Timeless {Legacy} Elopement in New England by Erin McGinn

I love the simplicity, intimacy and romance that go along with eloping. Bailey and Garrett were originally planning a big country club wedding but decided to change gears and opted for a private elopement. You may remember this cute couple from their darling engagement shoot that I shared in the fall. / Photos by Erin McGinn.

Says Bailey, "Garrett and I had started to plan the big to-do - at the country club, upwards of 200 guests, etc. And then one day we had a serious conversation about whether or not this is really what we wanted to do. Did we want to spend a year of our lives dealing with the stresses that inherently come with planning a wedding? Did we want to spend all of this money? We were honest with ourselves and each other and decided that the big wedding was not for us. The only detail we really cared about was saying "I do". So, after receiving some great advice from [our photographer], we found an officiant and a location and all of the other details just fell into place.

I guess you could say eloping in itself is a family tradition. My parents eloped and my mother's parents eloped. My grandparents eloped in the 1940s while my grandmother was in nursing school at Newport Hospital. At the time, if the school had found out about her marriage, she would have been kicked out of the program. They were able to keep the secret until she graduated and my grandmother had a long career in nursing. I'm actually following in her footsteps again, as I will be finishing nursing school in May.

We chose to get married at the Providence Court House out of convenience, honestly. It was centrally located, the officiant was right there and there was a beautiful park right across the street for pictures. Once we arrived, I was so happy we had chosen the court house. The marble floors, big beautiful windows, old elevators and other little details were perfect for us. The only way it could have felt more like "eloping" is if we had gone to Vegas :)

Bailey + Garrett's Love Story:

Garrett and I met on Match.com! We both had only been using the site for a short time but we knew this was it. We were pretty much inseparable from the beginning... We truly enjoyed spending time together, laughing together and dreaming about the future. Garrett is everything I wanted in a man, and more. Our relationship is based on open communication, honesty, valuing each other as person, genuinely caring for and supporting each other and committing to working through every bump in the road that will come our way. We met in January, were engaged in May and eloped in October, one year to the day prior to our original wedding date. It's been a crazy, whirlwind year and neither one of us would change a moment of it.

Finding the right dress was the hardest part! I knew I didn't want a typical wedding dress. I wanted something knee-length and champagne colored. I purchased and returned probably six different dresses. I found one I liked, had it altered and one week before the wedding, decided I actually hated it. I did some last-minute online shopping and found the perfect dress from J.Crew with all of the details I wanted. It was simple, elegant and it fit me like a glove, right out of the box. If it hadn't been the one, I was getting married in jeans and a t-shirt... Thankfully that didn't happen!

I was happy that we made the day special by including a photographer, a limo, getting my hair and makeup done and spending the night at the Biltmore. We celebrated our love for each other the way we wanted to. And because we included Erin on our day, we were able to share it with family and friends who weren't with us."

Thanks so much to Bailey and Garrett for sharing their sweet day and to Erin McGinn for sharing those lovely photos. xx

Bailey leaves us with some parting advice: "Don't worry so much about what other people are going to think. It is impossible to make every person happy or to live up to what they think you should do. You can only do what is right for yourself and your significant other - what makes the two of you happy. At the end of the day, the people who matter are going to support your choices and your love for each other unconditionally."

Credits: Erin McGinn Photography / Hair and Makeup: Jennie Kay Beauty / Dress: J.Crew / Getting ready location - Biltmore Hotel

Tags : CLASSIC , ELOPE , ELOPEMENT , NEW ENGLAND , PREPPY , real wedding , RHODE ISLAND , TIMELESS

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