September 17th will always hold a special place in our hearts… Because on this day a year ago we decided to elope at the San Francisco City Hall!

There are many reasons why couples decide to have an intimate ceremony without all the hassle of planning a big wedding. Some reasons are more romantic than others. For us, things were a bit more complicated…

As most of you know, I was born and raised in Poland. As an immigrant in America, unfortunately, EVERYTHING looks a bit different for me. From getting a driver’s license to applying for a new job, there’s about a 100 extra steps and pieces of papers that I always have to provide. Without diving too much into that boring subject, let’s just say getting married was just another thing that wasn’t as smooth as it would be for two American citizens trying to tie a knot.

Let’s rewind.

Shortly after we got engaged in August, Rapha got an amazing travel opportunity from work. It was that one in a lifetime kinda experience that he could include his significant other (me) in. The only problem at the time was the fact I couldn’t leave the country. Yes, that amazing travel opportunity was in Europe and because of certain visa restrictions, I couldn’t go.

Even though I couldn’t participate, I was still happy for Rapha as he works really hard and deserves an amazing Euro trip. BUT, he didn’t want to go without me… Being the sweet and thoughtful guy that he is, my amazing (then) fiancé said we should just get married ASAP. Doing so, would give us a year to figure out all of the paperwork so I can eventually join him on his work trip. As you can imagine, he didn’t have to ask me twice… 😉

Our San Francisco City Hall Elopement

September 17th may have been a random Monday but for us it meant so much more. Exactly a month after we got engaged – we were officially husband and wife! There were only us two (completely in love, excited and and a bit nervous), plus my friend Sydnie who photographed this special day. Well, that’s it if you don’t count a bunch of strangers who watched us getting married from a side!

Why We Kept It a Secret?

You may be wondering now – why did we keep our San Francisco City Hall elopement a secret that whole time? The answer is simple. We just wanted our friends and family to be just as excited for the actual big wedding that we were having next year! Surely, we told our closest friends and family about the elopement but for the most part, we kept this day just to ourselves. Until now. 🙂

If you’re considering a San Francisco City Hall elopement, do it! There’s many ways you can go about it (for example, renting a balcony or a bigger space so you can invite more people to your ceremony) and there’s just something timeless and intimate about the whole experience. It really goes down to exactly why you’re there and that’s the beauty of it.

The Dress

Since I knew we are still having a bigger wedding, I opted for a simple white dress. I thought this little white number was both elegant, sexy and feminine – a perfect dress for a Monday elopement! 😉 As for my flowers, can you believe they’re mostly fake?! I just added a few fresh carnations from Trader Joe’s and voila! I got myself a bridal bouquet on a budget.

I’m absolutely obsessed with all of the photos and am so happy I can finally share them with you! Special thanks goes to Sydnie Leah for not only being our witness, but also for photographing this special day so beautifully! Hope you enjoyed this little walk down the memory lane. 😉

dress: ASOS       jacket: BLANK NYC      shoes: LC Lauren Conrad