An Enchanting Fairytale Paris Elopement

Ready to be whisked away to a Parisian fairytale elopement? Bride Devon & Groom Chris flew to France to celebrate their vows in their own most adventurous way, and we are absolutely enchanted.

Photographed by Claire Morris, this destination elopement has all the makings of a fairytale wedding. Dainty & romantic stationery, a grand ballroom venue, a Cinderella princess dress – this elopement is far from the typical runaway wedding.

How did the day go? The finely dressed couple made great use of their incredible suite & backdrops for portraits at the beautiful Shangri-La hotel, then ran off to say ‘I do’ with their photographers & celebrant in front of none other than the Eiffel Tour.

One of the things I love about Devon’s advice to other couples is to take advantage of help from locals. Nothing gives you the feeling like you really experienced and embraced a destination like interacting with locals. In my experience (and Devon’s too!) Parisians are surprisingly helpful, jovial and almost always speak English (contrary to what people always warned me years ago).

Our Love Story

Chris and I met while crossing paths in a parking lot! I had my Pomeranian puppy in my purse and Chris happens to be a huge dog lover and asked if he could pet my dog. We then talked for hours which felt like minutes, we decided to exchange numbers and the rest is history. It goes to show that the world works in mysterious ways and somebody special comes along in your life when you least expect it. We still have my puppy but now he is six years old and we have another addition to the family as well! He is a mini Australian Shepherd and loves his big brother. Did I mention our two cats?

On our second year anniversary, Chris and I went to Nashville to put a “love lock” on the pedestrian bridge. After making a wish on the key to the lock, I threw the key into the water finding myself turning around to Chris down on one knee proposing! It’s safe to say my wish came true! It was only natural that we had our wedding in Paris where the “love lock” tradition originated.

The Destination

We decided to have an elopement in Paris because we love traveling the world and wanted to do something adventurous for our wedding day. We eloped just the two of us then had the reception at home with family and friends. Eloping in Paris was something we wanted to do because we wanted our wedding day to be intimate and just focus on us while being stress-free.

On our wedding day, we woke up and went on a walk through Luxembourg Garden. It was so relaxing and felt like pure happiness. After our walk, we checked into our hotel at the Shangri-La. We chose the Shangri-La because of the beautiful architecture and the history of the hotel. The Shangri-La was constructed in 1896 by Prince Roland Bonaparte, who was the Emperor’s great-nephew. The entire day was just magical, tear-jerking, and enchanting.

The Dress & Style

When choosing the color scheme, I wanted to focus on pastel colors because I love the softness to it. When choosing a wedding dress, I chose the style that I did because I needed something dramatic and bold to suit my surroundings in Paris. It felt like a fairytale walking around Paris in my huge Cinderella dress!

Favorite Moments

We had a BLAST working with Claire and Selina, we felt like they were longtime friends even though we just met. Everything was perfect and we couldn’t be happier with our wedding day in Paris and our photos! There was never a dull moment from talking about Harry Potter, laughing and joking around, taking selfies together, to having champagne at the end of the night.

Advice to Other Couples

Planning an elopement in a foreign country is difficult but worth it! I highly recommend investing in a wedding planner (we didn’t but hindsight is 20/20) and don’t be afraid to ask the locals for help! We had locals help us when navigating the subway and even translating what we wanted for breakfast to our waiter. The locals were extremely friendly and offered to help us before we had the chance to ask. Don’t get too caught up in learning French before your trip either, most locals are fluent in English.