Laura & Nick

Simple, fun and with a touch of retro mod style, Laura and Nick eloped in Coolangatta. The Pink Hotel was perfectly pastel as a backdrop, with Negroni’s on the rooftop a sweet end to the secret celebrations! Alivia Rose Weddings captured the magic.

Bride and groom met when young, with Laura remembering, ”I was at uni, he was working and saving to chase another girl who had just moved overseas!” Luckily, it seems all worked out for the best! As for the proposal, Nick shares, ”I wish I could say it was romantic. I was planning on proposing at an intimate Italian restaurant where Laura and I had one of our first dates. A few weeks before the planned date Laura had a really rubbish day and when we were talking about it I ended up proposing in conversation. I think she said ‘what?’ And I said the same. She did accept. But the ring was so big it didn’t even fit her thumb.”

Celebrating in simple style, without guests, made for a stripped back ceremony. Negroni’s were the beverage of choice and featured throughout the wedding, with a break from drinks taken to say vows. Nick shares, ”We struggled with our readings. Putting our thirteen year relationship into a few sentences felt impossible. We ended up doing very simple readings. If we had had a larger style wedding with our friends and family present potentially it would have been different.”

Having lived in many beautiful places around Australia, Laura and Nick decided to elope in Queensland, just 15 minutes down the road. They remember, ”The beauty of eloping is it was just us! Our families are spread across Australia and New Zealand. We have lived in Tasmania, Melbourne and currently live in Queensland. It would have been impossible to get everyone we loved together which is why we put our wedding off for so long. Our son Hunter was all we needed. He wore a Tommy Hilfiger checked shirt and white converse. He also stole all the attention because he lost his first tooth on the day!”

Laura knew exactly the style she was looking for, and had for years. Telling where she found her outfit, she shares, ”I wanted a 1960s mod mini dress. I was hunting for an original vintage but ended up finding a pattern on Etsy and getting a local lady to make it. She replied to an ad of mine on a Facebook group and when I went to meet her I realised her business was mainly making belly dancing costumes. She was an angel and did such a great job. I’m pretty sure the fabric I got for the curtain section in Spotlight. I ordered shoes but when they arrived were too small. Literally the day before I ran out and quickly grabbed these silver ones, they were a size too big! Lucky I didn’t have to walk down an aisle! Special mentions to Kasey at Harajuku Hair & Makeup for my hair and Emily Graham Makeup Artist for making me look like a Bridget Bardot and Jackie Onassis love child!” The groom wore a clean cut, light check Hugo Boss suit, while the couple used Nick’s grandma’s rings as their own.

Thrilled with putting together a day exactly as they wanted it to be, Laura and Nick share, ”The wedding was 100% us. The style, the simplicity. We had two beautiful old French bulldogs at the time and if we had known we were going to lose one a week after the wedding we would have made sure we included them. The location, the day itself and the few people that were involved we wouldn’t change at all. We didn’t have a first dance! Probably some terrible moves were busted out in our room a few drinks deep after the ceremony with our two fun witnesses.”

Eloping meant a significant amount of pressure was lifted on both the couple and the details. Laura shares, ”Calling our parents to tell them after the ceremony was pretty special, even if my Dad was disappointed he missed out on the party. The day came together effortlessly and stress free. Probably the ease and pace. Being able to enjoy our time together and have no pressure on ourselves.”

Married at The Pink Hotel in Coolangatta, the bride and groom chose the pastel building because of its architecture and style. Nick tells, ”It’s fifteen minutes from where we live. We stayed the weekend just the two of us. Woke up in the morning and after a beach swim had coffee and breakfast on the rooftop.” Laura shares about her bouquet, ”I feel like the worst bride you’ve ever interviewed! I bought them from a florist the morning of the wedding. As a Tassie girl with a green thumb for a father I always wanted hydrangeas but you won’t find those in summer in Queensland. I literally just picked the most simple bits I could see and asked them to wrap some tape around the bottom!”

Not only a photographer, but treasured witnesses too, photographer Alivia Rose Weddings was on hand to record Laura and Nick’s day. The bride remembers, ”Alivia is a very close friend of ours. She embraced this day and our ideas so enthusiastically! Have I mentioned she is basically a contortionist? The things that gal will do to get the shot! Seriously though not only was she our photographer but due to the nature of our wedding her and her partner were our witnesses. Such easy going and fun people to be around. They really made our wedding extra special.”

Thank you to our stunning bride and groom for sharing your beautiful elopement with us, and congratulations! Thank you also to Alivia Rose Weddings for your epic images.