Thanksgiving and Christmas have always been my favorite holidays. Now we have one more reason to celebrate. While everyone else is out Black Friday shopping, we’re celebrating a quiet first anniversary at home. One year ago today I married the love of my life at Holladay House bed and breakfast in Orange, Virginia. We knew from the moment we met didn’t want a big wedding or lavish party. We opted instead for a small intimate wedding at a beautiful historic BnB. If we were rich and could do it all over again, we would still have the same wedding. Instead of cluttering up this post with words, our photographs will tell the story of why eloping is so awesome.

Convenience

We were both working full time last year. Joe was remodeling houses and I was teaching 9th grade world history. The convenience of driving twenty miles to our bed and breakfast was a huge relief to us. We had a memorable Thanksgiving feast at the Holladay House, woke up in our suite, and started getting ready for our wedding the next morning. We skipped all of the stress and expense of planing a huge wedding. Simply being free to enjoy the moment made the day a memorable one.

Save Your Money

We decided to against the current trend of spending thousands or tens of thousands on a big wedding. Why? Because we’d rather be travelling than paying for our wedding. Knowing that travel is our top priority made it easy for us to elope. If you’re a travel blogger, love to travel, or just want to save money, eloping is the way to go.

Memories

The house where we were married was built in 1830, and is on the “Journey through Hallowed Ground” tour in Virginia. General J.E.B. Stuart attended a wedding at Holladay House in 1864. Scattered throughout the house are photographs of weddings that have taken place over the decades. One of my favorite photographs shows ride in her wedding dress in front of the same fireplace where we said our vows. As a historian, I don’t think we could have picked a place with any more historical significance.

No Headaches

I like to plan, especially trips. However, I didn’t want to plan a huge wedding. Our host and owner of the BnB, Sharon, took care of all the arrangements for us. All we had to do was show up! The beauty of the low stress-wedding is that we were able to enjoy the wedding instead of worrying about logistics.

The great thing about an elopement is that everything is included. We had an officiant, a historic parlor, flowers, cake, champagne toast, Thanksgiving dinner the night before, and a honeymoon suite. We only had to bring ourselves and our clothes!

Would We Do It Again?

Without a doubt, definitely. Eloping at a historic BnB is always going to be one of my most cherished memories, and I wouldn’t change anything. Well that’s not true. If I could go back and do it all over again I would definitely spend more time enjoying the moment. It went by so fast. We blinked and it was over. If I could do it all over again I would spend more time sitting and talking rather than posing for a million photographs. Other than that, there’s nothing that I would change. If you love to travel and are thinking about getting married, I definitely recommend eloping and saving your money for the things you really enjoy.

Happy Anniversary Joey, I love you forever and then some!