We’re all for spontaneity – we often just jump in the troopy for a roadtrip or hop on a plane and head overseas, fuelled by ur love of experience and adventure! We love a spontaneous elopement too, but the truth is, most elopements these days requires a bit of planning. (This part can be super fun though, so don’t worry!)

You know you want to exchange your vows, you know that you want to elope, you know you want it to be in an incredible location and you know that you want it to be a unique and meaningful experience. If you’re hoping to elope in a stunning Australian location or even go one step further and book an overseas destination like Mexico, New Zealand, Iceland or Scotland (for example) it really helps to know how to plan your elopement timeline. That’s where we come in. We will work with you to create a day that is true to you and your relationship and that steps outside of that traditional fuss and focuses on the things that truly matter.

To help you out, here’s our elopement planning checklist, covering all of the major things you need to think about. 

Step 1: The Experience – How do you want the day to feel?

We truly believe that when you make the decision to elope you make the decision to put yourself first. In doing so you give yourself permission to experience you wedding day how ever you want. So, what do you want to do? How do you want to feel?

An elopement is so much more than just jumping on a plane, going somewhere beautiful and saying I do. An elopement is about creating your perfect day and making memories that will last a life time. It’s about dedicating your day to you, your relationship and something that you LOVE doing together.

Your elopement should really be an extension of who you are as a couple, so think about your passions, values and interests – what do you love? There are no limits here! What do you and your partner like to do together? What activities bring you the most joy? Do you like to travel? Hike? Road trip? Surf? Chase waterfalls? Go camping? Go diving? 

We want you to have a think about your perfect day! This is the perfect way to start building your elopement time line.

Step 2: Key Elopement Elements

Because you have given yourself permission to create your perfect day this also means that you are the one who gets to create the rules too! You only need to include the parts that really matter to you and your partner. Do what you love and ditch the rest!

Here are some common elopement elements that people like to include

• Accomodation – Elopements aren’t traditional and your accommodations shouldn’t be either!
• Starting your day – Make the whole day special. How do you and your parter like to start your day together? An early morning walk? Sipping coffee on the back porch watching the sunrise? Doing Yoga? Hanging with your dogs? Exercising?

• Getting ready photos – We love getting ready photos! Sometimes you may think that they are a bit of a bother but trust us when we say you wont regret looking back through your album and reminiscing on every tiny detail of your perfect day.

• A first look – You can choose to do this before the ceremony or wait until the ceremony starts.

• Adventure – What’s an elopement without adding a wild adventure that is true to you and your relationship. A hike, a helicopter ride, off roading. What ever it is make sure that it brings you joy!

• Ceremony – This is one of our favourite parts of the day because this is where you look your partner in the eye and tell them that you choose them! Just like everything else in your elopement this part can be designed however you want too. You can opt for a symbolic ceremony or a legal (sometimes symbolic ceremonies are easier if you are planning on eloping overseas), you can have guests or none at all, you can have your dogs there, it can be on top of a mountain using the incredible scenery as the backdrop, it can be overlooking the ocean. It can be whatever your heart desires!

• Portraits -let’s find some incredible locations for your portraits!

• Celebratory dinner – finish the day off with just the two of you or your family and friends celebrating the most perfect day ever.

Step 3: Put it all together

Once you have decided where you want to elope, how you want the day to feel, what activities you want to do and what elements you want to include it’s time to put it all together. This is the part where we start to really figure out all the details like order of events, time of day, lighting, travel times to and from locations, how many hours you will need in your package. An elopement can be as long or as short as you want it to be! While the actual ceremony, which involves exchanging vows, is usually only 20-30 minutes, you can add lots of meaningful moments to your day – whether you want to read letters from loved ones, spend time in quiet meditation, or do a bushwalk to your elopement location. 

Our goal is to work with you to create a timeline that allows us to fit in all the key elopement elements but also leave space for you and your partner to relax, have some down time, be present and soak it all in too.

Here’s an example timeline of what your elopement may look like:

11:00 – 2:30 – Morning activity like yoga, exercise, hang with friends, go for a walk, brunch with the family – how ever you like to start your day

2:30 – 4:00 – Get ready

4:00- 4:30 – First look

4:30 – 5:00 – Drive to elopement location

5:00 – 5:30 – Exchange vows and rings

5:30 – 6:30 – Couple portraits at location / various locations and gift exchange

5:30 – 6:00 – Drive to reception site / air bnb

6:00 – ONWARDS – Celebrate with the two of you or family and friends at your air bnb.