Our Elopement Day
It’s been a weird year and a half.
We got engaged in February of 2020, so it hasn’t been the most straightforward engagement. But, we’ve been able to spend a lot of time together and connect with one another while navigating this very strange world.
As we talked more about what we wanted out of our wedding day, and as we watched friends make heart-wrenching decisions to postpone or cancel their own weddings, we started to center on the idea of a surprise elopement.
It’s been a really hard secret to keep—and we’ve accidentally dropped hints too many times to count—but we wanted to preserve some of the magic for our friends and family that we hold dear.
Surprise!
We really missed having you there with us, and we hope we’ll be seeing you all soon.
The morning of
We started our elopement morning the same way we do most mornings— drinking coffee together and waking up with the sun.
Our Ceremony
At sunset, we climbed the pinnacle trail of Craggy Gardens to exchange our vows and make it official. We read a list of names of all those who have impacted our lives throughout the years.
Our fathers, Tad & Roger, were also on this list. Although we’ve never met one another’s dads, we’ve told countless stories about them over the last six years of our relationship, depicting their larger-than-life personalities through word and song. As a part of our ceremony, we each read aloud some things we’d want to say to our fathers-in-law.
Our fierce, courageous, and loving mothers, Janice & Birdy, were in on the elopement surprise, and have been incredibly supportive throughout. Each contributed their own remarks, which were part of our mountaintop ceremony. Love you, Moms!
Reading
To kick off the ceremony, Natalie’s brother Sam surprised us with a recording of a poem written by their grandmother, read at their parents’ wedding in 1983.
It was so heartwarming to have our families come together and show their support!
First Dance
We listened to a LOT of music over the 18 months. We tried listening to all of our records in alphabetical order as a way to pass time at home (though we only made it to the C’s).
When we started thinking about a first dance song, this one kept resonating for us, so we wanted to cement it in our relationship.
Why Asheville?
Mountains
Natalie’s from Vermont and Tony’s from Colorado. We both love the mountains, so getting married at elevation was always going to be a requirement.
Adventure
We wanted to go somewhere we’ve never been, to make our day extra special. We’ve heard nothing but great things, so Asheville seemed a good fit.
Beer
Could there be any more to say here? Our relationship is well illustrated by our tendency to share an IPA together after a day of hiking or skiing.