Tori & Jonathon have an Elopement Wedding at the Seattle Courthouse

At last!  After two years the Seattle Municipal Courthouse is finally open again for elopement wedding ceremonies.  Way back in late February 2020 I photographed one of the last weddings at the Seattle Courthouse before Covid shut down all courthouse weddings, and now I had the honor and privilege of photographing one of the first weddings at the Seattle Courthouse since they have finally reopened to the public.

The Pre-Wedding

Tori and Jonathon are the happy couple whose wedding I was chosen to photograph.  Tori contacted me just a few weeks beforehand; at that point it was still a bit uncertain whether or not local restrictions would be relaxed enough for courthouse weddings to be a possibility.  While I have photographed dozens of weddings at the Seattle Courthouse, I was more than a little bit unsure about what the rules would be assuming the wedding was allowed to take place.  How many people would be allowed?  Would everyone have to wear masks?  How many other couples would be there waiting to get married? Would we be allowed to take any photos after the ceremony, or would we have to leave right away?  Pre-Covid, on a busy day there are often more than a dozen couples waiting to see a judge to get married.

Because Tori and Jonathon wanted to have as private a ceremony as possible, they asked if I could be one of the witnesses as well as their photographer.  I have done this at a number of elopement weddings and was happy to volunteer my services as a witness.

The Wedding Day

On the wedding day, the weather started out in classic Seattle spring fashion – cold, wet and windy!  Since Jonathon and Tori were hoping to get married on the rooftop balcony at the Courthouse this was not looking good.  But shortly before I headed for Seattle there was a break in the weather and the sun even made an appearance.  As I drove I kept hoping that the Weather Gods would continue to smile on us for another hour or so to give the couple a chance for the outdoor ceremony they wanted.

We met at the Courthouse and discovered that there was only one other couple signed up to get married that day.  Because we were a little early, we had time to take some photos in the hall while waiting for a judge to be available.  We even had enough time to go up to the balcony and get some nice outdoor photos.

Which turned out to be fortunate since the judge who performed the ceremony did not want to have the ceremony outdoors.  Why this was the case was never clear, but since the indoor rooms also have a fantastic view it was not too great a loss.  Especially since we were able to get those “before photos” on the roof anyway.

The Wedding Ceremony

One advantage of having very few or no guests is that it makes it way easier to keep everyone organized!  One of Jonathon and Tori’s friends from work (Starbucks) was the other witness, and the only friend in attendance.

The wedding went very smoothly, with Judge Anita Crawford-Willis officiating the ceremony.  The only annoying thing was the requirement that everyone wear masks, which is a serious downer for a wedding ceremony.  In what seemed like no time at all we had a new married couple!

We wrapped things up with a few photos in front of the Courthouse.  While taking these photos I noticed that it had gotten a lot darker and the temperature had dropped noticably, and I commented to the couple that I hoped their car was nearby.  They told me they had an Uber on the way, and would be fine.

I’m really glad they had a car coming because when I drove out of the parking garage no more than 10 minutes later the rain was back, and back in force!  The Weather Gods might have smiled on us, but they sure weren’t giving us any wiggle room.

Visit my Wedding Galleries to see photos from other weddings I have photographed!