Rashmi and Sebastien get married at the King County Courthouse

In a typical year I do quite a few elopement weddings.  These are usually quite small, with less than 10 people total in attendance.  Occasionally there will be so few people that I am one of the witnesses!  The majority of these weddings are courthouse weddings, called that because they are held in a courthouse and officiated by a judge.

Of the courthouse weddings, most take place at the Seattle Municipal Courthouse, but there are always a few that are held at the King County Courthouse.  The two buildings are only a couple of blocks apart in downtown Seattle.  Each of the locations has their pluses and minuses.

Rashimi and Sebastien chose to get married at the King County Courthouse.  Theirs was an unusual wedding for several reasons.

First, they had far more guests than I typically see at an elopement wedding, a total of 12.  There would have been more but the KC Courthouse has a limit on the number permitted.

Second, because Sebastien’s family lives in Canada we had several long-distance relatives who traveled to be at the wedding, including the groom’s mother, father, sister and brother in law.

Finally, Rashmi’s family are in India.  They were not able to be present physically, but Rashmi and Sebastien set things up so they could live stream the wedding to Rashmi’s family.

Here is the list of attendees  –

Rashmi Balekundargi (bride)
Sébastien Caron (Groom)
Family:
Jean-Pierre Caron (Groom’s dad in person from Montreal, CA)
Hélène Parente(Groom’s mom in person from Montreal, CA)
Amélie Caron(Groom’s sister in person from Montreal, CA) (Witness)
Félix-Antoine Guilbert(Groom’s brother in law in person from Montreal, CA)
Basavaraj Balekundargi(Bride’s dad virtual from India)
Suvarna Balekundargi(Bride’s mom virtual from India)
Pooja Balekundargi(Bride’s sister virtual from India)

Friends:
Haruna Hara(Wedding prep at home, getting the bride ready, not in the courthouse) 🙂
Mehnaz Konstantindis (Witness)
Andrew Konstantindis
Victoria Shepeleva
Matt Misner
Philippe Lalonde
Kinga Kimbrel

This was a really fun wedding to photograph.  Elopements are always less stressful than full-blown weddings; though perhaps the couple getting married would not agree with that opinion!  Regardless, my experience is that because the wedding is more low-key and much shorter there is less tension overall.  And that certainly seemed to be the case here.  Fortunately the live stream worked very well, and Rashmi’s family was able to see and hear the ceremony as it took place.  There was a lot of laughetr and tears from the bride and groom, and some of the guests as well.  And the judge could work as a stand-up comic as a side hustle, she was wonderful!

After the ceremony we took a few photos in the building lobby, then we walked to the nearby Seattle City Hall for some outdoor photos.  It was a beautiful day and we had a fun time taking photos of everyone.

Here is a selection of the day’s pictures, I hope that you enjoy them.  You can see more elopement weddings by clicking on this link.