Intimate spring beach elopement in Naples, Florida

“Our love story is not one of falling head over heels immediately: We became friends, then after a while, best friends, until we were almost inseparable. We shared so many common interests and values, could easily talk to each other and understood each other almost effortlessly. Over the course of two years, we traveled down a road of discovering each other, knowing eventually that we wanted to share the adventure of life together, and finally became engaged in July 2018.

We talked earnestly about what we wanted in a wedding ceremony. It has not been legal for LGBTQ+ couples to legally marry for very long, and there is no ‘standard’ type of lesbian wedding, but we both knew that being married in ‘tradition’ or the standard fare wasn’t for us. In investigating unique locations to bring our friends and loved ones together, we were overwhelmed by the exorbitant cost of each detail and even basic requirements, so we abandoned this idea, wishing for something small and intimate that would allow us to travel somewhere unique but that wasn’t bustling with random travelers.

We found our destination by researching places that had no waiting period and had beautiful, low-cost locales but also had interesting things to do during our trip. Without much planning, we went for it head first. We made travel arrangements, found cute matching outfits and enlisted the help of a local friend to find a photographer and someone to officiate. Naples, Florida, was the perfect combination of where we wanted to have our small, intimate ceremony to celebrate our commitment to one another. We were so happy to find Kelly and Renee, who captured both the silly, adventurous side of us and the sweetness that we exchange to let the other know we love them. Our day was special, low-stress, and full of happy tears and great memories.

We couldn’t be happier with the decisions we made about our marriage ceremony, and hope that others out there embrace the idea of doing things their way.” —from the couple, Jenny and Caila