Ellese and Blake had a May 1st elopement planned, but they wanted to celebrate with 100 friends along for the ride. When the pandemic hit North Carolina and changed the way that people could get married, but Ellese and Blake created the perfectly socially distanced elopement, I even wrote a blog based on their wedding on how to create a socially distanced elopement

This elopement was so intimate and gorgeous and I can’t wait to tell you all about it. First off they wanted to take their photos together at North Gate Park in Durham because they frequent it often, as it’s super close to their home. They had spent quarantine fixing up their backyard for the ceremony, which guests included, both sets of parents, Blake’s brothers and their officiant was a family friend who went to college with Ellese’s mom. He even gifted them a hydrangea, from a cutting her mother had given him twenty seven years earlier.

They shared vows, and celebrated six feet apart, yes that family photo where they are all standing super far apart is the only one they have from the day and honestly it’s perfect. Even though they are still planning to celebrate with friends and extended family later in the year, Ellese told me this day in May was everything she wanted in a wedding, marrying her best friend and sharing it with the ones she loved the most. Since her sister is in healthcare, she was unable to attend but joined via Facetime.