Most couples want a big white wedding. They spend hours hunting for their dream dress, hire a venue that costs and arm and a leg, and pick a DJ who turns out to be a massive (expensive) mistake. Not that there's anything wrong with a big wedding — heck, it will probably be me one day! But this couldn't be further from the way our real bride Meg and her husband Bryn chose to celebrate their marriage. They eloped — on Christmas Eve. And I have to say, they made a dreamy case for the unconventional ceremony while they were at it!
We asked Meg everything about eloping from the City Hall process, to finding a hair and makeup artist on the other side of the world. Read on to see what she had to say!
On the Elopement:
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"As soon as we got engaged we decided we wanted to elope, but weren't sure where to elope. We looked at a few island and tropical destinations first, but were not convinced as we had been on similar holidays in the past and wanted to do something really different. Neither of us had been to New York and were dying to go, so after some investigation into the process on how to get married there, we made our decision and started booking both our holiday and our big day."
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On the Dress:
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"I have always loved the label Grace Loves Lace, so my search for a wedding dress started there. I think the dresses are so beautiful and really affordable too. However when we decided to have a Winter wedding, I could no longer purchase any of these dresses as they are all made for warm Aussie weddings, with low backs and thin lace. I then started the search for more appropriate lace wedding dresses and stumbled across Made with Love — their dresses are very similar to Grace Loves Lace but they provide options for Winter. They have small boutiques in Sydney and the Gold Coast. I went to the Sydney shop with my sister, Grace, and tried on their Katie dress and fell in love with it! It was 12 months before the wedding so I purchased it and did not look at any other dresses before the big day."
2 / 9
On Hair and Makeup:
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Tracking down a hair and makeup Artist: "I booked my hair and makeup through MG Hair and Make Up. I found them online and chose them because they were so flexible in supplying an artist who was available on Christmas Eve, and able to do my hair and makeup in our hotel room. The results were phenomenal and I couldn't have asked for a nicer person to spend my morning with."
Hair and makeup on the Day: "Ashley met me at our hotel at 8 a.m. Prior to her arriving I had sent her some photos of what I wanted which she bought with her. I had washed and straightened my hair so it was easy for her to work with. She then curled it softly and pinned my fringe up. Then she did my makeup and waited for our videographers to arrive so she was there to get some pre-wedding footage. She followed my strict instructions of having a minimalist yet flawless look for makeup. I don't usually wear a lot of makeup so I didn't want to go over-the-top, but wanted to look beautiful. My hair and makeup survived all day through the windy conditions and location changes — I could not have been happier with the result, especially as I took a gamble never having worked with Ashley before."
3 / 9
On Choosing a Photographer:
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"We found our photographer Laura Pennace online! We chose her because of her beautiful, yet affordable elopement photos, but also because of how quickly she responded to my emails and how lovely she was. We emailed her all the spots we were interested in having photos taken and she worked with us on all of our requests plus more to capture photos more beautiful than we could have imagined."
4 / 9
On Finding a Florist:
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"Everything was booked online and found through google searches and social media. The florist we used was Hello Darlington, my sister works in wedding events and stumbled across her Instagram page and tagged me in a gorgeous photo she had posted of a bouquet. I commented on it and we began emailing and booked it in from there."
5 / 9
On Booking Dinner:
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"Booking dinner actually proved to be the most difficult thing to organise online. Most restaurants would not accept bookings (even for weddings) prior to two months before the date. As our date was Christmas Eve we were very nervous that we would not secure a booking. We ended up contacting the Plaza Hotel (even though they don't usually take reservations via email) and explained our situation. We were very happy when we received a lovely email from the restaurant manager confirming our reservation and stating that he was looking forward to looking after us on our special day."
6 / 9
On the City Hall Process and Ceremony:
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"Prior to leaving for our trip, Bryn and I had to lodge an online intention of our wedding. This had to be submitted within 21 days of our ceremony and consisted of full names, parents' names, and so on. The day before the wedding, we attended the City Clerk's office with our passports and received our wedding licence, however we had to wait 24 hours to use it. Time was of the essence!
"It was very busy on the day, so we were obviously a bit stressed that there would be a huge line — the City Clerk's office does not accept any reservations — it's a first come first served operation. The following day we arrived at around 10.30 a.m. We took our number and sat down for about five minutes before we were called to the desk to show our paper work and pay the $35 ceremony fee. We then sat down again for no more than two minutes before we were called into the chapel. The videographer asked the celebrant if he could put microphones on us for the ceremony, her response was, 'Well you can, but by the time you finish doing that the ceremony will be over' — so he decided not to. She was very clear and assisted us in saying the right things. She also made it pretty special and again I felt as though we were in a movie. It was amazing and I could not have asked for anything more."
7 / 9
On the Most Memorable Moments:
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"Our favourite moments were having an anonymous family pay for our dinner, and just the excitement of running around New York getting photos taken and having crowds of people clapping for us and moving out of our way for photos! We felt like celebrities and didn't want the day to end!"
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Their Tips For Anyone Planning an Elopement:
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1. Get a videographer!2. Have a big engagement party.3. Don't listen to what other people have to say.4. Be flexible.5. Have fun — eloping is supposed to be stress free, that's why you're doing it!
9 / 9
Source: Elopement Wedding Photo's in New York
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