Michelle + Geoffrey’s Brooklyn Weddings

Apr 12

A nearlywedded couple, one in a beautiful white gown and one in a blue suit, smiling with their foreheads touching after their wedding ceremony officiated by Once Upon A Vow in Dumbo with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. — Winter Elopement Photos by Megan and Kenneth

2020 Elopement

While the pandemic kept us socially distant, masked, and generally feeling hopeless, love persevered again and again! Michelle and Geoffrey eloped the morning of December 20th, 2020 with a few of their closest loved ones in Dumbo, near Jane’s Carousel overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge.

Geoffrey proposed right before the pandemic and while they didn’t imagine getting married during such historically trying times, COVID made them realize that life is far too precious and too short to wait to begin their married lives together. They chose to commemorate their six-year anniversary with an intimate elopement on a brisk winter day with icy snow beneath their feet as they were pronounced married.

Michelle and Geoffrey met and fell in love while in nursing school and with everything we were collectively experiencing, it was POWERFUL to celebrate the marriage of these two healthcare heroes. Let’s never forget the way all healthcare professionals, but in particular the way nurses took care of our loved ones. They carried the mental, physical, and emotional weight of entire families and communities.

For this one moment, Michelle and Geoffrey pressed pause on all that madness and together with their family, focused on the gratitude and joy of being united to celebrate this love-filled milestone moment. These intimate celebrations became the much-needed light through the difficult realities of COVID times.

Michelle and Geoffrey didn’t want to wait any longer to begin their married life together. They already worked through the tireless challenges of long distance while working their so they decided to just go for it and get married on their anniversary with a more intimate circle of loved ones before their larger love celebration the following year.

2021 WEDDING

Almost a full year later, Michelle and Geoffrey celebrated their vow renewal on November 28th, 2021 at the Brooklyn Winery.

Since the pandemic, lots of couples opted to celebrate their marriage multiple times. In many ways, it gave couples the freedom to focus on what truly mattered to them and to rewrite the rules to honor their journey.

To tie in their 2020 elopement ceremony and 2021 vow renewal ceremony, we referenced a popular quote from one of their all-time favorite TV shows, Friends. Everyone knows that they’re big fans of the sitcom so a nod to Joey’s attempt at officiating Chandler and Monica’s wedding was a full circle moment of levity for both wedding ceremony experiences.

As Joey Tribbiani once said, “It is a love based of giving and receiving as well as having and sharing. And the love that they give and have is shared and received. And through this having and giving and sharing and receiving, we too can share and love and have and receive.”