We chose to elope in a private ceremony for just the two of us on June 24, 2020 at Knoch Knolls Park in Naperville Illinois. Matt got to wear the kilt he always wanted, and I had a dream dress that made me feel like a fairy princess. As we are both into Ren fairs and medieval fantasy, this was perfect for us.
We decide to elope in secret on June 24, 2020 amid the worst of the pandemic. Our futures were uncertain, but what we did know was that we wanted to face it together. We decided to postpone our reception until the following year, when we hoped to be able to celebrate with everyone in person. Sadly, the pandemic dragged on. As we knew we’d be doing two events, we decided to incorporate a favorite yet forgotten wedding tradition, a handfasting, which was a valid yet temporary marriage, lasting only a year and a day.
As this is no longer a legal practice (marriages are not allowed to be temporary) we altered the ceremony as best we could to suit today’s laws while remaining true to the spirit of the ceremony. Another aspect of these handfasting marriages was that while it was recognized by the couple as a marriage, the family nor church would recognize them until a priest could be found to make it official.
To keep this aspect of the tradition, and to give us a year of ‘practice marriage’ without outside stress, we planned to tell no one, not even our parents. Big secrets are hard to keep, and eventually we told our immediate families, but we swore them to secrecy, preferring to keep the surprise for all our guests as we continued with the traditional wedding event timeline.
