Rachel & Tim

Elopements are what dreams are made of when they’re as beautiful as this one. Rachel and Tim, from the UK and Perth respectively, wanted a day that was just about their love story. So they ditched the guest list and enlisted the help  Perth Elopement Company to pull together their beautiful Western Australia beach elopement. With Amanda Afton Photography behind the camera and a perfect Australian beach day on the cards, it was a day that was so reflective of how the couple met – on a spur of the moment holiday to Australia for the bride.

After a first date that lasted twelve hours, and many moons later, Tim popped the question on the beach. Rachel tells the story. “Tim told me earlier in the week that he wanted to take me out on a surprise trip that coming weekend. I had been ill and pretty much housebound for a month so it was his idea of getting me out for the day since I was feeling better. I didn’t expect it to end in a proposal. The day started with an envelope marked number 1 and in it contained my first clue for the treasure hunt he had devised for the day. There were 14 clues in total. The second to last clue brought me to City beach which is where the previous year when we had met we had buried a message in a bottle. The clue was to dig it up. I thought to retrieve the message was my treasure, but Tim asked me to read the note we had left aloud to him. It was exactly how we had left it apart from at the bottom P.T.O had been added. So I turned the paper over and on the back was written “Will you marry me?” and when I looked up he was down on one knee with the most amazing ring.”

The bride chose an ethereal ballgown from Collezione Bridal Couture, remarking “My dress was fairly simple. It had a strapless top with a sweetheart neckline. It was a full-skirted style with about six layers. The top layer being organza. The lining was a blush colour, so the whole dress was a very subtle pink. The waist was embellished with a floral design using pearls, diamanté and organza petals.”

Rachel remarks “We wanted the right team around us and we achieved that through the Perth Elopement Company. We had an amazing Celebrant, Photographer and Florist who all worked together to bring the vision of our perfect day together. We also wanted to travel around in style on the day and I managed to find a VW camper van named ‘Minty’ that came with an excellent driver who put up with all the location changes and waiting around without any complaints.”

“When we were walking down the beach towards the aisle I became stuck halfway as we hadn’t realised that my veil had been collecting the entire beach as we were walking. So we had to stop so Tim could help release me. Even Belinda, the Celebrant came running over to rescue us. It was a funny moment. I think most brides would have probably freaked out and if I had a crowd of people waiting at the Arbor watching me, maybe I would have, but I just had laughed and carried on. There is nothing you can do to turn back the clock on a wedding day or to say “if only”. Only I had control over how I would be able to remember that situation, so the best thing was to just carry on, because fretting about it wouldn’t have changed the fact it had happened.” The couple chose Haley Reinhart – Can’t Help Falling in Love as they walked down the beach together.

 Tim and Rachel chose Gnarabup Beach for their ceremony, noting “We chose the venue as we had been to Margaret River with my parents the year before and we loved the tranquillity and beauty of it. We wanted somewhere that was away from home, but close enough for us to re-visit in order to re-live the memory of the day.” 

Belinda Clinton – Love Your Way officiated proceedings, the bride remembering “We wanted the ceremony to be intimate, personal and heartfelt, which it was. The ceremony couldn’t have been more perfect and it helped that we had a brilliant celebrant in the form of Belinda Clinton who helped to make it such a personal ceremony. We did readings for each other that were kept a surprise from one another until the day. I read a poem by A.A.Milne from his ‘Now We Are Six’ series. Tim read one about Atoms which he customised with a few of his own words to make it more relatable to us. He is a Doctor so it was very apt of him to choose something so ‘nerdy’!”

“I love all the photos for different reasons, but the ones where we are acting like idiots and that are not even the best photos of us are my favourite as you can just see how relaxed and fun the day was. We are not serious characters unless of course, the time calls for it, we both like to have a laugh and make each other laugh and our wedding day was no different.”

“Everything about the day was perfect. I liked the fact that it was so relaxed and we didn’t have to worry about anyone, but each other. We even managed to go for breakfast in the morning and play a board game in the afternoon – who gets to say they did that on their wedding day?!”

Of their photographer, the bride remarks  “Amanda was great. She made us both feel very relaxed and I liked that her style wasn’t too formal. Yes, there were some posed shots, but most of the time she was just snapping away while we carried on with the day. She captured the day perfectly. We loved her work so much we used her again for our reception and I would work with her again if we had the chance.”

Marielle Studio  styled the bouquet for the bride, Rachel explaining “My flowers were silk as I wanted to be able to use them again for the reception we had the following month. They were a mixture of pale pink, ivory and Burgundy Peonies and Roses and I had lots of greenery including eucalyptus leaves.”

The couple headed to a bar after they finished their photographs, where they had an impromptu first dance. “Our first dance on our wedding day came about by chance. We were not going to have one, but the Jazz bar we went to after dinner had a live duet playing and they both got us up in front of the whole bar to do our first dance while they sang ‘At Last’ By Etta James. It was a perfect moment. We felt like we were in our own movie. The day just couldn’t have gone more perfect and the best part of it was that it wasn’t all planned and a lot happened by chance.”

Congratulations Rachel and Tim! Thank you for sharing such a personal moment in your life together with us! Thank you also to Amanda Afton Photography for sharing today’s beautiful; elopement!