What is the best birthday gift ever? A new husband!
Elise and Seth married on Elise’s birthday with their immediate families present for their ceremony. I don’t think there was a dry eye left in the place afterwards! This couple is so full of love and laughter you can just feel how happy they are through the images.
Check it out below and some Q&A from the couple.
Photography : Shelby Laine Photography
Venue: Wichita, Kansas Courthouse
How did you meet?
Seth and I met from a mutual friend from the Wichita State University cheer team. Seth cheered for WSU at the end of his college career. We first ran into each other at my last tryout for WSU cheer. Seth was the ‘cute judge.’ I thought about actually introducing myself to him after the tryout but eh, not the time or the place! My coach at the time actually joked with me and asked if I wanted him to introduce us. I laughed and told him that I didn’t need his help. After tryouts, I didn’t really think much about the cute judge and moved on. A couple months later, I saw a cute dog on social media and showed (our mutual friend) Tim the photo of the dog. Tim then told me that the one who posted it was Seth. I reached out to Seth to see if he wanted a dog play date. (Little did he know, I just REALLY wanted to meet the cute dog – haha and it was was a bonus to meet Seth too!)
How did you decide on an elopement/microwedding?
We decided to elope because of the challenges from planning a wedding. I actually proposed to Seth on Halloween 2019 and had the wedding planned within the next couple of months. We love our families, but we got frustrated when they wanted to make the wedding different from what we wanted. After some frustration, I called off the traditional fall wedding and asked Seth if he wanted to do a courthouse wedding with just our close nuclear family.
The biggest challenge was finding a time that worked for everyone since my mom wanted her brother and sister there and his family is out of town. We picked my birthday which felt like a perfect time from my viewpoint, and everyone made it happen.
How did you decide on the location?
We picked the courthouse because it was the easiest thing to do! I found a wonderful judge who was available, so we had the ceremony in her courtroom.
Did you tell everyone ahead of time? If not how did you break the news?
My family is very close. My parents were updating them every part of the way. Not that we care much for social media, but in this case, it was the easiest way to let people know we got married. We waited for Shelby our photographer to send us some photos, and we made a post from that. Truly, we could have just eloped us two and we would have been happy with that, but our family really wanted to be there.
What was your favorite part of the day and why?
My favorite part of the day was the first look. We did this at my parents house. I came out from double doors and turned Seth around. He looked amazing. I cried – a lot! One of my dogs Miley stepped on my veil. It was a fun, emotional moment. It didn’t seem real that I was actually getting married.
Do you have any advice for couples currently planning their elopements?
Everyone says “Do what you want to do. It’s your wedding.” But really, I feel like that isn’t necessarily true – especially for close families. They want to make this day a celebration of families coming together, so just get ready to compromise A LOT. But also, know when to say no to them. Celebrate yourselves first and don’t forget to slow down and appreciate your future spouse.
