Country Outback Elopement - Polka Dot Wedding

Camilla & Charl

Fall in love with this country outback elopement like we have! Breathtaking scenery adds to this stunning wedding where the bride and groom did things their way, complete with champagne, pearls and wedding boots! Ben Adams captured the day beautifully.

Camilla and Charl met at a Buddhist meditation group, knowing each other several years before they began dating. The bride shares, ‘We hadn’t really spoken much to each other – as you can imagine!” On the day of Charl’s proposal, she tells, ”During the morning we went to the city together to pick up my engagement ring, then headed to Apple Tree Bay in Bobbin Head. We chose this location as we have a lot of great memories of spending time with family and each other there. After setting up a picnic table, Charl took me to one side and did his proposal speech. Even although I knew it was coming, it was still really special and emotional!”

Combining the outback and a stunning dress beautifully, Camilla worked with Brides Of Sydney. She says, ”It was so much fun designing my dress! I wanted to wear boots so that I could be comfortable, but also walk in sand – so it really started with the boots! The high-low style was therefore the natural choice, as it is super easy to walk around in and generally no fuss. I also wanted long sleeves as I thought May could be a little chilly (and I know this sounds bad, but I didn’t want to deal with tan lines!). I went for 3 fittings and it was done! The seamstress, Clarissa, was amazing and made the dress exactly how I wanted it!” The groom wore a dark blue suit with a slight pattern to it. The bride and groom both remember the trials of travelling with bridal wear, saying, ”Charl will always laugh when he remembers my face at the airport when they shoved my dress through the security scanners – horrified!’

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Choosing the right venue meant a lot to the couple, with the bride sharing, ”For a long time we had wanted to visit the red centre. Uluru and Kata Tjuta in particular, as it is just such a beautiful part of this spectacular country. There is something so humbling and profoundly human about being under a huge sky in the vast openness of the desert. So when we decided to elope, this venue made perfect sense!” Arriving together, the couple walked up the sand dune hand in hand to the ceremony location. Writing their own ceremony was a special part of the day, and the couple were thrilled with their celebrant, Meredith Campbell. The bride shares, ”The feeling was really just about wanting to make a deep and genuine commitment to each other. The poem we read was, “A Ritual to Read to Each Other” by William Stafford. It holds a lot of meaning for us and is about being kind to each other and taking responsibility for your own state of mind.” The newlyweds celebrated with champagne after the ceremony, the perfect toast!

Strong believers in choosing the wedding day that you want, the bride and groom were utterly thrilled with how their day turned out. The bride shares of her favourite moments, including, ”The fact that it was just the two of us – elopement meant no stress or expectations – and it felt very connected because of this. The location, the Australian outback is just so stunning, being able to write our own ceremony, that the day was relaxed, and that we were together the entire day from start to finish – it’s rare in today’s life – and it was really special to do the entire day together.”

With every vendor doing their job exceptionally well, Camilla and Charl were over the moon with the entire day, from start to finish. They discovered Ben Adams’s blog and were very glad to have done so, saying, ”We didn’t want overly posed photos and we wanted someone to really capture the emotion and sentiment of the day. Ben is totally exceptional at this and he very much did it with our elopement!” The bride also shared of her bouquet from Wildfire Blooms, ”I wanted wildflowers and the florist in Alice did an amazing job – the bouquet was just stunning.”

Coordinating the day was wedding planner Michelle from Yulara Resort, making the day easy and stress-free for the bride and groom. The finishing touches on the day were full of heart too, as the bride tells, ”The story behind my necklace is pretty cool. My Mom had it redesigned for me and used the first strand of pearls my Dad (who sadly has passed away) gave her as well as some glass beads that belonged to my Great Grandmother – so these are at least 100 years old – which is amazing. I love this necklace.”