What do you do when you want to get married but can’t or don’t want to have a huge wedding? You get eloped. And once you choose to go that route your options are countless. You can get married in the courthouse and that’s it. You can get married on a beach, in some park, in your living room, on a rooftop, on top of the mountain, or on your back yard. You can be just with your spouse and an officiant or you can invite a few of your closest people. You can do it as a whole day adventure, or keep it only a few hours. You can plan it with planners, decorations, super fancy dress and just go all out, or you can just keep it chill and simple.
Nora & Aaron decided to keep it simple. They love each other like crazy and want to get married, but wanted to keep it tiny and so they had no guests and no extra planning.
We went into the small and dingy basement of the Chicago courthouse. That place is so small and ugly that I just have to love it. A wedding there is the weirdest experience ever. You come in, pay $10, wait in the waiting room until your name is called, go in where you meet a nice judge who says something like “welcome to the wedding day you have always dreamed of”, marries you in less than two minutes, you kiss with your masks on and you leave the room married. 😂
Every Chicago Courthouse wedding is so WEIRD, but I LOVE IT! ❤️ Kristen & I did get married in the same place on one cold Tuesday afternoon many years ago and I wouldn’t change a thing. Yes, it is no fairy tale wedding type thing, but it has its own charm and experience which can’t really be replicated. Every time I return there I feel nostalgia and all the happy memories come back in.
Especially because the wedding happens so fast that you don’t even have time to look around, you need to have a good photographer who can capture this experience well. That way you have time to focus on your partner and the vows you are making because it does happen SO FAST!
After Nora & Aaron were married we went to take some fun city photos around the loop area and the iconic LaSalle Street Bridge but soon we were frozen to the bone and so we moved to a warmer place inside of the rustic Salvage One.
Salvage One is a store that sells salvaged artifacts and things for your house, but it is also a beautiful wedding venue. A place like that is a photographer’s dream. Beautiful window light, amazing props all around, the only thing you need is to place a wedding couple in the middle of it and create some magic.
And that is what we did! See for yourself 😊
