Madeleine and James didn’t always plan to elope, but as the story went for so many 2020 couples, a certain pandemic had other plans. With their big celebration ideas scuppered, they went back to the drawing board and decided to do something quintessentially ‘them’ instead. That meant a motorcycle, the open road and a picnic stop overlooking the ocean where they said their vows.

They got ready in their own home, had a first look in their desert-landscaped front yard and included their pups the whole day. The best thing about getting hitched this way is that they were able to only focus on the little things that they felt were important to them.

“Our elopement turned into a bit of an art project”, Madeleine told us. “After having to cancel our wedding due to the pandemic we decided to elope on our three year anniversary instead. We wanted to celebrate our day by eating cake and drinking champagne. We thought, lets get all dressed up, ride the motorcycle to the cliffs, say our vows, and call it a day.”

“We decided we would have a photographer, and videographer come and document the day so we could share the photos and video with our friends and family.”

One of the art projects the bride did was to make soy wax candles with the dried flowers from her bouquet in to gift to their friends and family afterwards. “Using my new last name I started a little business, Housel Holistic. I now make custom candles made with all natural soy wax, essential oils and dehydrated flowers and I am offering wedding packages for other brides to preserve their left over wedding flowers too!”