An Intimate Elopement at The University of California, Berkeley

Julie and Carolina originally planned to celebrate their wedding with a small ceremony with close friends and family in attendance. However, when the pandemic hit, the couple decided to shift to an elopement on their original wedding date. "We picked a date and started planning, but then the pandemic happened. Neither of us were fans of changing the date, so we chose to elope," says Carolina. "Our families were extremely supportive." Julie adds that "after we picked a date I was pretty set on marrying Carolina on that date no matter what, even if it was just the two of us. Deciding to elope was easy for me." 

The prospect of having to tell friends and family that you're already married is one factor that couples considering an elopement have to weigh heavily, but Julie and Carolina were lucky enough to have a supportive family that respected the couple's decision to elope without loved ones present. "My parents know me well enough that when my mind is set on something, I’m going to do it. There was no changing the date, so my parents weren’t surprised by the decision," explains Carolina. "A lot of people knew we were engaged, and close friends and family knew about the elopement decision, so it wasn’t a huge surprise," adds Julie. 

Carolina recalls the couple's intimate elopement at UC Berkeley as being "kind of hilarious. We got our own outfits, wrote our own ceremony and vows, called the most handsome guy we knew to officiate for us and just pulled the trigger," she says. "We also tried getting flowers from Julie’s favorite shop, but the pandemic forced them to cancel last minute, so we ended up getting 6 bouquets from Whole Foods the night before. The checker literally cried for us when we told her what they were for. We thought it was hilarious. I think our best attribute as a couple is rolling with the punches." Julie goes on to share that the elopement "kind of crept up on me. I was having elopement stress dreams a few weeks beforehand. I can’t even imagine how I would have handled a full wedding. We considered a few locations but ultimately wanted something easy and familiar. We did a walkthrough of the UC Berkeley campus a few weeks beforehand, a place we’d walked the dogs often when I lived nearby, and found some really beautiful spaces and decided from those. I’d like to say I picked from those 6 bouquets to make one beautiful one the night before. And really, the woman from Whole Foods, if you’re reading this, you were so sweet to us, but we were NOT sad! It was hilarious. And turned out great. We got ready the morning of together, but I had Carolina leave early so that we could do a first look. Walking through Berkeley in a wedding dress with a bouquet definitely got some looks haha. We all met up, had our private ceremony, and wandered campus taking pictures for a few hours. It was perfect."