We Accidentally Eloped

When the Mexican wedding plans were still in full motion, I discovered that our official Mexican wedding license would need six months to be translated, signed, sealed, and approved in the USA. For practical reasons, Alan and I thought that six months was too long to wait in order to recognize our marriage in our country of residence. Therefore, we decided to have a small ceremony in the USA to make things legal before our big Mexican celebrations began.

Alan and I thus planned a "Secret Wedding" in order to quietly legalize our marriage status in the USA. We did not want to make a big fuss about it, or spend any money on it, because our "real" wedding was supposed to happen in the Caribbean. Our USA wedding day was conceived, planned and executed in less than two weeks on the tiniest wedding budget you can imagine. We invited a handful of close friends, most of whom would not be able to attend the wedding in Mexico anyway, to act as our witnesses. I made my own bouquet. And, on Sunday April 5th, 2009, we tied the knot officially and legally and in writing, till death do us part.

I could not have asked for a better day to host a Secret Wedding. The ceremony was held in the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, in the garden of old roses overlooking the bay. The weather was perfect, sunny and warmer than expected that morning. Except for our presence, the garden was practically empty. Our friend Ian acted as photographer. Prathna was our minister. The ceremony itself lasted about 5 minutes. And then, the day's debauchery began. We took many, many pictures as we rambled about the beautiful botanical garden, surrounded by the sweet smell of flowers and sparkling morning dew. Since this was not our "real" wedding, there was a lot less pressure involved; we just let ourselves have fun and be silly. At 11am, we all went to brunch at the Clairmont Hotel in Berkeley, where the food was copious and fabulous. We drank mimosas. We laughed. After eating to our heart's content, and sharing our first dessert as a married couple, we finished the day by returning to the lovely Redwood Grove of the UCB Botanical Garden, where we took even more pictures.

Alan and I had a lot of fun on April 5th. From that day forward we were, indeed, married. We just didn't tell anyone. After all, it was supposed to be a secret... but then the big Mexican wedding was unexpectedly canceled... The cancellation was such a huge disappointment and caused me so much stress that, after all was said and done, I didn't have the will to plan and execute yet another big wedding extravaganza. So, our small Secret Wedding turned out to be our only wedding, which means Alan and I accidentally eloped. We didn't mean to elope, but sometimes life throws you curve-balls.