I’m sorry to say this to today’s couple, Jess and Trev, but I happen to think baby Raven actually stole the show. “Our journey to become pregnant/have her in our arms was one that took us our all,” explains Jess “so it seemed crazy not to have her there.”.

But we must also talk about the newlyweds, Raven’s parents, because it is them, at the centre of this story, who wed during a magical Port Willunga sunset. The bride sparkling in a gorgeous sequin wedding gown, the groom breaking into dance more than once to The Wiggles “Rock a bye your bear”.

“Getting married in the middle of a pandemic made for an interesting time!” laughs Jess. “We initially wanted to get married in Cinque Terre in Italy, but all of that went by the wayside when COVID hit. I had tossed up ideas of other locations and interstate, but it made sense to get married here, only 5 minutes from home.”

The story today told all thanks to beautiful images by Will & Co Photography. I know you’ll agree this one is an utter delight!

The couple met at work, building their friendship before their love story flourished. Trev proposing, aptly, in South Australia while the couple were on their holiday. “We were on a holiday in one of our favourite seaside towns, Robe on the Limestone Coast in South Australia. We were at our favourite beach, a stretch of coastline called ‘Little Dip’ in the conservation park. We were the only ones on the whole beach and I was setting up a picnic on the sand for us while Trev was wandering around on the sand close to the shoreline.

At one point I thought he was acting a bit odd but didn’t think that much of it haha. He then called me over and pointed out that there was ‘something shiny in the sand’. At that point, I think I knew what was about to happen but didn’t want to get too excited. I found a bottle in the sand with a message inside- a little inside joke/thing we always say to each other and him asking me to marry him. I can’t even remember if I said yes, I just remember there was a lot of tears!”

There was no processional for these guys, says Jess. “Trev, Raven and I all walked down the cliff, aka ‘aisle’ together. No music, just Trev clutching at Raven and me praying that I wasn’t going to roll down the side of the cliff on the tiny rocks that I kept slipping on haha.”

Jess and Trev chose Gull Rock, in Port Willunga for their day. “We picked the cliffs of Port Willunga (Gull Rock) to elope on as its one of our favourite stretches of coastline. It also makes for epic photos! Neither of us realised we would have to scale the cliff to get to our ‘spot’, especially since Trev has a fear of heights, but it was so worth it. We left it up to the photographers to pick the spot for the ceremony and they delivered the goods.”

“Our celebrant Vicky was such a pleasure to work with and an absolute legend. If you want someone fun, full of energy and extremely considerate, she is your woman.”

Bonnie Blooms  styled the bride’s beautiful bouquet. “I choose to have Bonnie from Bonnie Blooms create a wedding bouquet, a small posy for Raven and a buttonhole. Bonnie’s work is a little wild and untamed, elegant, seasonal and just absolutely beautiful. I buy her flowers from local shops in the area so it was a no brainer to pick her as the artist to create our flowers. I gave her a brief colour palette, a few types of flowers that I loved and left it completely in her hands. She was such a pleasure to deal with and she is incredibly talented.”

Vicky Flanegan officiated the ceremony. “It was simple, full of laughter and a few tears. We stood on the edge of the cliff, the sun beaming down on us and there were uninterrupted views of the Fleurieu coastline each way you looked. Our celebrant Vicky was so much fun, so she kept it short and sweet. She did her thing, we exchanged vows, had a kiss and then we just soaked it all in. We didn’t want anything big or fancy, and it was perfection.”

Raven was, of course, a big part of the day. “On the day of our elopement she rarely ate or slept so she was rather unhappy during/after the ceremony, but our amazing photographers and Trev managed to keep her happy for some pictures. Our beautiful friend Julieanne came to our aid not long after the ceremony, where she looked after her in the car park while we could get some photos taken.”

Jess and Trev loved their choice of photographer Dana. Jess noting “I first met Dana via Zoom. I am very much a ‘love to meet people in person, person’ so was a bit nervous. But honestly, it was like chatting to a best friend that I hadn’t seen in years. I knew as soon as we started speaking, and even before that chatting through DM’s on Instagram, that we were in safe hands.

Neither Trev nor I enjoy having our photo taken and are not very good at posing so we knew that they had their work cut out for them. Both Dana and Doug were relaxed, fun and very easy to work with. We didn’t feel pressured to pose and they were so patient with our daughter Raven.”

This was a day of zero regrets, says Jess. “We were going to have a reception/dinner at a local Vietnamese place, with only 30 or so family/friends. But when restrictions on numbers kept getting capped we pulled the pin- rules were changing by the day. I was already getting stressed and that’s one of the reasons we opted for an elopement, so we chose to just have dinner by ourselves. Turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

We drove ourselves to and from the wedding, realising that time was getting away from us. We quickly got dressed in our bedroom with a baby in arms before heading out the door. We were sent a drop pin location from our photographer of where to meet (after a few changes and a quick call to the celebrant) and that’s when the magic happened.”

The bride purchased her sequin gown on Asos. “I saw it online a few years ago and couldn’t stop looking at it. The model had such a different body shape than me so I was so put off buying it. My best friend and I went to a wedding dress store in Adelaide and I didn’t like anything that I tried on. I left feeling so disheartened, but couldn’t stop thinking about the sequin gown so I just thought ‘I’m just going to order it, and if it looks shit I can return it’. It came in the post and I loved it as soon as I saw it out of its bag. I tried it on and loved it even more. I knew it needed a few little adjustments (I wanted the back clasped to not be as open and the front pinned so I could tape my boobs!). I used an earring stud to pin the dress together at the front and took a few photos to send to my girls. They loved it just as much as I did and that sealed the deal for me.
The dress went from being off the rack to fitting me perfectly thanks to a local dressmaker, Megan from She Sews in Mclaren Vale.”

The first dance was beautifully spontaneous. “We had an impromptu first dance on the cliffs as the sun was setting. Dana had something acoustic playing through the speaker and it all just happened. Not planned, (ask Trev, I hate slow dancing) but it was pretty surreal. I was super emotional yet laughing at the same time. That weird feeling of being so overjoyed but a can’t-believe-this-is-happening feeling.”

One of my favourite moments of Jess and Trev involved The Wiggles. Jess sharing “Raven was pretty cranky in the photos after the ceremony, so in an attempt to change the mood Dana started playing ‘Rock a bye your bear’ by The Wiggles on the speaker. Raven wasn’t into it at all, but Dana and I were singing and dancing our way along the cliffs – I think we secretly loved it more than Raven did.”

“Because it was such a small elopement, there wasn’t much to organise which made it super fun and not stressful at all. I loved each vendor we worked with and had seen their work prior, so I felt like were in really safe hands.”

“If you want to elope, just do it!” advises Jess. “If we got married we would have had around 150 people there. I was getting anxious just thinking about it and have never wanted a big wedding or wanted to walk down an aisle/have a first dance in front of everyone. Trev was supportive with whatever I preferred, so we opted for super intimate, with no additional family or friends at the ceremony. I was so worried about upsetting family and friends for choosing to elope but had to keep telling myself that at the end of the day it’s all about the people getting married. You don’t get married for everyone else, you get married for yourselves. And if eloping is what makes you happy, just do that.

I would not have done it any other way, it was the best.”

The newlyweds celebrated with dinner just for the two of them, complete with confetti! “When we got home from the elopement our friends came over to look after our daughter while we went to dinner at one of our favourite restaurants, The Salopian Inn. Secretly our friend had borrowed his brother’s car, had wedding ribbon put on the front of the car and had it parked out the front for us so he could drive us to dinner. The restaurant was only five minutes away but it was such a special thought.

When we got to dinner another one of our friends Bec had sneakingly been to the restaurant beforehand and covered our table in confetti. She also ordered us a bottle of bubbles to pop and to celebrate our elopement. Once we finished dinner we went home, to find that Bec had made and left a wedding cake for us on our doorstep. She made us the same wedding cake she had on her wedding day (she got the recipe off of the baker) so it was even more special. We truly have the most thoughtful and best friends. And the cake was bloody delicious.”

A big congratulations to you both Jess and Trev! Thank you for sharing your beautiful wedding stories with us! Thank you also to Will & Co Photography for sharing today’s celebration with us!