I LOVE elopements. Yep – in an all caps kind of way. Because, really, there’s just nothing more romantic than dashing down to City Hall with your honey and saying “I Do” in a serious rush of excitement. And this darling duo? Well, they eloped in a big, big way. I’m talking buy a 1986 Volkswagen Vanagon, take a two month, cross-country road trip and stop in Chicago to tie the knot big. Lucky for us, their straight out of a movie love affair was captured in amazing images by I Luv Photo – and the happiness is overflowing from each and every moment. See them all here.
Click here for the FULL wedding!
From the Bride… Aaron and I met in the first week of graduate school and were engaged a year and a half later. In this pretty miserable economic climate, rather than stressing out about our next step, we decided to have faith and have fun. We adopted a puppy, Bean, bought an ’86 Volkwagen Vanagon from some amazing folks in New Hampshire and spent the next two months living out of our glorious van and exploring the United States in a way we had never had an opportunity to before. We’ve traveled, lived and worked all over the world, but we truly never had a chance to appreciate the diversity and beauty of America until now.
Mid-way through our trip, Aaron got a job offer overseas, so we knew we would be moving away again. It meant a lot to us to go through the whole moving process as husband and wife, so we decided to elope to Aaron’s hometown of Chicago. We were lucky and able to get in touch with Luis and Clarissa of I Luv Photo. They took wonderful photos of our wedding day (and Luis is a fellow Vanagon fan!), and we were able to continue our summer journey, from traveling through the Southwest to attending our friend’s beautiful wedding on the Cape.
Our trip recently ended, and we’re in the midst of packing up for our move. At first, we were looking to send out paper announcements of our wedding, but half of our friends are moving all over the world, and we wouldn’t even know what return address to put. We decided to send an announcement via MailChimp (so user-friendly, even for the technologically inept), and we’re looking to have a big party in a year or two, somewhere!
Wedding Photography: I Luv Photo / Ceremony: City Hall in Chicago, Illinois / Floral Design: The Groom’s Grandmother + Evanston Flowers & Gifts / Wedding Announcement: MailChimp / Puppy: Northeast Animal Shelter / Bride’s Attire: Global Mamas + Maya / Bride’s Shoes: Anthropologie / Groom’s Attire: J.Crew + Gap / Groom’s Shoes: The Gorilla Shoe