Sophie & James

We eloped on Friday 7th September 2018 on top of the mountains, overlooking Queenstown and were blessed with the most spectacular afternoon.

The dress I chose happened to be the first dress I tried on! I went shopping with my Mum and Sister and struck it very lucky when I saw my dress. It was a cream coloured Zimmerman dress with a soft dusty pink under layer. A dress that I will be able to wear again.

James had a suit made by the amazing menswear tailor Mitchell Ogilvie. It was a dark navy and he looked very handsome, paired with his RM Williams boots.

We were engaged just shy of 2 years before we were married, and had ourselves a beautiful daughter in between doing so.

We had a first look down by Lake Wakatipu with our immediate family present prior to heading to the helicopter to get married.

James and I met about 12 years ago, when we worked together at our local Surf Life Saving Club on the Gold Coast. Over the next few years we became the best of mates and decided to travel to Canada together, where we lived, worked and played for 18 months. We lived on the mountains and did two snow seasons together and this is where our love for each other, and the snow began.

We completely fell in love with the sense of peace while sitting at the top of the mountains away from rest of the world. We couldn’t think of a better place for us to get married than to be in a place we love so much.

I sent Sarah from The Flower Room some photos of bouquets that I loved and also a photo of my dress showing her the colours. I left it in her hands as to what she thought and what was in season, and she out did my expectations. It was absolutely stunning.

We kept the whole day as casual as possible, in keeping with our personalities.

We decided on an elopement, yet still wanted to celebrate with our nearest and dearest, so we invited our closest friends and family along for the ride!

Our most memorable moment as a couple I think would be the entire elopement, the view, the helicopter, the snow, everything!!  It was so magical, fun and exciting.

In total we were blessed to have had 40 people attend our celebration post elopement. The venue we chose to celebrate after was called Little Blackwood, perched on the edge of Queenstown’s Lake Wakatipu, in the famous Steamer Wharf Waterfront. A classic yet hip cocktail bar and eatery, with hand crafted furniture, a roaring open fire, seasonal wine menu, a delicious cocktail list, and of course plenty of beers for the boys (what more could you want).

Everyone on your guest list should be a need, not a want. Everyone you are inviting should be a blessing to you, they should fill up your cup, put a smile on your face, and generally make your life better.

We had “buddy moon” and convoyed in motor homes with a bunch of besties for just under 2 weeks. It was rad!