Intimate Elopement in Paris

It doesn’t get more romantic than this intimate elopement in Paris, France. The couple dated for 16 years before getting engaged so they wanted something unique to them for their wedding celebration. Insert an escape to Europe! After falling in love with a Parisian photographer, they set their sites on the city of lights. And we don’t blame them! Here, the bride gives us a look into that special day, how it came to be, and her advice for brides.

How did you two meet? How did Lap propose?

We met in high school and were each other’s first “real” relationship. Even at a young age, we knew that we would be together for a long time. And we did not have any doubts about our relationship. We are not afraid of commitment, but at the same time we did not put a lot of weight on the traditional, cultural meaning of marriage. We focused on living in the moment. This included a lot of “firsts” together – from college, professional jobs, to traveling, purchasing a home, and experiencing losses together. Before we knew, we found ourselves celebrating our 16th anniversary in Bermuda in Feb 2016. There, under a starlit sky and Monument Gate (which is believed to stand for eternity love & longevity), Lap proposed.

We have attended, and been a part of, a lot of weddings. So, we knew that although the celebrations were beautiful, it was not for us. We wanted to invest our time and money on creating new memories and adventures together. And not on things such as flower arrangements, guest list and table seatings. As such, we made the decision to have a private ceremony, and then host an intimate celebration with our immediate family afterwards.

Why Paris?

Last summer, we traveled to Europe (Italy) for the first time and fell in love. We loved it’s charm, relaxed pace, beautiful streets, history and people. We were both burned out from work and knew Europe was just what we needed & where we want to have our intimate ceremony. So, we decided to return to Europe this summer, but to a new destination: Paris! Another reason why we chose Paris was that I wanted Audrey to be our wedding photographer. I came across Audrey‘s editorial, romantic and breath-taking photos on Instagram when I was researching wedding ideas. I fell in love with her artistic, storytelling perspective.

Do you have any advice for brides?

My tips for brides would be to keep the details and agenda for the day simple. As long as you have a great venue and find professionals you trust, the rest will fall into place. For us, it was the streets of Paris and our photographer Audrey! If your photoshoot is on a different day than your reception (like ours was), then I would highly recommend ending the day-long photography session with dinner at a chic and romantic restaurant. Audrey recommended and planned this for us. It ended up being the perfect way to wrap up our special day together!