Gabriel & Allen’s Private Elopement at Dumbarton House in Washington, DC

My parents are back in town, and we’re in full birthday mode around here. I still have errands to run, a cake to bake, and outfits to figure out for our family pictures, all before more family arrives this weekend. I’m still in denial that he’s turning 2. It feels like we just celebrated his 1st birthday! At least we’ll be able to share in the celebration with family, instead of over Zoom this year.

We were originally planning to get married in August of 2020, but as the Covid-19 shutdown began in March, we realized that our normal wedding plans would need to be postponed. By the time August approached, we realized that it might be another year or longer until friends and family would feel comfortable traveling to a wedding, so we decided to get married on our own, and worry about planning a larger celebration later. Initially we thought about just showing up at the courthouse and signing the papers without any ceremony, but as we researched wedding planning packages online, we decided that it was worth spending a little bit extra to make it a special day for just us.

Our criteria were simple: we wanted the process to be easy, we wanted to get married at a private venue in the DC area, and we wanted our dog, Maggie, to be a part of the ceremony. The wedding planning process went smoothly and we found several locations to choose from which were pet friendly.

The wedding ceremony was at a historic house in downtown DC, and they had sectioned off a part of the property from the public, so that it was just the two of us and our dog, in a beautiful garden. After the wedding ceremony we went to a nice restaurant nearby where we could eat out on the patio. No pressure, and no need to add any decor to the naturally beautiful scenery.

We loved that our wedding was a private and special experience for us, and that we were able to be there with our dog. In some ways, this made the focus of the day more about our relationship, and it relieved a lot of the stress that we had when we were initially planning for a normal wedding before Covid.

Covid was definitely a blessing in disguise because our wedding day was amazing. We were free to focus on our relationship and commitment to each other, and free from all of the typical stresses of planning a larger wedding event. We are glad that we didn’t wait, and would recommend to other couples to do the same! We are looking forward to planning a fun celebration with our families once life finally gets back to normal!