7 AUGUST 2026 | ST. PETE, FLORIDAAK + YT FOREVER
it’s official. we eloped.
“I will love you, now and ever. You're the start”
After Andrew proposed on Christmas in 2024, we spent a year and a half trying to plan a day that would include all of our beloved family and friends.
We decided this summer that the most important parts for us were getting married, staying true to what we could afford, and having a rare long weekend together that celebrated our love in our own way.
We decided to elope. The weekend the stars aligned (for Andrew not to be traveling with the Rowdies to an away game and for Ysa not to have a work event) was a Friday we already had tickets to see Mumford and Sons in Tampa.
We hope these photos help share the love and joy we felt on our big day.
So on Friday, August 7, 2026,
we eloped.
After a few short weeks of pulling the details together, we headed to the courthouse with a couple of best friends as witnesses and a photographer to capture the memories we would treasure and share with our loved ones for years to come.
After getting married at the courthouse by a clerk named Kysmet (fate indeed), we headed to the Museum of Fine Arts in downtown St. Pete to capture photos of our special day.
It’s a space that has remained part of our lives since Ysa was an intern at the museum in college. It felt only right to visit paintings and works of art that have kept us company through so many different seasons of life on a day where we were starting the rest of ours together as husband and wife.
A few of our favorite things…
We shared a beautiful allergy-friendly cake made by the talented Deb of Adieu-Glu. It was the celestial vintage-style wedding cake of Ysa’s dreams. The vanilla (dairy-free) buttercream icing layered cake of Andrew’s.
We enjoyed delicious arepas under twinkle lights, lovingly made by the mother-daughter duo behind Carúpano Kitchen. They even suprised us with renaming Ysa’s favorite arepa order "La Reina Pepiada” to the “La de Ysa 👰🏼 - The Queen” for the day.
I am yours, and yours, and ever
After spending a couple of hours snuggling with Milo and Fergie at the house, we headed to our first ever Mumford & Sons concert in Tampa.
We heard songs we’ve loved for the better part of both our lives. We shared our first dance during the song “Lovers of the Light”. We secured the Tampa exclusive poster for the tour to hang in our new home. We were only a few rows up from the B-stage where they played “Clover” live for the first time.
And we were positively giddy when Marcus Mumford’s infamous stadium run during the song “Ditmas” led him up, around, and right by our aisle seats. We’re considering it good luck. 🤞
We spent the rest of our (rare) mid-soccer-season four-day weekend together relaxing on the beach, napping with our pets, and celebrating finally being husband and wife after nine incredible years.
You have bewitched me body and soul. And I love... I love... I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.
- Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice
Our first house fund
For those who have asked about a wedding registry or potential gifts, firstly, thank you. We recently found out we’ll be moving to a new house when our lease ends this Fall. As Andrew and I have lived together for several years, we are fortunately blessed with the typical registry items. In place of physical gifts, we would be grateful for any contributions to our first house fund, which may be happening a lot sooner than we had planned.
Any funds contributed to the first house fund will be used to help with moving expenses and a down payment for Andrew and Ysa’s new home and will be very much appreciated.
If anyone does want our address to send a physical card or check, please message Andrew or Ysa, and we’ll send it over. We wanted to be careful about listing our home address in a public space.
Thank you to all the small businesses and friends who helped make our elopement/wedding day special:
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Deb - Adieu-Glu
Our wedding cake was a vintage celestial style dream that also happened to be gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free.
Ysa met Deb during COVID via gluten-free bagel bites dropoffs on her front porch. Since then, she’s the rockstar creative and gluten-free baking fairy godmother that Ysa couldn’t imagine life without.
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Kristin Rose Photos
Kristin is a dream of an elopement photographer. As a creative and photographer, Ysa wanted to find someone she could trust to deliver cinematic photos of the day. She was easy to communicate with, fantastically patient, and we’re already obsessed with the photos we’ve gotten back. Couldn’t recommend her more.
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Carúpano Kitchen
Since Ysa met Andrea through work, Carúpano Kitchen at Foodie Labs has become a go-to for many shared meals with friends and family. When looking for an allergy-friendly place for us to eat lunch and cake with the friends who served as witnesses, this was immediately what came up. Andrea & her mom cook Venezuelan arepas with so much heart and love, you have to try them.
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Britt of Florafête
Britt and Ysa were part of a group of friends that would go to weekly rock climbs and post-climb dinners at The Burg almost a decade ago (check Ysa’s math here). She’s a talented florist who took a handful of photos and a few phrases from Ysa and turned them into the perfect wedding bouquet and boutonniere.
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Museum of Fine Arts - St. Pete
A special thanks to the museum for letting us take our elopement photos inside their permanent galleries. The museum has been in Ysa’s life since she interned there in college. Since then, her and Andrew have gone back multiple times visiting their favorite places. It was the picture-perfect setting to capture memories we’ll remember forever.
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Affari Transportation
Andrew found Affari Transportation while researching a dependable driver to take us from home to the concert stress-free. We couldn’t recommend Ash at Affari enough. He was a fantastic driver and Ysa was incredibly impressed with how smooth the drive was to and from the concert (she always gets a little carsick). It relieved so much stress from our day and we got to fully enjoy the concert experience.
