dystopian, significant, and looking at each other, hands joined, it was perfect. Afterwards, we took photos around the emptied city, waving our rainbow flag between us in front of the Capitol. We had a small luncheon with no more than 10 friends, our matriarch we call them, at one’s home. She made us our wedding cake topped with fresh delicate roses. Sitting there with them I realized that almost 80 years later I was having a wedding much like my grandmother did. A small and intimate gathering of our closest friends and found family in someone’s home during a historic time. My grandmother died the year before at 101 years old. I think we would have admired and laughed over the similarities between between our weddings. Our friend’s home was borrowed, our suits were blue, my grandmother’s love was old, and mine was new.

A: We are two nonbinary lesbians who met through long time friends and a social circle of overlapping interests, but I lived in Boston and my partner in Maryland. When we finally met in person it was at the Logan International Airport in Boston. Our first kiss was in front of their arrival gate. After many visits back and forth I moved back to the Maryland/DC area to join them. Our proposal took place over a vacation. We took a series of Amtrak trains across the country to the west coast and back. It was truly an adventure. In the Forest Park in Portland, Oregon we hiked with our friend, a photographer, in tow. Walking out of the forest, we were engaged.