Geena and Williams’ Elopement Wedding at the Seattle Courthouse

About a month ago I received a phone call from Williams asking if I would be available to photograph the very quickly put together elopement wedding of he and his fiance Geena.  The ceremony was going to be held at the Seattle Municipal Courthouse, on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend.  I had the time open and my first question for Williams was if he had made a reservation with the Courthouse for the date, because Friday afternoons can be very busy at the Courthouse for elopements and if you do not have a reservation it is a “first come, first served” situation.  He assured me that they had a reservation.  We talked a bit more and I agreed to be their photographer.

If you have never been to a “courthouse wedding” (and I am sure that most of you haven’t), they work a bit differently than what people think of as a “typical” wedding, and different courthouses might have different rules.  I have done dozens of weddings at the Seattle Courthouse, as well as the King County Courthouse (located just a couple of blocks away) and other courthouses in the Seattle/Puget Sound area.  Since very few of the couples I work with for a courthouse wedding have any idea just how the whole procedure works, I like to try to give them as much info as I can to help make the whole process go more smoothly.

I have learned that the most important rule at the Seattle Courthouse is to GET THERE EARLY.  There are usually only 2-3 judges available to perform ceremonies on any given day, and the number of couples wanting to get married when I have been there has been as few as 1-2, and as many as 15 or more!  So if you want to get married without a long wait you want to be waiting outside the correct office well before it opens at 4:30PM.  I made sure that Williams understood that even though they had a reservation it would be a good idea to be there by 4PM so they would be at least close to the front of any line.

But as often happens, things did not go exactly as planned.  Holiday weekend traffic was even worse than usual, and I arrived at the Courthouse right at 4PM, about 15 minutes later than I had planned.  When I reached the front of the Courthouse there was quite a large crowd of people milling about, with at least 3 women wearing wedding dresses.  I made me way inside and up to the office where all of the couples wanting to get married that day would need to check in to be assigned a judge; unfortunately Williams and Geena were not there yet.

As it turned out Williams and Geena’s brother got stuck in traffic, and even though Geena and her parents arrived ~4:20, Williams did not get there until almost 4:45.  By this time all the people who had been waiting outside the building had moved in and were all waiting their turn to see a judge.  The first to arrive were already inside with their judges preparing for their ceremonies.  The hallway outside the judges’ office was packed with 8-10 couples all waiting for a judge, along with their families and friends.  I have seen more couples waiting at the Courthouse before, but never so many with large groups.  It was crazy!

We realized pretty quickly that even though Geena and Williams had made a reservation, so had pretty much everyone else there, so we were forced to the back of the line.  One of the nice things about the “waiting area” for weddings is that it is right outside several courtrooms and there is a large well-lit hallway that works nicely for photos.  So I took Geena and Williams aside and we took advantage of the unplanned delay to get a bunch of photos, first with just the couple and then with Geena’s parents and brother as well.

It took more than an hour, but Williams and Geena were finally called to meet with their judge.  This involves the couple meeting with the judge to go over how they would like the ceremony to be performed, as well as to deal with some of the preliminary paperwork before the ceremony.  About half the time I am present for this meeting (depends on the judge), but on this day Geena and Williams went on their own.  We all them met with the judge so the marriage certificates could be signed by Geena and Williams, and well as by Geena’s parents, who were acting as their witnesses.

Finally it was time for the ceremony!  Because it was a very nice (if cloudy) day Williams and Geena had decided that they wanted to get married on the rooftop area of the courthouse.  I love this spot when the weather allows its use, great views of much of downtown as well as Mt. Rainier if the skies are clear.  It was too overcast to see the mountain, but still great conditions to be outdoors.

We moved into position and the judge began the ceremony.  As with most elopements the ceremony was quite simple and fast and in about 10 minutes Geena and Williams were married!

Following are a few photos from the day, I hope that you enjoy them.