Saying ‘I do’ with eSignature

When Jane and Ethan became engaged in 2018, little did they know that a two-year engagement would end up throwing their wedding plans into disarray. Little did anyone know, in 2018, that life would soon be turned on its head.

Of course, we’re all now extremely familiar with the story that played out. The lockdowns. The closure of offices. The cancellation of dancing, singing, parties … and weddings.

The arrival of Covid meant that Jane and Ethan took a different path to what they’d envisaged in 2018. They had no idea, back then, that they’d end up signing their wedding licence via eSignature. But that’s exactly what they had to do and, as it turned out, it was quite a serendipitous signing.

Jane, originally from Australia, had been living in the United States for over a decade. So the  wedding, initially planned for May 2020 in San Francisco, was going to bring friends and family from across the globe to the Californian city. The pandemic forced a postponement, which Jane wasn’t too worried about. “We can wait a year,” she thought. 

And so they did. But, one year on, life was still very much in lockdown in their neck of the woods, and there was still a lot of uncertainty about the pandemic. “It was devastating having to cancel the wedding again. We had everything booked for the new date – a florist, cake, photographer – and we didn’t want to see it go to waste,” said Jane.

So the couple decided to have a civil ceremony at City Hall in San Francisco. But, alas, City Hall was closed to in-person ceremonies. Their only option was a virtual civil ceremony via Zoom. “It was the height of the pandemic and we didn’t know what the future would hold. So we said, ‘Let’s do it’.”

A serendipitous signing ceremony

In the weeks leading up to their digital wedding, Jane had just received a job offer from DocuSign. She was shortly due to start as a product designer on the notary team. So when, on Zoom, the official from City Hall pulled up the marriage certificate and Jane saw it was a DocuSign document, she felt like it was all meant to be. “It just felt cosmically right,” she said.

Via the video link, Jane and Ethan added their eSignatures to the marriage documents from their apartment, while their witness added his eSignature from his own apartment. The celebrant finished it off, making their union official.

“It was nothing like what we had originally planned. But we wanted to make something positive happen out of all this, and we did,” Jane said. 

Of course, this story is by no means unique. Across the United States, City Halls were closed indefinitely – and couples still wanted to wed. Many counties legalised virtual or online civil ceremonies, and stories flooded the internet of people taking this path to matrimony. 

Of course, nothing beats a traditional ceremony. And Jane and Ethan are very much looking forward to their wedding ceremony this May, where they will celebrate in-person with friends and family. But their story shows that when extenuating circumstances kick tradition to the door, then having options like eSignature really do save the day. 

“DocuSign can be there for you at all times, the good and the bad. It’s so reassuring to know that the serious moments in life can be facilitated via DocuSign, even when external events are keeping everyone apart,” said Jane.