How to Elope in Seattle

Elopement at Woodinville Lavender, a beautiful venue for a small wedding.

Wedding on the rooftop of the Seattle Municipal Court.

It is no secret I love Seattle. I think Seattle is an amazingly beautiful city with some awesome places to get married. This is my attempt at making it a bit easier to elope in our beautiful city.

1. Figure out what you want

The first thing you have to do is figure out how you want your wedding to be. Is it going to be a courthouse wedding, a fancy micro wedding at a small wedding venue, a freestyle event at a popular tourist destination, at a park somewhere, or a full-on adventure in the wilderness? You can also check out my article about cool small wedding venues in the Seattle Area

Going to the Courthouse

There are four courthouses in the downtown Seattle area. The Seattle Municipal Court, King County Superior Court, Washington State Court of Appeals, and the Federal Court. I am only going to talk about the first two because you can’t get married at the others that I have ever heard of.

The Seattle Municipal Court is actually a super cool place to get married. They have three places inside to get married, plus a rooftop deck on the 10th floor. The SMC allows you to get married in a courtroom, which is nice. One of the judges always jokes that it is popular with the people that like the show Law & Order. The courtrooms are nice, but not what I would recommend. The other three options all have the same absolutely gorgeous view with the stadiums, waterfront, Smith Tower, and all of downtown. The first is a library on the 8th floor that has floor to ceiling windows and is good for a small group. The next is on the 10th floor and is actually the jury room where the jury hangs out. It features 20-foot high floor to ceiling windows and is suitable for a much larger group. The final place is the rooftop deck. If the weather is okay, this is what I always recommend. Stunningly beautiful. Since I am writing this in the time of the pandemic, none of these places are currently available, but the judges will walk off-campus with the couple to a nearby courtyard, which can also be nice. Hopefully, it will change back soon. Regardless of where you get married at the Seattle Municipal Court, you make an appointment for your day, Monday through Friday, check-in on your day at 4:00 and all the weddings happen between 4:30 and 5:30 with whatever judge gets assigned to you. Don’t bring your pocketknife as they are not allowed in the courthouse and there is a security checkpoint.

The King County Superior Court is quite different. You can choose your judge and make arrangements for the time with them. Quite often they are on weekends. The ceremony takes place in a courtroom in the building. Sometimes KCSC judges will perform ceremonies off-site, but all the arrangements are on a per-case basis with the judge.

A Wedding Venue

There are all kinds of wedding venues that can do small weddings. Your elopement might just be a small wedding. Some places I know of are the Lake Union Cafe, Graham Visitor Center at the Washington Park Arboretum, and Sole Repair Shop. There are also lots of parks all over the city as well like Kerry Park or Golden Gardens. For the parks, you have to have reservations if you have very many people in your party, are setting up chairs, or if you plan a specific spot. A cool idea that I have done before is the Bainbridge Island Ferry - the couple got permission to get married on the back deck with all of Seattle in the background! I will be adding an article about Seattle area venues soon.

Dramatic night wedding portrait on the Seattle waterfront after an elopement.

Freestyle Wedding

You can literally get married anywhere. It can be on a street corner, a park, or a field. You can get married on any public space as long as you don’t have more than a dozen people, cause an obstruction, set up equipment, or ask other people to move. So places like Occidental Square, Discovery Park, or Gas Works would all be fair game as long as you follow the rules above.

Outside the City

There are so many places in the Seattle area that are awesome for small weddings. Basically, any hiking or picnic spot. Some ideas would be parks like Snoqualmie Falls, Marymoor, Rattlesnake Lake, or Mukilteo Lighthouse Park. You can do something in Woodinville wine country at Woodinville Lavender or Willows Lodge.

Adventure Elopement

I’m desperately waiting for someone to take me on a hot air balloon ride or up the side of a mountain for an elopement. Anyone? Anyone?

Micro wedding on a foggy day in Seabrook.

2. Get your Ducks in a Row

Once you have an idea of what you want to do, you need to get it all set up. To start off with, there are a few things you need to make it legal.

It is pretty easy to get married. You will need three things: the marriage license, two witnesses over the age of 18, and an officiant. Plus, a photographer is an excellent addition to any wedding. Once you have secured the marriage license, you must wait at least three days and not more the 60. Next, you have a ceremony. You set the place and date, have your witnesses and officiant attend, and fill out the paperwork. The final step is to turn in your paperwork within 30 days of the ceremony and signing.

How to get an officiant

There are four ways to get an officiant. The first is by calling the various courthouses. The judges sometimes will do off-site weddings. The second is to hire a professional officiant. These people do this for a living and know what they are doing. They are generally officially religious because it is either a judge or a religious ceremony according to law, but that does not mean they have to talk about religion during your ceremony. The third is to have your priest/pastor/rabbi do it and that is self-explanatory. And finally, have a friend get ordained. It is super cheap and simple at the ULC.

How to get a marriage license

You can get a marriage license at any County Auditor in the state. It does not have to be the county you will be married, but it does have to be in the State of Washington. For example, you can get your license in Clark County and get married in King County where Seattle is located. You can find the King County process on their website.

And there you have it. Have fun!