Grace and Anthony’s intimate lakeside elopement in Tasmania is fine mix of classic wedding photography with sumptuous colors and a divine example of elite wedding photojournalism by Who Shot the Photographer. In this “love in the time of corona” that we’re all living in, we know too many couples that have completely revised their wedding plans and have had to pull a wild rabbit out of their hat that they didn’t even know was going to exist.
The soon-to-be-newlyweds opted to get married in the Australian bush, a location that’s always captured their hearts. It started out with their wedding at Pumphouse Point, a fantastic lakeside location with astounding views. Photog James followed the couple around all day, photographing priceless moments that ended with a delightful buffet of wine and a charcuterie board to crush over whilst they sat atop pillows on the floor. While Grace and Anthony’s elopement was done pre-pandemic and solely chosen because they wanted to avoid “stressing over minute details and appeasing family pressures”, it is a top-shelf showcase of what our “new wedding normal” is, and that a beautiful wedding regardless of what’s going on can be achieved.
How did you meet?
Grace and I both work in healthcare and share a passion for travel and adventure. No surprise that we have been drawn to working rurally across WA. We crossed paths in Geraldton about five years ago and were introduced at the Geraldton Hotel by a friend at the Sunday afternoon ‘hermit crab racing’ (it is exactly as it sounds). Though we didn’t start dating for another year, we kept in regularly contact, sharing our travel stories. Eventually, after mistaking each other dressing up for a casual dinner as we must have asked each other out on a date, we decided we wanted to share our adventures together.
What is your proposal story?
In 2018 we travelled to Portugal and Spain for my cousin’s wedding. Afterwards, all the family were heading to Munich for Oktoberfest. Grace wasn’t as keen on going to a beer drinking festival so I appeased her by saying we’ll spend a few days driving through the countryside.
Little did she know, I had smuggled an engagement ring along and kept it secret until we got to Germany. On the day, I hired out a vintage 1972 BMW 3.0CS coupe and drove to Neuschwanstein in the Bavarian Alps – the famous “Disney castle” of King Ludwig the 2nd. I had planned to propose on the Marienbrücke overlooking the castle but a busload of tourists ruined that option! Instead, we took a detour down a hiking track and found an isolate spot on a hiking trail, with the perfect view the canopy looking across the bridge to the castle. Here I asked Grace if she wanted to join me for a lifetime of adventures together.
What was the most important to the two of you while planning? Was there anything that you chose to splurge on or skip?
Our elopement and honeymoon was a month long affair – starting with our ceremony and continuing on with a campervan trip across most of Tasmania. We spent our month doing what we love – adventuring. Through it, we enjoyed hiking and climbing through the outdoors in Tasmania’s fantastic national parks. We spotted hundreds of wild animals. We enjoyed the delicious food and wine the state had to offer.
Our biggest splurge was the accommodation. Pumphouse Point is an exclusive resort on the edge of Lake St Clair. Staying at the Retreat, the all-inclusive top tier room, we were treated to freshly made bread on order, an extensive range of fine Tasmanian wines, cheeses and seafood. This was with an infinity window view of the lake and pumphouse, as well as our own exclusive outdoor bath. Every night we were treated to a delicious paddock-to-plate meal all from Coldstream Farm. It was absolute heaven. This, along with our ceremony, was all arranged by our amazing celebrant Tracey Bruce from Popup Weddings Tasmania, who made our day just soo magical.
What did we skip? All the stress of organising this ourselves. We picked the location, told Tracey our plan and she ran with it.
What were your favorite parts of the day?
Our day was just perfect. Still day with blue skies and 20 degrees (68 degrees F). After enjoying our breakfast, we went for a morning run along the shores of Lake St Clair – great way to settle the nerves. On the way back we were blessed by seeing not one by two echidnas who came right up to us.
We got ready back at the Retreat as James (photographer), Ebony (hair & makeup) and Tracey (celebrant) arrived, enjoying a lunch of lovely fresh sourdough and assorted larder snacks.
Then came the big moment. We walked off into the bush and found a lovely clearing near the water next to an old gum tree – it was perfect. Whilst placing the bouquet down on a ledge on the tree, Grace became tangled and ripped a tiny bit of her dress – thankfully the adrenaline and excitement about our special moment helped keep us together! We said our own individual vows and in a blink of an eye, we were married.
The rest of the afternoon was Grace and I going on a little adventure with James in tow. We were so incredibly lucky to have won the services of our favourite photographer and the images here just show that. We all had fun experimenting with different poses and lighting conditions to great effect. In particular, the twilight photos in front of the Pumphouse were stunning.
However the most special moment of the day was when, by chance, we saw something splashing in the water. It was not one, but two platypuses, playing in Lake St Clair just metres away. We were blessed twice that day by matrimonial monotremes!
Do you have any advice for couples planning their weddings now?
Remember this is your special day – do what makes you feel special. Do not feel pressured by family, friends or finances into doing something that you don’t want or may regret. Whilst your wedding day is only a blink of the eye in terms of married life, you want to remember it for the right reasons!
We had a blast eloping interstate and it was absolutely stress free! We had planned to do a reception for when we returned – if not for COVID cancelling those plans. However we have no regrets at all with how our elopement and honeymoon went.