Alexis and Taylor got married on 13th February, turning Galentine’s Day into something entirely their own. Their wedding started where most good gatherings do: at home, in pyjamas, surrounded by friends. Their house was filled with Valentine’s decorations and the people they wanted closest to them. Everyone got ready together.

“The inspiration for having a Valentine’s wedding came from a cute tradition in our relationship”, they said. “When we first fell in love with each other we were head over heels for each other and turned every little moment into a big act of love. So much so that we began to say, ‘every day is Valentine’s Day when you’re dating your best friend.’ And we have said that pretty much every day for two years. It only seemed natural for us to get married during our favourite time of year, although it’s genuinely celebrated every day in our house.”

Before heading to their ceremony at Vondra Social House, the couple spent time exploring the Illinois State Capitol Building with photographer Rachael Marie. It was also where one of the most meaningful parts of the day took place. Neither Alexis nor Taylor wanted to read their vows in front of an audience so they found a quiet hallway shared those words privately.

“Lex actually began writing her vows when she met Taylor, so she had been working on them for a couple of years”, they explained, “But when she sat down to put the pen to paper in the official vow booklet, she couldn’t stop crying even writing them. This made both of us realise it was going to be very hard to get the words out in general, let alone in front of a crowd. We had discussed with our photographer that we’d like to read our vows privately either before or after the ceremony, whenever we would be given time alone. Our photographer wrapped up shooting with us prior to the ceremony and asked if we’d like to share our vows in a private hallway which was both quiet and intimate. Rachael put on some sweet, instrumental music quietly in the background just to break the silence and allowed us to share this moment with each other. Many, many tears were shed and after we collected ourselves, broke our final embrace, and cleaned ourselves up it was time to head to the ceremony!”

They then kept the actual ceremony in front of their loved ones short and sweet. They exchanged rings, said ‘I do’ and kissed. Wedding clothes were then quickly swapped for sweatpants and the newlyweds headed straight for the airport to fly to New York for their honeymoon.

“Pretty much straight after we said our goodbyes so we could rush to the airport for our honeymoon. We didn’t have a reception at all! We are a very intimate couple, we wanted our wedding day to be stress-free and remain as focused on each other as possible. Skipping the large ceremony, long public vows, and big party allowed us to do all of these things together where we were able to slow down and just truly take each other in. We were able to hold hands and really hear each other”

Keeping the guest list small turned out to be one of the biggest challenges. The couple had considered Las Vegas before deciding to create their own version of an intimate city wedding closer to home. Choosing who would make the cut proved harder than any planning checklist.

“It was very hard for us to essentially pick and choose who would get a seat at the table”, they admitted. “No one warned our little empathetic hearts how tough it would be hosting a small, intimate wedding. We quickly met our capacity limit for guests and the space we were working with, but had hard feelings about not having friends with us on our big day. Although we couldn’t include everyone, we still feel we had those closest to us present for our little wedding.”

One thing they didn’t compromise on was photography. “Having a good photographer was arguably the most important tangible thing for us, and we succeeded. The photos were our single biggest expense and YOU’RE LOOKIN’ AT WHY!! One of our favourite pastimes is spending hours pouring over our camera rolls and shared albums remembering every second of every photo.”

The whole celebration lasted only a few hours, but every decision reflected who Alexis and Taylor are as a couple. They traded wedding traditions for private moments, kept the focus on each other and don’t have a single regret. “We wanted an intimate but editorial wedding, and I’d like to think we achieved that!”