When we decided to celebrate a millstone of our own, we procrastinated for days, weeks in fact! Where? (that was a tough decision), who are we inviting? Budget? 2nd honeymoon? Just our kids only or full family and friend’s celebration of 50-80 pax? what date? Our actual anniversary or the coming Saturday? After much deliberation, discussions and indecisive opinions we finally opted for an elopement on our actual anniversary being a Thursday it was too much to ask family and friends for time off work with just 2 weeks’ notice so we decided, an elopement was the way to go. A venue I visited earlier this year that I immediately feel in love with was the stunning Spicers Guest House in the picturesque Hunter Valley, the grounds are flawless the buildings recently renovated without and expense spared and majestic backdrop was simply amazing, Spicers happy agreed to be our host venue for our ceremony and sweet little elopement for just our immediate family. We could go past the talented Jen from Jennifer Burch Photography, who captured our story and celebration of 10 years of marriage and 13 years of love, the ceremony was created, personalised and delivered flawlessly by the lovely Steph from Sealed By Steph, my favourite oriental lilies and beautiful blooms were constructed by Rachelle at Ivy Lane Florist of course planned and coordinated by Hunter Events NSW. Making me look the part was Alicia’s Personal Hair design who styled my hair it stayed for days, flawless Makeup by Steff Matheson and dressed by Portmans. Our ceremony was beautifully sweet, equally funny and emotional with many tears between us. Our boys at the time 7, 5 & 3 had little to no interest in our ceremony and spent most the time digging and play around typical boys (your see this from the photos in our gallery), our oldest Eva however loved every moment and thoroughly enjoyed being a flower girl for the first time ever. We decided to not do the traditional ring ceremony and went with a wine letter and love box, inside we packaged our favourite wine, our vow cards and our renewal certificate sealed with a ribbon to open and re-experience our love and of course drink the wine on our 11th Anniversary. Our ceremony was quickly over we explored the grounds and got a few more family photos in different locations and I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to get a photo with the infamous kangaroo statues and we completed our morning celebration with deliciously divine breakfast served by the team at Spicers Guest House. A perfectly affordable elopement and everything we wished for all went seamlessly to plan and we loved every moment. This could have easily been a wedding in fact we were congratulated by numerous passers assuming we were newly wed’s. On another note we have some what set a trend for more couples to reignite their love, celebrate their relations and organise a renewal ceremony of their own.
Vendors:
Wedding Planning and Styling & Design: @huntereventsnsw | Hunter Events NSW
Ceremony & Breakfast: @spicersretreats | Spicers Guesthouse
Photographer: @jenniferburchphotography | Jennifer Burch Photography
Celebrant: @sealedbysteph | Sealed by Steph
Florist: @ivylanefloristnewcastle | Ivy Lane Florist
Makeup: @steffmathesonmakeupartist | Steff Matheson Makeup Artist
Hair: @aliciaspersonalhairdesign | Alicias Personal Hair Design
