Emma + Tim run away to city hall

You guys, it's a write-up from THE GROOM:

Emma and I met each other in our mid-20s. We didn't grow up together, but we grew into adults together. Being an adult can be serious business, and we've come to recognise that part of what makes a relationship successful is to know when to be focused on the mundanity of life and when to embrace your whimsy let yourself be spontaneous.

That moment presented itself to us about nine months before our wedding day. We had been planning a straightforward wedding up to that point and had begun to feel that we weren't doing justice to the love we share. During a long discussion as we drove through the countryside near where we live, Emma remarked, "We should just run away and get married at City Hall in New York." We initially laughed and shrugged off the idea. Twenty four hours later, we were breaking the news to our family that we were eloping.

In retrospect, going halfway around the world to be married is an apt analogy for our relationship. It was an unforgettable adventure, punctuating the unforgettable adventure Emma and I had been on in the preceding six and a half years as we carved our our lives together. Much as we wanted to celebrate our nuptials with friends and family, there would be time for that we we returned; on our wedding day, there was only one person I wanted to be with and see happy.

We met with our photographer, Monica, on the morning of the wedding at City Hall. Thanks to East Side Bride, Emma had discovered Hart + Sol photography, who are based out of Brooklyn. We were secretly a little nervous about the idea of having a photographer there with us on the day, but we needn't have been. Monica took amazing photos, but more than that, her kind words and encouragement helped make a morning that might have otherwise been overrun by the stiff bureaucracy of City Hill a warm and gentle experience. Monica's photos captured the sincere and unfettered happiness in the expressions on our faces, in a way that I've never seen in Emma and I before. It's impossible to imagine the day without Monica there to help us focus and reflect on on the importance of that moment.

After the ceremony, Emma and I walked the High Line together as a gentle rain fell, had a wonderful candle-lit dinner on the Lower East Side, and then watched The Rosebuds play an intimate set at the Bowery Ballroom. A few days later we shipped out to London to visit friends, then continued our adventures in Paris and Berlin.

Emma and I were always going to fall in love with New York City -- it was wonderful to fall further in love with each other because of New York City.

So what if they didn't take Matt up on any of his restaurant recommends?

♥