Planning A Stunning, Memorable, Sparkly Elopement. Just For Two

After multiple cancelled wedding plans we finally tied the knot in December 2020!! We made the very tough decision for many reasons to elope, just us two, no family or friends, and with our photographer and videographer as witnesses. As you can imagine this didn’t go down all that well with our families, but after many tears and headaches we decided to follow through with our plan of having zero guests, with the support of our friends and family.

I’m a strong believer in your wedding day being about you and your significant other, and whatever a dreamy day looks like to you is exactly what you should work towards. For some that is a generous, elegant affair, some love something more intimate, and some the most intimate it can possibly get. Full honesty, we went through all of these plans from the time we got engaged, each planned in part, and each before the plan of eloping didn’t work out for a few reasons (that we don’t need to get into). I can confidently say that our day was perfectly imperfect in the best possible way, yes we absolutely missed our loved ones and may always feel a little broken hearted to have missed out on those memories, but we wouldn’t change a thing.

Now onto the delicious details!

The most important detail to note is that to get officially married in Australia you MUST sign a NOIM (Notice Of Intended Marriage) with your officiant at least one month before you get married. This is a non negotiable. I recommend to first set a date, secondly, find your officiant and organise a time to meet with them and sign your paperwork. Russell Healy officiated our marriage, I couldn’t recommend him more highly. To note, we had a civil ceremony in Australia, so some details may be different for you based on your location or ceremony type.

Once you’ve ticked off the above, it’s time to find a venue. Some are completely content with the registry office, for us, our style is something a little more boujee so we knew we wanted to hold our ceremony in a hired space. We knew straight away the perfect venue, which was actually the venue where we initially had our wedding booked in: Stamford Park. This venue is absolutely spectacular and has the huge plus of being an old homestead and therefore includes lots of smaller spaces within it’s walls. We decided to hold our ceremony in the The Library Bar, a beautiful and intimate space with the added benefit of being indoors where we didn’t have to think about any unpredictable weather on the day. The space is filled with stunning details such as wooden cabinetry, drapery and handmade lanterns hung from the ceiling, and a gorgeous fireplace. We also considered holding our ceremony within the gardens, but decided on this option and we are so happy with our decision. We also had dinner in their restaurant afterwards.

Next up, we locked in our photographer and videographer. We worked with Stewart Leishman & C2 Films, I’ve worked with both Stewart and Marcus many times before so I knew it would be a great fit. Also, being that we were having no guests on our day, the capturing of it was really high on our priority list. Regardless of the size of your wedding I think it’s so important to not only love the style of your photographer and videographer but also to get along well with them. For the best possible photos you want someone on the other side of the lens that you can have fun with and feel comfortable in front of. Something to think about when booking them in! We allocated time for prep photos in the hotel room, location photos around the city, and of course to capture of our ceremony.

The outfits! I was really lucky that my wedding dress was already 75% ready before we decided to elope, due to the fact that we had an earlier wedding date set previously, the gorgeous thing was there waiting for me to set a new date to be finished off. The incredible Catherine from Catherine R Couture designed and made my gown. An elopement means no rules, so wear whatever it is that will make you feel stunning. I’m such a sparkle person so my design was a non-brainer, it was all about the fabric so I kept the silhouette simple. I paired my gown with a pair of classic black pumps, some gold earrings, and my gorgeous dried bouquet from Everbloome. I had my hair & makeup done by the amazing Carla Dyson.

My husband also already had his MJ Bale suit. We spotted this in the early days of our engagement before wedding plans were in progress. It was as perfect when we found it as it was on the day. We paired Julian’s suit with some patent black shoes, a classic black bowtie, and some simple cufflinks. An extra special part of his outfit was a surprise I gifted him on the day - an elegant black leather-band watch. Julian also had a matching boutonniere to my bouquet from Everbloome. And so he was also a part of the glam, he went out the barber on the morning of to have a shave and a trim.

If you plan to do a ring exchange, make sure you have rings organised, sized, and ready before the day. I had my heart set on the Cartier love ring, and my husband had his simple white gold band made by his uncle.

There are a few extra details we chose to add in, to make our day perfect for us.

We chose to completely personalise our ceremony by adding in a reading and a story, writing our own vowels, and adjusting wording so it felt most fitting to us. Your officiant can help with all of your options, making sure any legal requirements have been met.

We wanted to do a couple of traditions to make our day feel a little extra special. We decided on a cake cut, a toast, and a first dance. We ordered a delicious elderflower & lemon layered cake from Miss Ladybird, who very kindly delivered our cake the venue on the day. And we danced to “At Last” to complete the ceremony.

We booked a hotel suite for 3 nights, staying the night before the day, the night of, and the night after.

Making the day as easy as possible was important to a stress-head like me so we hired a car through Enrik to take us around for photos, to the venue for our ceremony & dinner, and then to collect us and return to the hotel.

We also wanted to make the most of the days around our ceremony, so we booked spa treatments and a bathhouse experience at Comma and late dinner at Gimlet in the city for the day after.

Honestly it was the most incredible elopement, if you feel like a full wedding isn’t for you, an elopement is just as magical in it’s own way.

Any questions or further details, just shout out.