Rachel and Dane's Byron Bay Elopement
Wedding Date: March 30th, 2022
Captured by Joey and Jase
Rachel wears our Tyler Gown
What was your wedding venue (ceremony & reception) and why did you choose there?
We made the decision to elope at a secluded beach in Byron Bay which is reachable by a 10 minute drive down a dirt road followed by a 10 minute walk down an off-beaten trail. So as you can imagine, we had the entire beach to ourselves and it was magical. We chose to get married here because we’ve always been so in love with the ocean, and this beach in particular.
How did you and your now Husband meet?
Funny enough, we met at the Ivy which is a huge nightclub in Sydney. I was working there as a bartender and he was my manager. Then COVID happened and I knew I wasn’t going to work there anymore so I thought I’d shoot my shot and send him some flirty messages during lockdown. We caught up in person and have very literally been inseparable since.
What is your proposal story?
Dane and I knew we would end up together pretty early on into our relationship, so we were always open in talking about marriage and proposing.
I basically knew it was coming and even hassled him a little bit to hurry it up! He ended up getting down on one knee at the beach and giving me the sweetest little speech while our puppy was jumping all over him. It was so special.
Captured by Joey and Jase
How did you hear about Prea James Bridal?
I always walk past the Paddington boutique on my way to work, and my friend and I would always talk about how beautiful the dresses in the window looked.
I knew from the moment I first walked past that I wanted to get married in a Prea James dress.
From where did you purchase your gown?
The Paddington boutique with the lovely Kira!
What do you love most about the gown?
I loved how I instantly felt comfortable as soon as I put it on. It’s hard to explain but I just felt 100% myself.
The Tyler gown is so effortlessly beautiful and modern. I had always envisioned myself in a two piece wedding dress but had dreamt of something that was also elegant, and the Tyler gown was exactly that.
It was actually the first and only wedding dress I ever tried on. My first appointment at the boutique lasted about 5 minutes because I literally tried it on and knew it was the one!
The quality of the material was also phenomenal. The silk is so luxurious. I was so worried about steaming the dress by myself on the day of the wedding because I was told by someone to be careful of water stains from the steamer. But, the dress ended up getting completely saturated by the ocean during the wedding and the fabric was so good that you literally couldn’t even tell that it was wet, so I didn’t even need to worry about the steamer at all!
Are there any special details about your wedding that you would like to share? (A particular reason you chose the venue, or the date, or did you have a special ritual in your day that was important to you?
Dane and I always knew we wanted to elope. We wanted the day to be spent focusing solely on each other and not having to be separated from one another because we were too busy entertaining guests.
Funnily enough, everything that could’ve possibly gone wrong on our wedding day actually did go wrong. It rained more in Byron Bay in the 24 hours before our wedding before it ever has in history and the town flooded for the first time. I remember going to sleep the night before the wedding, and I looked outside of the window and the trees were basically sideways from the wind. I said to Dane “I’m scared heaps of trees will fall down and block some roads tonight”. He assured me that they wouldn’t.
To start off our wedding morning, we were driving down to the beach we were getting married out to check it out and a gigantic tree had fallen down in the storm and blocked the only road to get there. After having a brief argument with Dane because he assured me that no trees would fall down, I also get a message from my hair and makeup artist telling me that she was flooded in and most likely wouldn’t be able to make it.
But, we were determined to get married that day and there was nothing that was going to stop us. It was always going to be March 30th. After crying for a couple of hours, we drove back to the tree and there were two SES guys there taking a look at it.
I bawled my eyes out to them and they were super comforting (even though they couldn’t help but laugh a bit because I looked like a train wreck) and told me that they’d sort it out and they promised me that the whole day would end up being the most amazing wedding story ever. They had the tree cleared with an excavator within two hours which was incredible, and I’ll forever be grateful to them.
And from there everything started to turn around! The makeup artist ended up being able to make it to me just an hour before our ceremony started, and ended up doing the most beautiful job despite being so rushed. The celebrant and the photographer who were driving to Byron from the Gold Coast managed to finally find one road into Byron that wasn’t closed.
My makeup was done about 5 minutes before the celebrant and photographer got there so I chucked on my dress and Dane and I had our first look at each other in our dress and suit just by ourselves. It was a really beautiful and emotional moment.
The rain had been relentlessly pouring down all day and finally stopped about half an hour before we made it down to our special beach to get married. The whole day was a miracle and we ended it by sitting down at the local pizza shop and pigging out still in our wedding dress and suit.
Finally, Do you have any words of wisdom for couples planning their big day? This can be to do with any part of the wedding – eg, planning, budget, or the day itself.
The best piece of advice I could give is to be completely present on the day. Don’t stress about everything working out so perfectly, just appreciate the moment and everything else will fall into place naturally. I spent two months in the lead up to our elopement stressing about the weather and everything else that could potentially go wrong, and on the day I could not have cared less because the only thing that mattered was marrying my best friend. The day was over in the blink of an eye so I definitely would’ve regretted spending the whole time stressing.
I think that the most important thing, and also the best memories from your wedding day will be the small and intimate moments that you share with your special person.
And honestly, I know that lots of people dream of a big wedding with a big party and lots of guests. But if the thought of it has crossed your mind, or if you’re thinking about eloping; just do it! Sharing the entire day and experience with just my husband was everything I ever could’ve asked for.
I do, however, recommend getting a dress that you adore and feel comfortable in and a wonderful photographer who can capture all of those special moments. We absolutely cherish our wedding photos, and I’ll have my Prea James dress stored in safe keeping forever. You can’t put a price on either of these things.
Wedding Vendors
Photographer: Joey and Jase
Instagram: @joeyandjase
Jase was our dream photographer. From the moment we met him, he made us feel super relaxed. I’m usually pretty awkward with photos, but he shot in such a candid and non invasive way that it was almost as if he wasn’t even there. We can’t thank him enough for capturing our special moments so beautifully.
Hair & Makeup: Nahid Kholghi
Instagram: @nahid_makeupartist
This woman was incredible. She went out of her way to make it to me despite the floods and road closures and she managed to do the most beautiful natural hair and makeup look, which was exactly what I wanted, all within 45 minutes.
Wedding Co-ordinator: The Elopement Collective
Instagram: @elopementcollective
These guys were just amazing. We literally gave them a date, a location and chose a photographer from their collection and they sorted out the rest. They made our day as stress free as possible.
Accessories:
Veil: My veil was the Tutti Tulle Veil from Prea James which I was absolutely in love with. Sadly my husband put it in and it fell out pretty quickly haha.
Jewellery: My earrings were Christie Nicolaides.
Grooms Suits: Dane asked me to come with him when he bought his wedding suit and we basically walked into David Jones and I gave him a random suit to try just to get his sizing and he was like “yep I’ll get this one”, which ended up being a Van Heusen suit.
Captured by Joey and Jase