Screw it, Let's Elope

This episode stars Romana Sae Heng and Cheryl Landsberry from Elope Brisbane. We discuss with them their amazing experiences including scavenger hunt elopements and getting married in a Cemetry. You want to hear this!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the bridal brief. My name is Stephanie Fitzpatrick
from Beautiful Illusions Event Styling.
And Ruth Ryan from Ruth Ryan Photography.
The purpose of the Bridal Brief is to help you before, on and
after your wedding day with our advice plus.
Bringing on a few friends along the way.
We have something really specialhappening today, don't we Ruth?

(00:20):
We sure do. We do.
We have discussed budgets and space and we thought this is a
perfect time to talk about another option for those who
don't want to spend up big. Mm Hmm, yes, that's right, we
are staying. Screw it, let's elope.
And today is particularly special because for the first
time, we have two special guestswith us.
We do, yes. We would like to welcome Ramana

(00:44):
Sihang and Cheryl Lansbury from Elope Brisbane.
Hello. Thank you so much for coming,
ladies. Thank you for having us.
And I believe you guys have justcome straight from elopement.
Yeah, do. You wanna tell us about that?
Yeah, a good day. It was an amazing day.
Look that right, We left a couple super, super duper happy.

(01:05):
They got exactly what they wanted.
It was down at our little Chapelat shore thing at in Capalaba.
Yes, which we'll talk more aboutI.
Think because it's a great concept.
Yeah. It was a great day.
They. Yeah.
Short and sweet and got pretty photographs.
They didn't have to organise a lot, just their outfits and that
was pretty much it it. Was perfect.

(01:26):
Too, for all the little kids. I think there was seven children
under 8. So it was an enclosed space
where they could. They couldn't escape.
Yeah, and so it didn't matter. There's nobody else there at the
venue, just family, and they could sit on their lap or sit on
the floor or do whatever they wanted and it was fine.
Just run around cause a month, yeah.

(01:48):
Yeah, it was funny though, because mother of the groom
arrived and she looked, took onelook at me and she goes, wait, I
know you, I used to work with your mum and Cheryl married the
other parents 15 years ago. Yeah.
That is such. A small world.
Yeah, the bride's parents or her, her mum and her step dad

(02:12):
who's become her dad, did their wedding 15 years ago.
And when the bride booked me, she didn't actually know, but as
I was filling out the paperwork I was like, recognise that name.
But of course privacy couldn't let on.
And then today at the wedding, yes, a little reunion, we got a
photo 15 years on and they askedif I'd like to be the celebrant

(02:35):
for their twenty year vow renewal.
In Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's so sweet. Yeah, and so lovely to see all
the kids who were little flower girls at the wedding.
Will you be there? Celebrate.
Yeah. Well, yes.
Well, I was for one to They're all growing up.
Right. Yeah, that's happening.
Yeah, yeah, it was fun. Brisbane can be a small place

(02:57):
especially, especially Redlands.Yeah, well, we like to do we
like to start off the same way every time and hear our guests
proposal stories and a little bit about their wedding story.
So how about you guys tell us, Ramana, do you want to start?
Do we want wedding or proposal? Let's do both.

(03:18):
Both. OK, so proposal.
You might need to use the quack sound for this one.
We. So I was.
I totally knew it was gonna happen.
Steve was in cahoots with So My Steve.
Not your Steve, obviously. Yeah.
We already had a house. We already had the kid.
Yeah. And he was up to something with

(03:40):
Mum. And I knew.
I knew what was happening, but in the moment I had no clue.
It organised a romantic picnic down at Wellington Point.
Watch the sunset. We'd finished having you know,
it was beautiful. We'd finished pretty much
finished eating and I was just like a mum was babysitting the
baby and I could see some water rats start to dart in and out of

(04:03):
the. Rockwalls.
How? Romano.
I was like it is time to go so packed everything up and then
the last thing to pack up was the picnic blanket.
So I'm standing up trying to gettug this picnic blanket, fold it
up, put it away and Steve is on bended knee.
I didn't realise he was on bended knee though.
I'm like mate, what are you doing?

(04:24):
I'm. Trying to do something here can.
You get up, up. I was like, get up.
What are you doing? There are rats.
We're gonna go. He's like, can you just chill
for one second? I'm trying to do something here.
And then I realised it would finally clicked.
But yeah. So that was cute.
Oh. That's really cute, lovely, and
it's nice down at Wellington Point.
He picked a good location. He did.

(04:45):
Yeah, he did. And it's only if you're like
there for a period and go wait, I can see something in the
corner of my eye. It was.
Just to add to the atmosphere. 100% yeah, the sunset itself.
It's one of the nice places on the East Coast where you can
actually watch the sunset because of the way it curves
around. So yeah, yeah, that's well
planned. Yeah, that's lovely.
And what about the wedding? The wedding?

(05:07):
Which one? Did you go overseas?
So I was gonna say which one because we've been married three
times. Oh.
As well. Let's start with the first one.
Who's your favourite So our. Proper legal wedding.
Well, yeah, so we did a 10 year bar annual and then last year we
did a 20 year bar annual. But the first one we had a

(05:27):
surprise wedding met because Steve comes from a really big
family. He's Fiji and Tom and Scottish.
He had over 200 people. At his 21st birthday, his
brother got married in Fiji. And I did the invitations and
every week my father in law would say to me, Ramana love,
can you make me another 20 invitations?

(05:49):
Oh my Lord. They're all handmade.
Right. Every week I was like, you know
what would be cheaper? Just to sky rides, of course.
Fiji wedding Saturday. But anyway, so because of the
numbers, we wanted to keep it down.
We had a surprise wedding and because, you know, we were a
young couple, we had a mortgage.We decided to Instead of

(06:12):
spending money on a venue, we put our money into landscaping
our backyard. Oh, that's a good idea.
Yeah. So.
And because back then, wedding venues were wedding venues, like
they were expensive. There were no cheap options.
There were no alternatives. So we're like, OK, let's do it.
And we did it DIY 'cause, you know, creative hands over here.

(06:34):
Or she could do it or DIY. Yeah.
A lot of people do, yeah, yes. Well, Nan used to be a caterer
and a seamstress, so she did bridesmaids dresses, flower
girls dresses. I was.
She did my wedding cake, I was lucky to be gifted my wedding
gown and then I bought a change up dress as well for the

(06:55):
reception. The theme was blue and white and
the only thing that I regret wasnot having a professional
photographer, which sounds inside because I've been a
photographer for 25 years. Last may just go on, but I just

(07:18):
didn't. I'd already shot quite a few
weddings at that point on 35 millimetre film because I'm that
old, but didn't realise that youreally need a wedding
photographer because I just because I could shoot a wedding
didn't mean other photographers could shoot a wedding.
That's right. It's a different age, Yeah. 100%

(07:38):
yeah. And so that's the only thing I
regret from my wedding day was that but and you know, we ended
up telling Steve's family about the surprise, his parents about
the surprise two weeks before. They weren't impressed.
Oh no. So our little wedding that was
just immediate family and we both come from big families.
So our little wedding turned into about 60 which is still is

(08:00):
still in still. Getting into that medium now.
Yeah, that yeah, that's exactly right.
Getting into the medium. But it was we don't regret who
came to the wedding. But.
But yeah, they, yeah, they were glad that we told the movie.
Yeah. Yeah.
But the only person that was truly, truly surprised because
of that happening on the day wasmy great grandmother's best

(08:22):
friend, who was 92 at the time of the wedding.
Oh wow, so that was. Lovely.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's nice. Yeah.
Oh, that's really sweet. Yeah.
So then you went overseas for the.
Second one, yeah, right. So we did about 10 year vow
annual in Paris very. Nice.
We had a day in Paris photographer, so we got like a

(08:46):
little mini tour. We had change ups and then part
of that was into wedding attire in the palace grounds, said, you
know, beautiful things to each other.
And then we had dinner in Le Jules Verne, which is like the
highest restaurant in the EiffelTower.
We did it with our best friends.Sorry, it was it.
Is nice there. I have eaten there.

(09:08):
Yes, it's it's so, so good. Yeah, yeah.
And then our twenty year of our annual we did last year at our
venue. Yes, sure thing.
So. Yeah.
And it was disco balls and rainbows and.
Totally different, very different.
It sounds like Amy's wedding, doesn't it?
She would say she she's very much a party atmosphere.

(09:30):
Yes, very much. We had rainbow coloured heart
shaped sunglasses for everyone with their names on them.
But yeah, everything would be perfect.
But we did. Yeah, Yeah.
But that's the. Perfect time to do it.
I have our renewal and. Cheryl, Cheryl did the did did
our vow renewal. Yeah.
Celebrant. Yeah.
It was beautiful. Yeah, that's perfect.

(09:52):
Oh, well, that was lovely. Yeah, great start.
Now your turn. Cheryl, tell us about your
proposal. Well, nothing exciting for the
proposal actually, but we might have to redo that at some stage
down the track, yeah. I can suggest.
To that, yeah. The Summit Restaurant, maybe?
Yeah, something nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(10:13):
Perhaps we could have a redo. Yeah, I feel like if he listens
to our other proposal episode, we gave lots of good.
Ideas. Yeah, you can't find an idea
after that episode. I think that that episode is
where all our male listeners. Have government.
I think so. Just getting the ideas, but we

(10:33):
actually eloped over 30 years ago.
We flew to the Whitsundays and we got a little package that was
all inclusive, so it cost us about $2000.
I mean, this was some years ago,but we had our flights, a week's
accommodation and meals. And we had a photographer, the

(10:56):
island photographer, not a wedding photographer, but the
island photographer had took a roll of 36 shots.
Yeah. Oh wow, and being a blinker
total, Yeah, being a blinker. I was not blinking for about 6
of them. Got my hair done in a bouquet
and my dress cost $70.00 from Westfield.

(11:18):
So we just had a week's holiday really after our little ceremony
and then mum and dad picked us up from the airport when we
arrived back home. So I got married while we were
on holidays and then we just hada nice little dinner.
OK, were the parents upset? No, not really.
They kind of expected maybe something.
They got over it, yeah. Yeah.

(11:41):
And gave us the money they've been saving for the wedding.
And we got to buy all furniture for our house and well.
That's great. Yeah.
That's nice. Yeah.
That is lovely. Yeah.
Yep, Yep. Lovely.
Well, you'll be able to really well answer some of the
questions maybe that we have about feelings.
Yeah. Like I had no regrets.

(12:02):
Yeah. And I mean, I think parents then
were glad that you weren't goingto live in sin because that was
a thing back in the olden days, not for us, but for the parents.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So maybe they were relieved we
weren't living in sin. But they probably disappointed
they missed the wedding but got over that.

(12:25):
Yeah, and then you gave them a whole wave of grandchildren.
Yeah. That's right.
You right. Oh, well, that's lovely.
Yeah. Do you guys want to tell us
about Elope Brisbane and what inspired you to start your
business, Ramana? Well, a bit of a analyzer so for
quite a while. So we started pop up weddings
Bayside in 2016 and that was coming from a change in trends.

(12:52):
So lots of weekday weddings. Yeah, so we started pop up
wedding space side in 2016 and that was off, you know, seeing
changes in trends to weekday weddings, smaller packages,
smaller guest numbers and weddings.
So we started that and then off the success of that because that

(13:13):
was very much Redlands based, Brisbane space side based and
around venues. But I was still doing lots of
Brisbane weddings. So we decided to take the same
team but focus on Brisbane and also focus on elopements.
So there was behind the scenes planning in the background.

(13:36):
But January 2020 is when Elope Brisbane actually the name was
founded and we started that and then obviously, yeah, great if
you. Hadn't known what was coming.
That well, that's it. And then of course, March was
the first weddings, COVID weddings that hit Australia.
And so weddings got shut down altogether.
But it gave us lots of time to start really planning and

(13:59):
getting the website done and allthat stuff.
So, so, but we did start to do weddings that year.
So while lots of people weren't doing any weddings at all, we
still did 35 weddings in 2020. And then, as you said, perfect
timing the following year, 75 weddings.
Yeah. Wow, so amazing.
Yeah. And then the year after that was
125. But that was obviously

(14:22):
postponement starting to come back as well as.
Yeah. So.
So I guess it was just, you know, I guess seeing trends
change was the inspiration for it.
But but then it kind of evolved because during that period where
most of the wedding industry hadclosed down, I was like, well,

(14:43):
if we do more inclusive packagesand at least some of our friends
said aren't getting any work at the moment, can still be in the
industry and still be doing something.
So when we're down to five people weddings, for instance,
like I couldn't tell you how many times I've witnessed a
wedding. So I was a witness and a
photographer because then if thephotographer wasn't there, then
how is Nan and all the people that couldn't be there because,

(15:07):
you know, they're more vulnerable as well.
How are they going to have a seethe wedding?
So but then it means I could also deliver the cake.
Yeah, I could deliver the flowers.
I could be double up on things and then make.
Sure, all these people. Yeah, well, that's it.
And then make sure, you know, that the Starlers had been had
gone before we arrived and then was there again later so that we

(15:27):
went up to six people. So it was just.
Yeah, it was. I think that too a lot of
people, you know, that happened in COVID and now people are
like, Oh well, I could do it then real cheap.
But now I can, I still can. So there is still this industry
for. It 100% and you'll see so many
people at the time were like thankful because like we always
wanted to or we always wanted tohave a small microwave and.

(15:50):
We'll spend the money. That I could spend the money
when I see it. And then and then for the
parents, the pressure from family as well to have a
particular type of wedding, to have all these extra guests that
they never would have normally invited.
The pressure was gone because they were like, sorry, we really
want to get back because we wantto start our lives together.
We want to get married now. It's just going to happen now

(16:11):
and it's just not going to happen the way family want it to
happen. Yeah, yeah.
That's true. That's right.
Yeah. And Cheryl, you obviously
remember I asked you to be in this business and involved in
this business with her. What made you want to be
involved? Oh, as soon as she plotted the
idea, I was like, yeah, that is a great idea.
I mean, and I think it was the following week that we started

(16:33):
scouting out for locations and went for day trips and looked at
parks and do they have the requirements?
We wanted to have a really big variety of locations for people
who wanted to have something that's in the middle of the Bush
or something that wanted to havemore manicured looking gardens
to have their wedding or a Riverview.

(16:53):
And so we found a lot of different locations and.
So do people, when they book their package with you, do they
pick us like you've got certain locations you'll do it in, so
you won't just do it anywhere? Yeah, we'll do it anywhere.
Oh, you will. But they often want suggestions.
Oh yeah, that's fair. Yeah, that's right, because
we've been to all these places where all the parking's a bit

(17:15):
tricky at that place. Or we can let them know the pros
and cons of any location and there's photos of all the
weddings that we've done at all the locations.
It's actually quite hard to choose a favourite once you
start looking at all the beautiful photos.
Yes, yeah, because once people start working out what it is
that they want, yeah, like even things like is the location pet

(17:38):
friendly? They want their fur baby to be
there, but grandma, they want grandma there too and she's in a
wheelchair, so it needs to be accessible, you know, so and
then in terms of like time of day, all that stuff that as a
photographer I would have given them that information anyway.
People are really grateful because now we can go.
Okay, so okay, okay, family's gonna be there in the middle of

(18:00):
summer in Queensland. Let's push the ceremony time
back to 5:30 because the sun doesn't set till 7.
Otherwise they're gonna be roasting.
Yeah. So yeah, so there are different,
different elements, but we basically with a low Brisbane
offer, it's all inclusive. So all the planning, all the
advice, all the help on locations and then all the

(18:21):
vendors as well as little or as many for some.
Yes, yes, that. And you guys have won actually
quite a few awards as well, haven't you, We?
Have. Yeah, individually and between
us as well. Yeah, Tell us, Tell us.
You should. This is your time to boast about
what you have done and what you have achieved.
Now the time. To brag, Well, I.

(18:43):
Just second, OK, so it's very little bit.
So lately, let's talk about lastfew years, last what you've won.
Last year I I got top 10 celebrant in Queensland or is it
SE Queensland which? Is huge considering how many of
them there are. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I should get it out on the wall, but I did get

(19:06):
something in it some way. Yeah.
No, well, we've taken out top allotments for Brisbane and for
the entire of Australia for, I don't know, maybe like since we
started executive raising, Yeah.So since we started like for
five years, yeah, Yeah. And then?
And that's in the bride's ChoiceAwards.

(19:26):
Yes, yes, yeah. So in the bride's are voting for
you right. And I wedding wedding.
Choice, they've updated. Wedding industry, sorry, sorry
yes, wedding industry awards, which I love.
What I love about this is that it's the brides that vote and
they're the people that should vote and so it's a bigger than
like just, you know, other vendors voting for you.

(19:47):
These are happy customers. You can't.
Get your friends to vote for you, no.
They're like paying happy customers.
It's. People who've had the wedding in
the certain dates, yeah, in the last financial year and they've
had their wedding and they've used these supplies and they can
vote for those. Supplies.
Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, I like that.

(20:08):
OK, so now we did talk about your your Chapel.
Ramana, why don't you tell us a little bit more about it?
Well, it's a little boutique space in Capalaba in Brisbane
space side kind of. We call it a wedding Chapel.
It's more a wedding Chapel in terms of like a Vegas style
Chapel and it's a shop front. It's not doesn't have a steeple,

(20:30):
but it's super versatile. It looks really cute.
It's lots of photo opportunitiesand it's really best telling
that you can be, you can bring your own drinks, you can bring
your own food. It could be just your ceremony
space or it could be ceremony and reception.
So with or just your party spaceafterwards.

(20:52):
So super, super flexible. We move things around, we we do
all sorts of things that how many people do you reckon is the
match you can fit in there? Well.
It's just cocktails, cocktail salt.
Well, for our twenty year of ourrenewal, we had 70 people.
That's a lot. That's a lot.
But we did spread outside as well.

(21:13):
So we had a bit of an indoor outdoor vibe.
So on the outside we had some more tables and chairs, the
vintage combi as a photo break, lawn games, that type of thing
outside in the front car park. But if we were just inside, we
wouldn't push 50 cocktail like Iwould say. 40 is a lot.
Be a better. Yeah.

(21:33):
Like for the type of thing you're offering, Yeah, it's a
decent amount. And sit down.
We could do 30. I'd say 30.
Sit down. Yeah, yeah.
It's super lucky enough to attend the opening of that and
it's a great space. And like you said, you've got
multiple photo opportunities, which are awesome.
Yeah, you've done a great job atsetting it up.

(21:54):
Thank you. I think it's super handy having
the air con. Yes, yeah, it's a great wet
weather. For the ceremony.
Yes, yeah, ceremony. Quite often we're out, and, you
know, you've got the sweat dripping off you.
And so I was like, oh, nice, cool air conditioning.
Yeah. And then if there's a few storm
clouds around, it's like a handybackup plan.
Well, we can always go back to the Chapel.

(22:15):
Yeah, that's true. People if they wanted to,
because like, I mean, I do lots of ceremonies around and they
say, oh, we don't know what we're gonna do.
Is our wedding backup? Like would it?
Can they? Can they hire it as a wedding
backup? Plan.
Absolutely. Yeah, Yeah, absolutely.
Good to know. Leave that one in the tank.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

(22:39):
And what do you guys love about your job?
What is it that inspires you about About the wedding
industry, I just love. The high that you get from being
involved with the wedding, it's quite addictive.
You get a little bit of adrenaline happen happening and.
And you're with someone on the happiest day of their life.

(22:59):
Yeah, and that's pretty fabulous.
Yeah, I look, I want to say everything.
What we love everything. Yeah, but that would be the only
thing I don't like are the 2:00 AM Sunday DMS inquiring about
weddings. That's the only thing I probably
don't like. Yeah, I do think that there is
this misconception that people want to answer the phone that I

(23:21):
I got a call one night at 1:00 AM with the sister of a bride
asking me why we when we were arriving to set up because they
were all there. So the previous function had
finished at 12:00 PM and they'd all come to set it up and I was
like, we're not coming tonight, we'll be there in the morning. 0

(23:42):
But she said you were coming tonight.
Or can you send me a picture of the centrepieces?
And. I was like, no, it's like 1:00
in the morning. I'm sleeping, I will be there in
the morning and a normal time. Yeah, I'm sorry, are they paying
you like some sort of Yeah. What do you call it?
Loading fee? Yeah, I.

(24:03):
Think there's this misconceptionthat we're available just 24/7?
Yeah. Yeah, no.
But look, apart from that, you know you are, you're with these,
you're with people on the absolute best day of their
lives. They're all looking amazing,
they're feeling amazing, they'rewith their favourite people.
Why wouldn't you wanna be a partof that?
It's just gorgeous. That's.
True, I do love the midnight emails from bride straight after

(24:24):
a wedding thanking you. Yeah.
That's amazing. That's so forgetting from that.
Nice though asking for. Can I have a sneak peek like?
Just let me go to bed, No. Or I am bushy tails and doing
it. I do tend to want to as soon as
I get home and no matter how late it is, I want to look at
the photos straight away. It puts my mind at ease.

(24:45):
Firstly, just to make sure that they're all there and they're
all OK. But yeah, it's often a little
bit of pushing the friendship ifyou're asking at 1:00 AM for
some sneak peeks. I've put an end to that because
I'm probably go too, too far. But yeah, as soon as I get back,
as you say, you like that Peace of Mind.
Yeah, but I can't help myself. Send them I've.

(25:06):
I send them 6 pics to the same night so maybe?
Those 1:00 AM, they're complaining about it, Cheryl,
but they both love. It we both love it.
We love it, I. Just I like them to have
something straight away. I mean, they've got socials to
keep updated, yeah. And and they want to do it
straight away while they're still excited.
Yeah, and I don't want them to post their iPhone photos.

(25:27):
I want to post. Especially if they're saying my
photographer wires and then it'sjust the selfie.
You're like, I did not take thatfor.
Sure. I feel like that about styling.
Yeah, when I'm tagged in photos that we did just the chair
covers and the sashes and. The DIY thing in the middle.
We're looking at the bowl with the fishing rod.

(25:50):
With the live fish. I like, don't tag me.
It's not necessary. I'm okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that's fine.
Why don't you tell us about an interesting or funny elopement
you've done together? Have you got one?
We we've done hundreds or yes, we do not just allotments, but

(26:11):
also micro weddings as well. So we'll talk about so possibly,
you know, weddings for 20-30 forty people.
We had a couple of sunrise weddings on Stratty last year.
So we because of the time the barges run, we had to travel
over the night before. So we all go over the night

(26:32):
before pack all our gear stadiumbunk beds I.
Did not sleep in the bunk bed. I've got a double.
No, you did. That one time I did at Steph
House. I was like, Cheryl, don't laugh
in this morning right next to you.
And then we had to be up at like2:30 in the morning.

(26:56):
Susie was doing hair and makeup so she had to get up first and
we were still in bed till wake me through required.
Yeah, yeah. Till about 3:30, then had to get
up and put on a face drive to the beach set up in the dark by
torch light and then you know, the couple walked down onto the
beach and it was, it was magical.

(27:18):
Yeah. OK, a few S bombs on the drive
there. But the whole way there become
why are we doing it? Who organised?
We do it every single. Time.
I actually have been there myself with the sunrise one and
we were setting it up with headlamps and there were so many
roots from this tree on the ground that we had.
Let's try and navigate with carrying all the furniture.

(27:38):
Yeah, it's up down on the beach.Who thought of this?
Oh dear, this is crazy. And then the sun comes out and.
It's just beautiful. Yeah, yeah.
There is something nice about itbecause you can have that
candlelight, like we had lanterns with light, yeah, down
the aisle and they're going downwith that kind of that, you
know? Yeah, Twilight, but like the

(27:59):
opposite. Yeah.
Beautiful. Yeah.
That's lovely. We've done lots of fun weddings
like we've got for sure. One of my oldest couples, groom
was 87 years old and the bride was 72.
Oh, they've got children, they've got grandchildren,
they've got great grandchildren.So they've, you know,

(28:20):
unofficially been married for a long time. 100% they just never
did. They never did the legal thing.
So that was. Cute, but that is adorable.
Halloween wedding. Yes, that one at the cemetery,
that was fabulous. Oh my gosh.
So. Good.
Yeah, Halloween, I said. How do you feel about a
cemetery? She always.
We love it. So she well they should have

(28:41):
goth people. Yes, they were goth people and
she had actually a tombstone tattoo on her ankle that said
till death do us part. And so they actually wanted that
to be part of their ceremony. But it wasn't corny.
It was actually really respectable in the cemetery.
It was tranquil place and there was just this really quiet

(29:04):
atmosphere there and it it was agreat wedding when.
Was the wedding. 3:30 in the. Afternoon, so we still timed it
so we had golden hour photos. I, I was a little bit
superstitious. I said, look, we I'm going to
make sure we have a bunch of roses, long stem roses.

(29:27):
And for every, every plot that we're going to be taking photos
near, we are going to lay a rosebecause I don't want any bad Doo
Doo. Yeah, that's.
So this is a celebration of the place rather than trying to, you
know, do something that we shouldn't be doing.
Yeah. But yeah.
But we did smoke like smoke bombs as I was particularly that

(29:48):
real Misty vibe. It was beautiful.
She had, we did the ABBA had like black chiffon.
We had a Billy goat skull on it.Oh yeah.
So it was what did she wear, wasn't she?
She wore black and like black lace headscarf.
It was. Well, yes, yeah.
Oh, and then the gold crown. She did.

(30:10):
Made out of zip. Zip ties.
What? Yes.
Yep, it was incredible. It looked good.
I did feel like we need to see some photos, yeah.
That's on stage. It was Pinterest.
Go to Pinterest and just type inzip tie.
Crown. Gothic crown, yeah.
OK, yeah, it was great. Now I just feel like I have this

(30:32):
urge to go and get a pack of thezip ties and try this.
I've done it too, it looks great.
It does look good. It does look.
Good. And do you have to get
permission to do this in the centre?
So I did research it as long because they they do lock the
door and lock the gates at some point.
But no, there was. No, Yeah.
So what do you do if there's a funeral happening at that?

(30:56):
Well, we were just questions of your.
Move to a different area, yeah. Yeah, OK.
Fair enough. I'm not sure there were any
plots left at the cemetery that we went to, so it was more just
if people were there to pay their respects.
But there's a. Lot of there's a lot of Brisbane
that have quite old US. It's quite old cemetery.
That's all we wanted. Generally, you're not gonna

(31:16):
find. People.
Yeah, Yeah. And look, we chose it because it
still had those beautiful old tombstones, not, you know, all
the brand new flashy marble ones.
Yes, but but yeah, so it was great.
But a little bit hot air balloonallotments.
We were talking about proposals that we all balloons.
I had a couple who we I organised for them to.

(31:40):
So they met in London, getting married in Brisbane.
He is from the United States. She's English.
They're now Australian, but I organised as part of their
adventure Love Adventure, which is like an adventure allotment
that we went to the planetarium and they got to spend some time

(32:00):
under the very same stars that they've met in London.
Wow. In Brisbane.
So again, not funny, but yeah, pretty, pretty special.
Impressive. Really.
When you said that sorry for life, Yeah, we got 1000, Sir.
We could just keep going all day.
That reminded me when you said that they were one from the US,

(32:21):
one from the UK about the couplewho married on Straddy and they
were live streaming to their families overseas and they just
happened to be a giant male kangaroo standing between the
couple as they exchanged their wedding vows.
Yeah, he was huge for everyone. Overseas they would have just
been like, they're really in Australia.

(32:44):
It was so weird because he was like the row was edge, like he
was edging into like he was like, he's like.
There is my face. So bizarre.
Perfect. Maybe he liked the bride.
We were setting up, we were setting up something the other
day, an event, it's an engagement party or something,
and I have someone from the UK on staff and there was always

(33:07):
Wallabies revealed. So I was like Jordan, we've
arranged for these Wallabies so that you don't have to go to
Australian Zoo. You should be very grateful that
for what we provide for you, it's a gym at the same time as
being at the zoo. Yeah, don't say we don't do
anything for you. I like that that's.
So good. Yeah, what about the puzzle one

(33:29):
for that couple who were into puzzles and they wanted to do an
escape room? Yeah, we organised the whole.
The whole wedding was a scavenger hunt they had to the.
Clues. That's right up our alleys.
We would, so we would be all over.
That yeah, yeah. They had no idea which each like
where the locations where they were going to for their
adventure allotment, but once they deciphered that clue, they

(33:53):
were like they had some inkling of where they were going to next
and where their final ceremony would be.
So right. And so it was just the bride and
groom doing it. Yeah, well, we've had some,
we've done it a couple of times and we've had somewhere, it's
just a couple, but then they've met their family at the ceremony
space. So the family we're in on the
secret. So I'm the one that contacted

(34:13):
them to let them know where to be.
But then we've had ones where the parents have joined them
part. Way.
Yeah, yeah, it's amazing what a great idea.
Yeah. There's also creative stories
there, but yeah. If you do want a funny one, I do
have a funny one. We always it's.
Not not in a low Brisbane story.It's we're going back probably
about 15 years. But you've got a picture, a nice

(34:37):
full figured bride, quite, you know, the Lavaliers.
Good bust happening. She was wearing Cadbury.
I remember a Cadbury purple dress, lots of pickups, but the
very low cut Princess cut dress.Yeah, at the very last minute,
because the couple had met at karaoke the very last minute,
she decided she wanted to serenade her groom while while

(35:00):
walking down the aisle. So nothing was planned.
So then you have to picture, andI know you'll know this venue,
but I'm just going to say picture a very wide sweeping
stairway that sort of sweeps up and then at the top of the
stairs, you then walk straight down the aisle.
It's only a little aisle, but straight down the aisle.
So there's no time for a transitioning.

(35:21):
You have to pick up the dress, hold your bouquet, hold on to
your. I think it was her brother at
the time that her dad while walking up the stairs where to
put a microphone because you know it's last minute.
There's no lemons. I've got a feeling I know what
this is. I know too, didn't the?
Celebrant was very new. A guy.

(35:42):
He was a young man. Celebrant.
He goes. Yeah, yeah, sure.
OK, I'll come to the rescue. Here's my microphone.
But a big, proper microphone. Oh.
No. Down the boobs into the
cleavage. All you can see, you can't see
the handle anymore. All you can see is this big
black head of a microphone in her cleavage and she's walking
up the stairs and then down the aisle and then.

(36:05):
Yeah, so. I was singing.
No one even noticed. I want to say it was great, but
I used to be in a band so it wasOK, but.
She tried. She put in her best effort.
Yeah, yeah. Look and there.
Was he might just love her voiceso he.
Yeah, and that's why they're getting married.

(36:26):
But. But the funniest part was when
the celebrant had to retrieve, said Mike.
So someone had to dig it out andthen hand sweaty boobie Mike.
Celebrate so that's that's so ifyou wanna see Serenade.
Then maybe be better prepared. Better prepared wireless lapel

(36:48):
mic, something that can be discreet and or pre record and
then you can just concentrate onwhat you need to do and it's
still your voice coming down there.
Or you could hide it in your bouquet and then sing into your
bouquet. Love it go.
Ruth. That sounds like a Ruth idea.
I actually think it's really funny because the face, for

(37:10):
example, I said to the DJ for mywedding, I was like, oh, so I'm
gonna get my cousins to sing outfirst dance.
And his immediate reaction was like, Oh, no, like, you know,
and stuff and like that because you've never heard them sing.
And I'll try time. Yeah, they're amazing.

(37:31):
They are amazing. And oh, no, he's like, what do I
need? Not they gonna bring the guitar.
You just need a couple of mics and.
And he was really good sport about it, but I could tell
straight away he was not OK withit.
Yeah, that must have happened a few times to him.
Yes, yeah. And, and and he's like, oh,
'cause they come, can they come and do sound check at this time?

(37:52):
I'm like, I'm sure they'd be fine with that, but can you guys
do sound check? Yeah, no worries.
Straight up sound check. He's like, Oh my God, they're
amazing. And he didn't have to worry.
No, there was no worry at all because I hadn't told anyone
really, except a couple of friends that they were doing it.
But I really, I just wanted thatspecial touch.
But yeah, I think that's the immediate reaction of a lot of

(38:14):
people is no, please don't. Yeah, 100% not if they don't
know, if they're not a professional.
So you know, but. And what's the shortest time
development that you guys have done?
Well, in Australia today, yeah. No, in Australia you need to
have a month notice. So the majority of our couples

(38:34):
do a shorter time than a big wedding.
So maybe 3 months, six months, even a year.
Some do, but generally shorter than the bigger weddings.
But there are special circumstances where people can
be married in less than a month if they do apply for those
conditions, which is a health issue or a travel issue,

(38:58):
something like that. So we have done some with the
legal shortening granted, but generally a month minimum is the
legal for coin. Right.
And then we've also done some weddings where like because I'll
often have couples go, OK, so can we get married in two weeks?

(39:18):
They're like legally, no, what are the circumstances?
And you kind of get a viable straightaway, the family is
there on holiday, families here on holiday.
We've decided we should do it while they're here.
And we didn't occur to us when, you know, we were planning their
whole and helping them plan their holiday.
So. So they've been quite a few
occasions where we've done a commitment ceremony while the

(39:39):
family's been there, but then the legals a few weeks after.
Yeah. So, yeah.
So that way they could still have the the important bits,
which also sent to another podcast.
Apparently in this couple have was from London as well, which
is a whole thing in in the UK where you could have a

(40:01):
celebrate, but you've got a registrar as well.
Two different things. And often they separate the
whole thing. So yeah, so for them it wasn't a
big deal because it's what they would do at home anyway.
But yeah, so we, we. So two weeks is probably the
shortest. That we have done, that you have
done, yeah. I mean, like that's quite a
short timeline. So it's good achievement to get

(40:23):
it done in. There we do have one couple who
contacted us madly in love. We want to get married as soon
as possible. So I explained the legal
requirement is one month and so they got married exactly one
month later. Actually their original inquiry
though was for the two weeks. Yeah, yeah, they didn't realise

(40:44):
that you had to wait the month. Yeah, I think a few people don't
realise that. Yeah, like, I mean, that's just
an Australian thing. I think it's different overseas.
I like definitely checking your local area.
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, definitely check that.
Because otherwise she don't wantthat surprise.
Oh no, I can't make it legal. Now, no, that's right.
I like to call it cooling off period before you buy.

(41:07):
Yeah, luckily here the celebrantusually takes care of that
notice. Like for Yeah.
So we're really lucky here in Australia.
Yeah. But yes, so we, I love asking
this question. What is the most common term and
condition that you have that people don't read that they
should read? Maybe Ramona as a as a
photographer. I don't know if it's a the term

(41:31):
and conditions that they don't read more often it it's the
scheduling that I give them thatthey haven't read as in usually
the praise ceremony stuff of Ruth coming in with me on this
one. But I will give them a very
detailed outline of this is the time that your hair and makeup
needs to be finishing up by yourattendance or mom, whoever's

(41:54):
helping you get dressed and ready.
They need to be ready by this time.
So that way they look amazing when they're helping you into
your dress because it's about you getting them ready or you're
your suit or whatever it is, butit's about you getting ready,
not them getting ready. So then you arrive and they're

(42:15):
either already dressed and everyone's done, and then you're
like, what have I got? A photograph.
I feel like a war probably everysecond wedding it would be, but
they just haven't gone by the timeline.
Or they're still still in their pyjamas and someone still needs
to wash their hair. Yeah.
And they're like, well, now thatjust puts off your whole day
because, yeah, you're still going to expect all those
beautiful photographs, but with what time that's left?

(42:38):
Yeah, there's only so many timesyou can take photo of the dress
or the rings, 100% still there for maybe an hour and then, you
know, they're not ready and you know.
That's it. And they need to.
Everyone needs to factor in how long it takes to get into an
Infinity dress. Yes, true.
Too long, especially if you haven't practised.

(43:00):
If you don't know how those boobies are gonna fit in that
dress, it's gonna take half an hour to get into the dress.
Yeah, that's tough, isn't it? Yeah, yeah.
So Cheryl, have you got a term and conditions people should?
I do have my own terms and conditions, but they're a really
basic, like you've got to show me the documentation, but they

(43:20):
are surprised about the legal requirements.
People don't know that there's the one month notice that you've
got to give. People don't know that if you've
been married and divorced previously that you've got to
show the celebrant your previousdivorce certificate.
Now what? We don't need to show you that
or to prove that you're divorced.
And so it's not difficult to get.

(43:42):
You can just download from the court portal but people haven't
realised that they will need to obtain that.
Yeah, no, fair enough. I mean, I, I think, yeah, I
think the reason I like this question is because there are
sometimes those terms and conditions like for us, we have
a clean up fee if people leave rubbish around the ceremony
because we're not there to cleanup the rubbish.

(44:04):
But we also, you know, but we. Will do it either.
I'm not. Yeah, that's right.
I'm not going to let it get intoour waterways, am I?
So we're going to take it away and we're going to put it in the
bin and stuff, but we charge extra for that.
Yeah, you're probably right. In terms of the allotments, then
they're probably the one that they don't read, which we always
send is the confetti rule and that's the council's park rules.

(44:25):
That's right, yeah. They just don't realise, do
they? People don't kind of take the
time to read those. And so that's why it is, I
think, really important to read the terms and conditions and
understand. Yeah, definitely.
Yeah, the Botanic Gardens in particular is called rules about
confetti and petals and things like that.
Balloons. No balloons in QLD.

(44:46):
Yeah, right. No balloon releases.
Yeah, Yep. Yeah.
Which is a good rule. I think exactly.
I agree. Yep, Yep. 01 of my favourite
parts is celebrity elopement. Yes, yay.
So they like to be celebrities. Yeah.
I mean, it's not like these guysdon't have the money to go and
have a big, what, lavish wedding.

(45:06):
But they've, for whatever reason, I guess, decided to
elope. So Benji Madden and Cameron
Diaz, they just had it at home with 2020 odd people.
I think that's it. Like, yeah, yeah, I can see them
doing. I mean, I'm sure that home is
lovely. I think so.
Quite a while. Yeah.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck got married in Vegas.

(45:30):
I mean, those two have lots of money.
They do. And they're still John Denver.
No, this this is their latest one.
Yeah, I thought they'd separatedagain.
Oh, have they? I don't know if it's a sorry.
We're trying to find all ones that.
They were still together. No, you're right.
You might be right. You might be right.
We might come. Back at that, right?
Like since we look this up, Kristen got married again in the

(45:52):
same farm. Kristen Bell and Axe Shepard.
I love these guys. We've had them on.
Yeah, Beverly Hills Courthouse. You've had them on the podcast
before. No, we've talked about them
before. Yeah, because they were the ones
that we they were talking about their elopement.
You know, they're welcome. Yeah.
Beverly Hills Courthouse. They got married at, which I
think is quite cute. Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis.

(46:13):
So at a ranch was it? Theirs.
It was their ranch, I think, wasn't it?
I don't think it was, wasn't it?I don't.
Think so because I love the lookof their place.
Oh no, I don't. Think it was.
I don't think so. I mean, I'm, I'm sure it was a
lovely ranch. Yeah, Adam Brody and Leyton
Meester. So by the ocean I got.

(46:35):
They're a cute couple today. They are cute.
Sorry Jennifer Lopez and Better Flag finalised their divorce
January 2025. How does this happen?
They made a divorce again this. Last third time how?
Dare they? Well, we were, we were.
You know, I find this really interesting because I want to

(46:57):
know what you guys think. The appeal of celebrity
elopements is based on the fact that they clearly have the
money, right? What makes these celebrities
want to do this? Surely it's privacy.
Privacy 100. Percent privacy and and probably
not just privacy, it's probably a lot to do with the fact that
they're probably around a lot ofpeople all the time.

(47:20):
They just want an expectation. Maybe they just don't want that
expectation. That too.
Could be that the photographs are worth a lot more with very
exclusive rights. Maybe.
I mean, it's totally possible. Yeah, yeah.
No, look, I think people just think that celebrities are a
free for all. You know that with the celebrity

(47:41):
status, everyone can have a piece of them, you know what I
mean? Like, that's right.
I just think, yes, if you weren't going to take a selfie
with celebrity, you still need to ask permission.
Yeah, Seriously. Yeah, I agree.
Absolutely. So they probably, yeah, it's
probably more, you know, weddings are personal.
So maybe they do want something that's private personal.
I did when we were doing this. I can't remember what celebrity

(48:03):
it was, but they were talking about like they actually got
married and didn't even tell anyone to like years and years
later they suddenly came out with Ohio.
No, we did get married. That he.
Yeah. And no one of like.
Nobody. Nobody almost cares at that
point. It's like, oh, yeah, OK, oh, OK,
sure. Yeah.
But at the time, it probably would have been a big free for
all. Yeah.
There were a lot of celebrity loopers that the couple didn't

(48:24):
work out. So not that that's that.
That's any sort of percentage gesture.
No, but yes. No.
Yeah. Well, clearly Cheryl is like the
exception here. How long have you been married
now, Cheryl? Over 30 years exactly.
Yeah. Yeah.
It works out. Yeah, exactly.
So we thought we'd just go over what type of allotment packages

(48:45):
there are. I'll just lease this and then
we'll just have some afterwards.So there's a legal allotment
where they. It must be performed by a
registered celebrant. There are vows, and they must
sign all the legal documents forit to be legal under law.
Then we've got the symbolic elopement, which is just to
commit your heart and souls together.
There are vows, but there's no paperwork needed.

(49:07):
This is common for overseas weddings right when they're, but
they have to do a legal one backat home if they want it to be
actually legal. Yeah, we often call that a
commitment ceremony. And the opposite then would be a
renewal of vows if the couple have already had a legal
wedding. And then they're going to have a
renewal ceremony, which is not legal.

(49:30):
And that could happen because they've got half the family in
one state, and they might have aceremony there, and that might
be the legal one. And then they'd still like to do
something for the other side of the family, which is all in this
particular area. And so that will be called a
renewal then, because they're already legally married.

(49:50):
Right, OK. So you don't have to wait 10
years or 20 years. To do a reading.
It could be the following week in a different country.
Yeah. I mean I really enjoyed my
wedding, maybe I should just do a yearly.
Yeah. Let's do your wedding again.
I was like I. Liked it too.
It was fun. But what?
What? What is?
The difference between a micro wedding and an allotment.

(50:10):
Pretty much the numbers, I mean,I mean, these days we even with
our allotments, allotment doesn't have to be just a couple
and to random witness and not just just a ceremony.
Yeah, that's it like it. It can be a lot more than that.
And we have lots of allotments where we've got, you know, the
the parents there for instance. But the micro wedding, I guess
we're adding a few more numbers.You've got it's just a small

(50:33):
scaled wedding. It's sort.
Of more like 20, yeah. But we do lots that are 20, lots
that are 30, yeah, 40 is really where our Max number that we
usually do for our pop up micro weddings, but.
I think people want to have justthe immediate family, and then
you're talking about, you know, 12 to 20 people.

(50:56):
Yeah, there's actually a packagecalled 20S Plenty.
And so you get the styling, the little arba and chairs.
Cupcakes. Yeah, cupcakes, celebrate of
extras you can photographer. Yeah, OK, that kind of thing.
Yeah. Yeah.
And so here what what days of the week are most popular for

(51:20):
the alignments? Anything.
Well, this week, for instance. This week.
We've just had today. So Wednesday.
So Tuesday wedding Wednesday, wedding 2 on Friday.
OK, so any day then. I've got Monday coming up as
well. You're not.
Going to have any time for any weddings other than the like.
Some wigs, yeah. But we we still normally do a

(51:42):
big wedding on a Saturday afternoon and then take, you
know, a little wedding during the week.
Yeah. Well, that's nice.
Yeah, it it did throw me though the first time I had three
couples fighting over the same Tuesday.
Was it? A popular day.
No, it wasn't even a it wasn't even one of those dates.

(52:04):
It was not the second of the 2nd22.
Like it wasn't it, it was just arandom Tuesday and everybody was
inquiring about the same day. And so but that said, yeah, so
you know, obviously they're OK with a Tuesday.
I'm really sorry, not available that day, but I do have these
days available. So then luckily 2 of them still

(52:25):
were adamant had to be that day.So I don't know what happened
that day maybe 10 years ago and that's why it had to be their
anniversary. I don't.
Know, but yeah. We have had a few like that.
It's their 10 year anniversary of dating and so they want a
particular date. Yeah, yeah.
Can accommodate. Yeah, I like.
That. So, yeah, we can't really tell
you there's a popular, most popular one because it's just

(52:48):
random. Yeah.
Yeah. And all sort of things your your
pricing structure sort of look like packages for your packages.
Depends how many elements they want included.
The very basic one is celebrant.Photographer, yeah.
And that for Monday to Thursday is about 1500.
Yeah, yeah. So that's a strangles an

(53:09):
Australian, Australia. Yeah.
And is that generally just the bride and groom or is that for
No, they can have they're welcome to have guests as well.
Like it's not gonna change we for that Monday to Thursday.
We do say 10 guests is what's inthe package, so to speak.
But really that's just to give us an indication of how much
time we require to take those group photographs.

(53:31):
Yeah. We really don't mind if you've
got 20 or 30 people because it'snot going to take that much
longer, but you're booking that.Sorry about that.
How many images do they get for that?
So we say a minimum of 100. I think it's a minimum of 100,
but sometimes they get 300. It depends on the apple as well,
like we might and what we're doing with them.

(53:51):
But but yeah, so it's, it's yeah, we, we always over provide
what we promise. Yeah.
And then what about your sort ofyour top package?
So we, well, our pop up wedding for instance, it's still

(54:12):
includes so much and it's still under $6000.
Yeah. Wow.
So that's, you know, that includes celebrant photography
that your ceremony selling. So this is important.
It's just the ceremony. This is not the reception.
Yeah. So ceremony styling your wedding
cake can be transfer so transportation carrot makeup for

(54:39):
one do. You have any flowers?
Yeah, package as well. Yeah, and the cloud package, so.
That's pretty good. And can they say if they would
then go somewhere for a reception, Can they extend the
photography? Sure.
Yeah, yeah. So they can.
They extend whatever they want or also my mum would like hair
and makeup done and I'm going tohave a bridesmaid with a bouquet

(55:02):
and yeah. Yeah, extensions on flowers and
hair and makeup are probably themost popular things.
Yeah. But then sometimes they'll have
that for their ceremony and thentheir reception.
They don't need to go to a reception venue.
They can go to any restaurant. Everybody buys their own meal
and they haven't had to pay for the reception, they've only just

(55:23):
paid for the ceremony. I suppose my parents did that
they they got married in the Botanical Gardens and then
walked across the road to one ofthe restaurants along St.
There and had dinner there. Yeah.
And, you know, that's so many comments.
They do that or they book the local brewery and just roll in

(55:45):
for something really casual. The shoes get kicked off pizza
cute dress goes on yeah I mean just yeah putting the.
Pony. Yeah, yeah.
But lovely. So for the ceremonies, about how
long do you allow for the elopement if you were just doing
that bit? Ceremony normally goes 20 to 30

(56:05):
minutes. Yeah.
And then you've got photos. So the whole thing kind of just
usually around 2 hours altogether.
So bit of time before the ceremony, bit of your ceremony,
group photos and at least usually at least an hour of
couple portraits afterwards. So it's usually around the two
hour mark. But yeah, we're there an hour
early beforehand and. Yeah, yeah, you just want.

(56:29):
You just want to be. Organised.
And organised, yeah, I agree. So we touched on this before, I
think. So if they did want it just to
be the two of them, where are the witnesses coming from?
Because in Australia you need tohave two witnesses.
Obviously. Photographer.
Yes, photographer is 1 and then often we can provide the second.
1. Combi driver.

(56:51):
Yes, if they've got, you know, if they have a stylist there,
often it's a stylist, the combi driver or if they nobody else is
there, we will provide a second person.
And what's the legal requirementwith that?
The legal requirement is that a witness is needed so that the
couple can prove that they were actually married if it's ever in

(57:13):
dispute. So then your witnesses would
testify that they actually were at the wedding.
So therefore it's ideal that thewitnesses know the couple, but
it's not a legal requirement. Oh, OK, OK, yeah.
And do they have to listen to a certain section of the?
Yeah, they have to be present for the celebrant to recite the

(57:36):
legal required words and the couple to recite their legally
required words and then the witnesses sign the marriage
certificates. That needs to be.
Oh well, you then need to understand it so English
speaking. Yeah, and or an interpreter,
Yeah, an 18 plus. OK.
But at my wedding, the people who were our witnesses were just

(58:00):
employees at the resort. So if I ever had to go to court
and get them to testify that they're at my wedding, I don't
know where I'd find them. And I don't know that they, I
don't know they could. Well, just in.
Different roles, yeah. Don't know if they'd even
remember. Do you remember being at my
wedding? No, we had seven that week, but
yeah. That's true.

(58:20):
Imagine how many? In that case, how many these
people have? Started, I know.
Yeah. Oh, we require one.
Who's up this week? Yeah.
You get to get out of washing upand not be working in the
kitchen. So yes, I'll be the witness.
Sure. Do you want me to take my?
Apron off. I love that.

(58:44):
Let's look at the pros and cons of eloping because we've sort of
gone over a bit of everything now in terms of, you know, an
actual personal accounts as well.
So some of the pros would be it saves money, probably the big
one. It's definitely less stressful.
You don't have to worry about, you know, Aunt Julie coming and.
Our couples are so, so chill andso happy.

(59:06):
Yeah. They can't believe how easy they
got away with it. Actually, they're like, Oh my
gosh, everyone else is talking about what a drama and ours has
just been. We just cruised up.
We didn't have to organise anything.
We just showed up. Oh, we're done.
No stress at all. That has a big appeal for a lot
of people and rightly so. And you know, I guess that comes
with the no set way to do it with there's no expectations.

(59:29):
So you don't have to have the big elaborate wedding or the
church wedding. And you know, especially if you
might get to that are different denominations, you know,
speeches, speeches. Well, that's all of that.
Don't have to worry about it. And it's a bit more personal,
definitely. So that's definitely definitely
some pros cons. You may cause issues with

(59:52):
hurting people's feelings. So definitely parents, I think I
would be heartbroken if my kids eloped without you.
You would definitely be I would be heartbroken.
I'd be I'd be a man, do it all in my and I'd hate.
And it's funny because, you know, 20 years ago, pre kids, I
would have been completely and totally fine.

(01:00:14):
I would have been like, Oh, I don't care.
But now having kids getting to that age, Oh, no one there.
My my daughter got married last year and I said are you can
elope if you want. I'll come obviously be celebrate
that witness. I don't mind if doesn't.
I don't mind dad small. I don't mind if it's, you know,
just. It's gonna be, it's gonna be on

(01:00:36):
the top of her mouth, but I know.
I know my youngest daughter wants to play.
About that. Yeah.
She can't wear the cute little dress though.
No, she. Can't.
But I think she wants that big, big fur thing.
I don't know. I don't know why we're gonna
find that. But anyway.
But I want to be there, even if it's just me.
Another advantage that you didn't mention is that a lot of

(01:00:57):
people have anxiety. They don't want to be standing
up in front of all those people and be yes and have everybody.
Staring at them, it's actually one of our most.
Yeah. You do often find that one
person in the relationship is really like.
That Yep. And I just don't want everybody
looking at me, OK? And we're like.
OK, cool. Fair.
Yeah, Yep, that's fair. Probably other one of the cons

(01:01:20):
is maybe regretting not having abig wedding day.
Do you regret it? No.
No regrets. No.
There you go. I was happy to have that $5000
on new furniture. Yeah, I have.
When I was doing this, I think it is a mixed thing because I, I
looked up this thread and it wasabout like, I'm thinking about
doing an alignment can people who have done it.
And there was one girl in there who was like, I really regret

(01:01:43):
it. So I think that you really need
to realise, think about it, you've got to make sure you're
not going to regret it. And if you don't like you
obviously have no regrets. And I'm sure most people don't.
It's just, you know, if. You have a doubt there.
I bet there's some people that have big weddings and regret
that. For sure I.
Know you spend so many people you know $100,000 on their

(01:02:05):
wedding and they regret it after.
When people come to our little micro weddings and our fun
elopements where we're doing something really different and
we're in a beautiful location, they're like, why didn't I just
do this? Yeah.
Why did I think I had to do whatwas expected?
There's always one guest at the very least at our allotments

(01:02:26):
that have more than publicly just a couple.
But yeah, there's always one person that comes up to us and
says I wish I did this. I agree.
I I did a wedding once As for a quite a famous Brisbane sports
player, so shall I say. And he didn't want the big fuss
and neither did his bride either.

(01:02:47):
So they just got married at the courthouse and then they
probably had about 20 people andthey hopped on a yacht that went
up and down the Brisbane River. Cool.
And she had a beautiful dress. It bucketed down with rain, but
we got some of the best photos of them.
They were just dancing in the rain because she knew she had
another dress to get changed into.
And we just walked from the courthouse down through the the

(01:03:10):
gardens to take photos in the rain.
And then they hoped on this yacht and she got changed into a
beautiful little mini outfit. I was just so chilled and
relaxed. And that's when I did think to
myself, I could probably do this.
Yeah. I love that the only part I
don't love is that they wouldn'thave had personal vows.

(01:03:31):
That's. The registry on this, it is
only, yeah, whereas yeah, if youbook a celebrant and it doesn't
have to be with us, obviously, but if you book a celebrant, you
can still make it a bit personal.
That's true. It's not just somebody reading
and they do, they have to. There's only, I shouldn't say
this, there is a beautiful celebrant there.
And I don't even know by name, but I've been to enough of the

(01:03:52):
registry office weddings tonight.
If you get her, you're lucky. But if you don't get her, Yeah.
But yeah, sour, of course. And they've got to look up, you
know, like, got to look at your name on the.
Yeah, like when they're supposedto say it, Like you couldn't
even remember their names. Yeah.
I mean, I guess they could have done it differently.
They still could have taken somephotos through the botanical

(01:04:12):
gardens, hopped on the yacht where they had their ceremony on
board. That would have been beautiful.
I've got a ceremony on board riverboat in a couple of weeks
actually. Yeah, yeah, I have to stay on
board for the whole 3 hours. Damn.
So with that though interesting enough, you will you need to get

(01:04:33):
the coordinates of when, where they are for the moment when
they're actually signing the register.
Yes, because we've done a train one as well before and we did
the the legals at the actual station because while they were
in motion it was going to be toomuch of A logistical nightmare

(01:04:54):
to get the exact location of where because you have to have.
That on the. Certificate and the same with
the hot air balloon. We had to get the coordinates
because it happens. The legal part happened while in
air. Wow.
There you go. That's something you don't know.
Yeah. Not know.
Yeah. All right, let's get back to the
cons. I think there's a lot more perks
at the moment, but you might have to put up with a little bit

(01:05:17):
of judgement. Who cares?
Yeah. Yeah.
You do. You.
Yep, exactly. Yeah, I agree.
You won't get the big party. Actually, a lot.
Could still have. One, a lot of our couples do
have a party. Yeah.
Yep. Yeah, these are just common
cause. I guess, yeah.
So I mean, there's nothing stopping you from having the
alignment, but then the big. Party after they got married,
only they didn't have to order all the bomboniers for

(01:05:39):
everybody. That's so much they don't even
need to get a cake really. If they don't want to, they can
just do whatever they want. No, we want cake.
We're having cake. There's always cake.
Yes, there's always room for cake.
Sorry, the steps, the steps towards the allotment.
Now correct us if we're wrong here, ladies, but we so you've
got to choose your vendors or a package, possibly with an

(01:06:01):
allotment company. It's probably the easiest way.
Or put it together yourself. But you've got to do a bit of
research on, you know. Like, so you're gonna have to
pick a location. Yeah, choose how many guests,
check the legal requirements in your location.
Like Australia, we talked about the ones we have here.
But check check it in your area.It doesn't hurt to do it a few
months out in case there are conditions.

(01:06:22):
And usually a celebrant or efficient can possibly help with
this. And choose whether you want to
have a party or reception after.It sounds super complicated to
me. Yeah, jeez, that's a lot shorter
than our list of the entire timeline of getting ready for a
weather. Only a few steps.
Through but with our couples quite often they book Elite

(01:06:43):
Brisbane and then the only things they need to do is buy
their outfits and their rings and then just tick the checklist
yes yes 3 bouquets, pink flowers.
Thank you very. Much did they get like a choice
of like with the cake? Yep, yes, about 20 different
flavours, all of which are delicious, I can assure.

(01:07:03):
You by Simone Yes, yes and. I've researched.
Her if she will come on and she said no, no.
She does not expect she goes my voice.
No. I will have that my noise going
constantly. I feel like she needs to come on
those yes. She does so and bring cake.
Only she brings cake. Yeah, I know.

(01:07:24):
Once. Upon a time she used to leave
cake for us at receptions like all the off cuts, but now she
sells the law. We don't get any I.
Got that Raspberry ripple so going good.
Yeah, yeah. Right.
You know what you want to do nowI.
Do 5 fast questions. OK.
So we had some feedback that our5 fast questions were not fast

(01:07:45):
questions, but the answers were too long.
So we are going to speed this uptoday and we talk.
Yes, right, We like to chat too much and apparently we're just
chatting too much. OK, so so we're going to speed
this up and we're going to let all of us answer the question.
Some of them we might not know, but would you guys elope if you
had the choice again? Annika has asked Ruth, would you

(01:08:07):
like? No, no, Ramana, would you elope?
You've kind of done that twice. Yeah, well, the second one was.
The second one was an elite man to Paris, but I would have to
just have. Immediate family, right?
Yes. And Cheryl, would you have the
big wedding if you could do it? Again, no way you'll stick with
the elopement. I'll stick with the elopement.

(01:08:28):
I would not. I like, I just like.
But I'm a stylist and I'm not organising.
So it's all the pretty thing andthe next one is from Sienna.
My mom has told me she won't speak to me if I elope, but it's
really what I want to do. Should I go with my heart,
Steph? I don't know how to answer this,
actually. I I think you really, you know

(01:08:50):
your mom and you need to know whether whether your mom's going
to hold it against you. How how important it is.
And maybe she could be that one witness.
Yeah. My mom would never say that to
me. Not a million years if that's
what I wanted to do. She'll be like.
With it, it's okay, Yes, Yep. I think your moms probably said
to you she'd never speak to you again if you got your belly

(01:09:11):
button pierced, and then what doyou know?
Anyway, she did speak to you again, so you know.
It's fine, Yeah. What about you, Ruth?
Like I said, I think obviously Iwouldn't go as far as to not
speak to them ever again. You might be a bit.
I might have to put some guilt on though.
I would just. Salty, be salty.
Dude, I just, I just really wanna be there, yeah.

(01:09:33):
I can picture you with like you know that class and I would like
a trench coat hiding in the. Bushes she totally would.
I just I adore my kids. I don't want to see.
Them on that day and you'd have your longest lens on you.
I would I. So would.
Yeah, maybe you. Photographer.
I feel like she'd be there with me.
I'd be hiding in the bushes withher Oh yeah, yeah.

(01:09:54):
So it was large gear and all going.
I could have done this so much better for her.
OK, so who can we talk to about eloping?
We did touch on this. So photographers, celebrant.
Yep. Can you guys recommend anyone
else? Like who's the best person do
you think? Maybe a celebrant?
The celebrant can give you the legal requirements and then

(01:10:17):
after you've got the legal thingsorted, everything else is just
your own trimmings, what you would like.
So. But I'm sure there's allotment
packages in local cities all around the world for sure.
So, yeah, so. Specialist.
Yeah, definitely do, specialist.Yeah, so if you Google it.
Certainly makes it. I mean, if you're looking for
A's. You can read Google reviews, you

(01:10:38):
know you soon get feel if somebody's got a lot of good
Google reviews and that they areexperienced and genuine.
Yeah, just type in Elope and then the city.
Yeah, OK, I think so. Obviously Brisbane would be like
Brisbane, but no, but it might be elope, Paris, elope,
Phukettes, you know those, like I know the guys that do

(01:11:01):
elitements and Sumoy are amazing.
But people that specialise in elitements are the ones that are
going to be best for you becausethey're, I mean, there are also
a lot of, you know, photographers and celebrants
that aren't experienced that advertise themselves as being
elitement photographers or elitement celebrants.
That's where the Google reviews may come. 100% check your Google

(01:11:22):
reviews. So do that search, elope and
then the city or locations up. See what comes up.
Check the reviews. Yeah.
Perfect. OK.
Yeah, this is from Lily. If we go overseas to elope, will
it be legal? Depends.
Yes, that's what else depends. Yeah, on location.
If it is a legal wedding in thatcountry, Australia recognises it

(01:11:45):
as a legal wedding in Australia.OK but you can't register that
wedding in Australia. So you come back from your
overseas wedding, you are legally married.
Where do I register it? Nowhere because Queensland
birthdays marriages only registered marriages that occur

(01:12:06):
in QLD. Can I ask you A?
Question then. Yep, just because I'm curious.
Yep. So if they separate, Yep, and
that person chooses to get married, one of them chooses to
get married again, they've got no divorce certificate.
Or they have to still get divorced because they're
legally. Married.
They have to get divorced in that country then.
Depends what the requirements are mostly.

(01:12:26):
You get divorced in the country where you reside.
Wait, where you live? Yes, right.
Then how do you divorce when they don't even know you're
married? Well, you know you're married,
right? But yeah, but even the overseas
registered one, you'd still havepaperwork, there'd be
documentation. Yes, it's just, it's not
registered in Australia, but it is recognised.

(01:12:47):
So people have trouble because they want to change their name
on their driver's licence, for example.
And then they go to the motor registry and they say show us
your marriage certificate to show how you want to change your
name. And they go, oh, what's this
piece of paper? Oh, this is our marriage
certificate from whatever overseas country and the person

(01:13:10):
behind the desk is? I don't know about that.
So then it's easier for a personto change their name legally to
their new married name and then take their change of name
certificate to the motor registry.
Office. OK, so.
They can still. Do it.
They can still do it, it's just an extra step.
And then a lot of different countries overseas have got

(01:13:32):
rules about marrying that we don't have in Australia.
So in Australia, you don't need to be a resident of Australia to
marry here, whereas in some overseas countries you need to
be a resident to marry there. You can't just go on holidays
there and marry there. Wow.
There. You go.
Some countries, you have to be the same religion to marry, so

(01:13:52):
you need to go to their government office and prove that
you're both the same religion. I don't know how an Australian
person would do that. Maybe you've got Yera?
Baptism certificate. Scrape it out outside outside
the Chapel of the mosque. But yeah, a lot of people say,
well look, it's just much easierto have a legal little ceremony

(01:14:13):
in Australia and then have a bigexotic overseas ceremony.
OK, that's be interesting. OK, so can I still have photos
of getting ready and stuff? Stacey has asked.
Sure. Yesterday.
Yeah. Yeah.
Whatever they want. Yeah, whatever they want.
Just to add it on a couple yesterday, they booked a pop up
wedding. They had 28 guests.

(01:14:38):
Yeah, I went to go do the getting ready photos first.
Good. That's the one where I had to
call 000 as well. That's a whole other story.
But yes. OK, I need to do a whole thing
on like, tragic. Tragic thing happened to the
wedding. It wasn't tragic.
Nobody died. No, nobody died.
Sorry, didn't mean to imply that.
Yes. Grandma was OK, but we just had

(01:14:59):
to delay the ceremony. There was a lot of lies, all
right? We had to delay the ceremony by
about. 20 minutes. It's just still not bad.
That's not even we're. Considering.
So good. Considering.
Yes. But my phone was being used to
do the calls. Quick bandage around the head by
the ambose and she was good to go.
Round the head, over and under the chair it.
Was a it. Was a great like I can't get

(01:15:20):
photo. I was like, there's need to go,
go and shoot. That out.
For you AI different head. Well, I don't know about you,
but I've learned a lot today. About a lot.
Much. Yes.
It's been really good. It's made me want to have
multiple weddings. It has been very informative.
Thank you so much for coming in ladies.

(01:15:40):
We hope that you have had a goodtime.
Yeah, super fun. Yeah.
And we'll have to get you back when we have more questions.
Or more cake. We should definitely do.
We're going to be here for the cake nesting.
We'll just rope her in here under false pretend.
Showing you to do the podcast, but you have to bring cake and
we'll all. Just use that just so that we

(01:16:01):
can give authentic reviews. Yeah, that's right.
She may come if you bribe her with alcohol.
I. See.
Wipe her with the birds. Wanna fire?
She brings cake. Yeah.
OK. Well, thank you very much.
Thank you, guys. Thank you.
On the next episode, we will help you to capture the moment.
Ruth will tell us more about herbusiness, Ruth Ryan Photography

(01:16:23):
professional versus friend and tips to get the most out of your
photography on the day. Thank you for joining us for the
Bridal Brief. If you want to hear more, don't
forget to click follow on our podcast, please.
Send us any questions you need answered or contact us directly
at the [e-mail].
Or through our social media pages.