When Love Won’t Wait: Michigan Couples Who Raced to the Altar

Michigan LGBTQ+ community sees rise in elopements following election

Online Elopement Story — Andrew Long (left) and Ben Dowd on their wedding day, Feb. 28, 2025 at the Michigan State Capitol building in Lansing. Photo: Brian Wells

Brian Wells

Published: March 25, 2025 | Last Updated: April 10, 2025

On a recent cloudy February day, a small crowd gathered on the steps of the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing. They were there to watch Ben Dowd and his fiancé Andrew Long be married.

The two men had been Facebook friends for several years through mutual friends, and after meeting in person and learning more about each other, they formed a relationship. By Jan. 18, they were engaged — within weeks, they were joined together in federally recognized matrimony.

"After our engagement and the rapidly changing political environment causing us to be uncertain of the ability to marry as an option down the road, Andrew and I decided on Tuesday, Feb. 25, to get married on Friday, Feb. 28, on the Capitol steps in Lansing," Dowd told Pride Source. "This was also where Andrew proposed to me."

The two pulled everything together within a few days and were married surrounded by a small gathering of family and friends.

"I never got to get annoyed of calling him my fiancé," Long joked before the ceremony.

On the night of the November election, Deidra and Miranda Taylor watched the results coming in and realized they would not be in their favor. In discussing their future, they had come to an agreement that if the election turned out the way it appeared it was going to, they would get married at the courthouse and have a ceremony at a later time.

"So the morning after the election, Deidra noticed I had woken up and the first thing she said to me was 'Baby, we have to get married,'" Miranda said. "And although it was music to my ears, that's also how I found out Trump won."

They took a few days to lick their wounds before they started looking for a place to get married and trying to understand the process. The couple, who met several years ago working together at a mortgage company based in Detroit, had already planned to get married in 2025, but decided to move their wedding up to ensure their commitment would be recognized.

"We Googled 'Michigan gay-friendly elopements' and came across Zingerman's Cornman Farms in Dexter," Miranda said. "We toured the facility, booked it and we were married on December 11 with 12 of our friends and family in attendance."

Miranda and Deidra Taylor on their wedding day. Courtesy photo

Tabitha Mason, managing partner at Zingerman's Cornman Farms, said being a queer-friendly vendor isn't just important — it's who the company is.

"It's not some checkbox or marketing angle; it's about making sure every couple who walks through our doors feels genuinely welcome, respected and celebrated," she said in an email. "Love is love, period. Weddings are about celebrating love, and everyone deserves a space where they feel safe and supported."

Professionals who work in the wedding industry say they've seen an increase in the number of queer couples who are choosing to elope instead of a traditional wedding in the last few months.

Anna Treimer, who owns Wildly Connected Photography, wanted to create a business that reflected her own experience by focusing on doing weddings and elopements for queer couples. In recent years, she said she has seen an increase in the number of elopements she photographs compared to the number of traditional weddings.

"I think it allows couples to present more authentically, whether that's how they present or dress, or they want to have a totally different structure of their day," she said. "It's just a lot easier to do that when you're eloping or doing something with only a handful of people."

Treimer also attributes the rise in elopements to the current political climate.

"There is that aspect where more couples are like, ‘Oh, OK, maybe this is something that we need to move up and have a different sort of celebration because we're pulling something together a little more quickly out of fear or concern for the future,’" she said.

Liv Lyszyk, a wedding photographer based in Grand Rapids who works closely with the queer community, said she saw the same thing happen the first time Trump was elected.

"Folks are seeing their rights being stripped away and it's important for them to make sure they are legally married while they can," she said.

Lyszyk said she's seen other vendors offering discounted or free services to couples feeling the need to elope for political reasons.

"Even though things are bleak right now, I'm always in awe of the community," she said. "It has warmed my heart seeing so many folks stepping up and offering to help."

Beyond political reasons, Lyszyk said she has also seen a trend toward smaller weddings or elopements in recent years due to rising costs. At Cornman Farms, Mason added that small "elopement" packages have become their most frequent booking inquiry, though she thinks it's because people aren't giving in to the pressure of having a big wedding.

"I think couples are focusing on what really matters to them and no longer giving in to the pressure of having the type of wedding their parents had," she said. "It's more now about the experience provided for the guests, not the guest count, and that's where we really shine."

Lyszyk said it's important for her to be a queer-friendly wedding photographer to help celebrate and uplift marginalized people.

She said it's not uncommon to to hear from clients who appreciate her openness, affirmation and dedication to helping to represent and celebrate them.

"I live my life out and proud and I want my business to be an extension of that," she said.

For Treimer, being a queer-friendly vendor is about being a safe space for people while allowing them to celebrate their relationship.

"I feel passionate about making sure that I can be a safe space for people when they're already having to deal with so much," she said. "Weddings are already so stressful in general. Add on top of that that you might be having to deal with hard family dynamics or having a really rough time finding vendors or even having bad experiences with vendors. So I felt like it was so important to not only be a safe space for couples, but also really focusing on making the space so clear that it's for LGBTQ couples."

Deidra and Miranda both said when they were searching for a wedding facility, it felt validating to find so many queer-friendly vendors.

"It's extremely validating and it's also important for me because we cannot only vote with our ballot, but we can vote with our money," Miranda said. "For me it's not only helped me feel safe and accepted and supported but also making sure that my money is going towards companies that are in alignment with human rights."

In the end, the couple said they had no regrets about moving their wedding date and eloping.

"We didn't want him to win but we try to also think of some positives," Deidra said. "It did push us to get married and we're grateful that we could."

Ben Dowd said he and his partner — now Andrew Dowd — said they had no regrets either.

"It has been important to us to be mindful of how we navigate the future and in order to protect ourselves and the life we are building together, we both understand this needed to happen now while it is still a legal option," he said. "We hope that we will continue to exist, but we are not certain of anything within this current political climate."

The urgency driving these marriages reflects legitimate legal concerns. Justice Clarence Thomas has explicitly signaled he wants the Court to reconsider Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court decision that established marriage equality as a constitutional right. In his concurring opinion when Roe v. Wade was overturned, Thomas suggested the Court should revisit other precedents, including same-sex marriage protections.

Adding to these concerns, several Michigan state representatives have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell altogether. While the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act provides some federal protections, it would not prevent states from refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples if Obergefell falls.

As Michigan's LGBTQ+ community watches these developments with growing alarm, their rush to formalize relationships isn't just emotional — it's strategic. Wedding vendors across the state are bearing witness to a community that refuses to leave its future to chance, choosing instead to secure whatever legal protections remain available while they still can.