Courthouse Experience

Anil and I decided, early on, that we wanted to have a small courthouse wedding a few months before our 200+ invitation list for our wedding celebration.

One realization was the limitation of little we solely had with our parents, aside from other family.
We both have siblings and two nieces and a nephew. And couldn’t predict an opportunity to spend time with just our parents, just the two of us. Plus, the topic of parenthood has been on the horizon and we couldn’t guarantee future time without a little one or delegation. We wanted to carve some time with each of our parents and they served as our witnesses.

Another big inspiration for this elopement-style courthouse marriage was mostly to alleviate anticipated anxiety. From a legal perspective, we got all our marriage paperwork filed before our April 28th day and it was one less thing to worry about. Lastly, it cut the pressure of our wedding day because we would already be married, less stress with vows, and a lot less drama.

Here are 3 big reasons why we loved our decision:

1. Our officiant was life-changing.

   We had Judge Yvonne Michelle Williams who invited everyone to make themselves comfortable by roaming around the courthouse at freewill. We had the courthouse completely to ourselves. She was so relaxed, warm and professional.

2. Exceeded our expectations.

   Anil and I had planned to sign a few documents, say “I do” after “I do” kiss and leave.
   The total duration of our ceremony was about 15 minutes and we spent about 20 in the courthouse, itself. We paid cash for our marriage certificate, waited 2 minutes, entered the empty courtroom and our judge was waiting for us. It was so easy that when we started, it took me a moment to realize the vows and I broke down after a “do you vow to love each other, restoring your faith in yourself, your partner and in humanity?” After everything was complete, it felt like we had sealed our union with just six other individuals: our parents, our friend, Sarah, who served as our photographer and our judge.

3. Lunch and dinner.

   It happened. We went out to lunch and dinner with our folks and it felt like a holiday. We love our wedding day because it felt like a party, and our courthouse marriage felt like a low-key, yet highly emotional, and euphoric holiday - a perfect balance.

We invite you to check out our photos from the day.