WARNING: Video may cause strong desire to plan elopement
Seriously, though, Melissa and Tyler's day was filled with the kind of magic that could only happen when you follow your gut, book a trip to Ireland, find your venue when you get there, and just for it! While their families wanted them to go the traditional route when planning their wedding, they stuck with their plan, which resulted in this stunning film by Seth Dunlap and a pretty epic story they can tell for years and years to come.
From The Bride:
\"When Tyler and I met, we lived 3 hours apart so our relationship began as a long distance one. While first getting to know each other, we played lots of “would you rather” games and chatted online back when Yahoo messenger was still a “thing.” We visited each other a lot and tried to make time to go on as many adventures together as possible. A few months later, I decided to move in with Tyler and relocate to Orlando, FL. After 6 and a half years, Tyler popped the question! For as long as we could remember, we had always talked about how amazing it would be to elope in Ireland. How the scenery would be so beautiful, the adventure would be memorable, and the locals would be friendly. Despite our family’s best efforts, we stuck to our guns and continued to move forward planning our dream elopement in Ireland. We landed in Dublin without an officiant, wedding date, or ceremony location. We had our rings, my dress, his suit, and that’s about it! We rented a car and explored the city and eventually stumbled upon the perfect ceremony location in Saint Anne’s park. As soon as we laid our eyes on it, we knew it was where we wanted to become husband and wife. We started emailing local officiants and found Romy, who was beyond amazing. The next day we chose to go adventuring at the cliffs of Moher and get married the day after that. Turns out the wedding day we randomly chose happened to be the sunniest and warmest day Dublin had all week! Everything was falling into place so perfectly. I happily did my own hair and make up, walked down the aisle without a bouquet, and wrote my vows the morning of. I didn’t care so much about the fluff of all of that, I just wanted to marry my best friend. After a private ceremony, we ventured downtown to celebrate. We walked into a random an Irish Pub, still in my dress and his suit, and we were greeted by a bar full of locals, eagerly congratulating and toasting to our bright future. Everyone cleared the floor and the band performed an Irish version of “Can’t help falling in love” and we shared our first dance in the middle of a pub full of strangers. The next song was a more upbeat “Irish Jig” type tune and we were soon dancing side by side with the locals, celebrating with hugs and lots of Guinness. We couldn’t have felt more loved if we were in a room full of our friends and family. The Irish locals truly blew us away with their warmth, kindness, and hospitality. Our day was unconventional, but the most perfect adventure we could have ever hoped for!\"
Cinematographer: Seth Dunlap
Dress: Maggie Sottero
Photographer: Nate + Lori