I have photographed hundreds of weddings over my 25+ year career as an elopement and wedding photographer. When I decided to plan my own colorful Hartford City Hall elopement, I already knew this city better than most photographers. What I didn’t know was how much being on the other side of the camera would change me.
And then I became the bride…. oooof. But also like, YAY!
When my wife Crys and I decided to have a colorful Hartford City Hall elopement, I knew one thing for sure: I was NOT going to let other people’s traditions, expectations, or timelines have any bearing on what we did. Not a single one. After 25 years of being a queer wedding photographer photographing love in every form, I had learned something important — the most meaningful weddings are never the ones that follow a script. They are the ones that follow the people and the things that are meaningful and important to THEM.
So we followed ourselves!
We Got Ready Together
There is a longstanding and antiquated tradition that says the couple should not see each other before the ceremony. I have watched it create unnecessary stress, rushed timelines, and did I mention stress?
When I thought about Crys getting ready alone (since this was just with our children and her two boys would meet us at City Hall later) I immediately scrapped this getting ready separate BS idea. We got ready together in my childhood home — the same house where I raised my kids. There was no weirdo superstition, no separation, no manufactured anticipation. Just the two of us, my kids moving in and out of rooms, music playing, the kind of unhurried morning that actually lets you feel what is happening. Or was that the mimosas Crys was making? I built the timeline myself, the same way I build timelines for my couples — with intention and enough breathing room that no one felt rushed. Every moment was accounted for, and every moment had space around it.
That morning in our house felt like everything I have ever wanted a wedding morning to feel like. I even set up this hand painted backdrop in one room for some portraits because hello, I am a photo nerd and wanted some pretty portraits of us with that soft morning light in my Mom’s old sewing room.
Every Detail Was Chosen on Purpose for my colorful Hartford City Hall elopement
The location where we first met is The Laurel in West Hartford — on their first queer night. That mattered. It was not incidental to our story; it was the beginning of it. So we decided to host our wedding dinner there, with our family. We let that place hold some of the weight of the day, the way meaningful places do when you let them. We created a photo in the very spot at the end of the bar where we first met (sob)
Chef Ashley Flagg came out to chat with us and treated us with such kindness! Her food is absolutely amazing and we love that they hae made a commitment to the LGBTQAI+ commuity to host regular gatherings.
Our vows were held in books that meant something to each of us. Crys held Phantom of the Opera. I held The Wizard of Oz. When I think about that image — the two of us, those books open in our hands, at our colorful Hartford City Hall elopement — I feel exactly what I want my couples to feel when they see their photos. That it was real. That it was theirs. That no one else could have had that moment.
Nothing about our day was chosen because it was expected. Everything was chosen because it showed details about what was important to both of us.
The Colorful Locations I Had Been Dying to Photograph
As a photographer, I have spent years noticing spaces — a cool wall, interesting doorway, a bright sign, a killer mural — and excitedly filing them away, knowing they would make extraordinary backdrops if only I could bring the right people there. Sometimes I could. Often, the conversation or the timelines made getting there a little harder than it should have been to make it happen. But man, if only I had some visual proof to show my clients what was in my head…
Who knew my very own colorful wedding became the answer to that!
We started at my home in Hartford — a colorful, curated space that I have filled with intention and heart for years. Being there as a subject, not just a visitor to someone else’s getting-ready space, gave me something I had not expected: a photographer’s perspective on my own instincts. I have always wanted to see the full room in images, not just the close crop, because the room tells the story. The decor, the light, the objects people surround themselves with — all of it matters. Standing inside my own carefully arranged home with a camera pointed at me confirmed what I already believed. and luckily I felt confident sharing how important this was to me to my photographer, Nikki.
From there, we moved through Hartford with a list of locations that had been wildly pulling at my creative brain for years. The rainbow Love mural at Parkville Market, painted by artist Lisa Marie Thalhammer. The brilliant, pink and green Hartford Flavor Cocktail Parlour. Iconic Pratt Street. The Hartford Stage sign on Church Street. These are not just generic pretty backdrops — they are specific, alive, and deeply of this city. I had been waiting for the right opportunity to work in all of them, and I decided I was going to be the gal to do it all! I am so thankful that my wife, who is not from Connecticut, but loves all the color and how deeply I loved it all, was completely on board for it!
What I learned from moving through those spaces as a bride is something I will carry into every session going forward: a meaningful location does not need to be conventionally photogenic. It needs to be true and have meaning and make my clients feel connected to it. It needs to mean something to the people standing in it. When that is present, the photograph takes care of itself. I already believed that, and now I have irrefutable technicolor proof! Like this shot below: you have to know I micromanaged the absolute MESS out of this shot. I had been wanting to do this with a client of my own but ended up being the bride first so luckily Nikki knew how much input I was going to give her and was 100% on board for it! She nailed it! This image is going to be a giant print in my house and I can’t WAIT!
Our Kids Were Our Wedding Party
Jackson, my son, performed the music. My daughter Georgie helped style me all day and took photos — which, as a photographer, is not something I hand off lightly. Crys’s sons did the readings. One reading from the lyrics of “For Good” from Wicked, which anyone who knows Crys understands completely. Musicals are not just something she enjoys — they are part of how she understands the world, how she feels things, how she expresses love. Having those words read aloud by her son at our wedding was the kind of detail that makes a ceremony irreplaceable.
The other reading came from a book called I Like You by Sandol Stoddard. I first heard it at a wedding I photographed years ago. The couple sent me the book afterward as a thank-you gift, and I have kept it ever since. When it came time to choose words for our own ceremony, there was never really a question. That book had already found its way into my life through this work. It belonged there.
That is something I did not fully anticipate about planning my own wedding — how much of what I have witnessed and collected over 25 years of photographing love would show up and want to be part of it.
Vendors Who Made Us Feel Safe
One of the most meaningful and intentional decisions we made for our colorful Hartford City Hall elopement was choosing, wherever possible, to surround ourselves with queer vendors and creative partners. As a queer couple, there is something that shifts when you walk into a space or work with someone and you don’t have to explain yourself, wonder how you will be received, or brace for anything. You are simply seen! That’s not a small feeling for my wife and I, or our kids.
Chef Ashley Flagg, who runs The Laurel with her wife, made our decision to have our wedding dinner there so easy! My hair and makeup artist Alyssa is queer. My planners Rachel and Amy, who transformed my kitchen and set the table at The Laurel, are queer. Our florists, The Traveling Flower Ladies, are queer. Every other vendor who was part of our day is a genuine, committed ally — and I want to be clear that I do NOT use that word lightly. Being an ally is not a passive thing. The people who showed up for us showed up fully.
I share this because I know how much it matters to couples who are planning their own Hartford City Hall elopement or wedding — particularly those in the LGBTQ community — to have a starting point. To know that these people exist, that they are wonderful at what they do, and that you will be safe with them. Consider this my personal recommendation for every single one of them! This is something that I take super seriously in my life and my business.
What It Felt Like to Elope at Hartford City Hall — as the Bride
I know Hartford City Hall well. Like… suuuuper really really well. I have photographed dozens of elopements there many times. I know the light in all of the corners, the way sound moves through the space, where to stand, where to look, how the space holds people on the most important days of their lives.
I even changed my whole timeline to accommodate the way I knew the light would come in on the historic staircase at a specific time! I remember Bobby + Dee’s wedding and looked up the timing on their images to confirm. I was so moved by how it felt to be the bride standing in that magical light that I burst into tears!
But I had literally no idea what it would feel like to be one of those people.
Standing there as a bride — with my wife, with our children, with the city I was born and raised in all around me — something shifted. Every elopement I have ever photographed came back to me. Every couple who trusted me to be present for something so personal. Every time I have tried to make someone feel seen and at ease and cared for on a day that feels like is over before you know it.
I understood it differently that day. Not just intellectually, the way you can understand something from the outside, but deep deep in my body. In the way your chest feels when vows are being said and you are not behind the camera. I had no idea how powerful and emotional this would be for all of us!
I am a better photographer for having been a bride. I am more certain than ever that the work I do matters — not because it produces beautiful images, though I hope it does — but because it holds something real. Because couples who choose to elope at City Hall, or in their backyard, or on a Tuesday afternoon with just their kids present, deserve to have someone with them who takes it as seriously as any other wedding. More seriously, sometimes.
If You Are Planning a Hartford City Hall Elopement
I want you to know that your day can be exactly what you want it to be. It does not need to look like anyone else’s. It does not need to include anything that does not feel true to you. It can be small and quiet and completely full of meaning.
I have written a guide for couples planning a Hartford City Hall elopement — logistics, timing, what to expect, and how to make the most of the space. You can find it here:
How to Plan your Hartford City Hall Elopement
And if you are ready to talk about your day, I would love to hear about it. You can contact me here:
Wherever you are in your planning — whether you have every detail figured out or you are starting from scratch — you deserve a photographer who shows up for your day the way you have shown up for it. Fully. With intention.
That is what I am here for!
Creative Partner Credits:
Each and every person on this list is an ally or part of the LGBTQAI+ community and my wife and I highly recommend each and every one of them!
Photography team: my trusty main second shooter for life and dear friend @nikkinicolephoto Nikki Nicole Photography + my amazing daughter on the digi-cam shots @geor_geni + my girl Allie @bellujeancreative and obviously you know I took some detail shots
Polaroids: @bellujeancreative Bellu Jean Creative, West Hartford CT
Content creation: @cgxmarketing CGX Marketing, West Hartford CT
Video: @c10studios my son, Jackson
Hair + Makeup: @bornandbred_salonstudio Born and Bread Salon, Hartford CT
Florals: @travelingflowerladies The Traveling Flower Ladies, CT
Officiant: @sarahsullivanweddings Sarah Sullivan Weddings
Suit: @wearewildfang Wildfang
Dress: Mac Dougal via @nordstrom
Veil: @madisonchamberlain_ Madison Chamberlain
Venue: Hartford City Hall
Portrait Spots: @hartfordflavorcocktailparlour Hartford Flavor Cocktail Parlour @parkvillemarket @hartfordstage @prattstreethartford @hartfordprints
Dinner: @thelaurelct The Laurel 1046 New Britain Ave West Hartford CT
Set up: @onebelldesigns One Bell Designs, Manchester CT
Styling + Design: @C10ike Carla Ten Eyck, that’s Me!
Cake topper: @cositas_by_felicia Cositas by Felicia
Nails: @bebesnailsct Bebe’s Nails, Manchester CT
Rings: @shanecompany Shane & Company
Crys’ hair: @rebelrootshair
We both love cheesecake more than cake so I made my Nana’s Hollywood Cheesecake for our wedding cake!
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