Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship:
James is British and Shivonne is Australian, we met in England, when Shivonne was travelling over there which lead to her staying to live because of James. After my 2 year visa ran out, we decided to move to Australia together.
We are both lovers of the outdoors, connecting over a spur of the moment road trip as ‘friends’ it quickly became apparent that the feelings were much stronger than this. We love to be in nature, especially the mountains which is one of the reasons we chose the beautiful location of Crackenback to get married. We also love to explore, so after our elopement, we jumped into our 1999 Toyota Hiace Caravan and travelled some of Australia, being fortunate enough to be in the right places at the right time to miss any lockdowns or Covid hotspots.
We are both currently working and studying in Australia and were trying to find the perfect time to get married bring both our families together in one location, however, because of various reasons this proved very difficult and in the theme of 2020 we decided to make the last minute decision after being engaged for almost 3 years to elope.
In our spare time, you can find us running most of the time, often with our pup, Alfie, in tow. If we aren’t on the trails, we are often in the mountains hiking or skiing with friends, or curled up on the couch with a cup of tea and a book. We are old souls, who love adventure, early mornings and early nights and this is something that connects us so strongly.
Tell us about your special day, was there a specific theme or style? Tell us a little about the setting, the styling and some of your favourite details:
We wanted our day to be as relaxed and fun as possible. We didn’t want the pressure of a big wedding, so kept it small and intimate so we could just go with the flow and make decisions as we needed to. Everything was pretty last minute and I think in some ways that the nature of 2020 worked in favour of our wedding, we were able to secure our beautiful photographer, Lucy, and the rest of our vendors with only a max of 4-6 weeks’ notice.
Tell us about your main outfits:
My dress was again, a last minute purchase. I had my eye on a few different more casual dresses but that I ordered online but they just didn’t feel ‘right’. In the week before the wedding, I came across this dress on Spell’s website and it looked perfect. I ordered it straight away and it was perfect. I felt like such a princess. For me it was a beautiful touch on a low key wedding and the way it looked in the photos was amazing! There were not many traditions that we upheld in our wedding and another we broke was that James helped me pick my dress. Which was such a huge help! He is often my go to for clothes advice as most of the time I spend all my life in some form of active wear!
James, wanted to be dressed casually as well but not to be overshadowed by my dress. We just picked some comfy and handsome for him that he could feel like himself in and not be worried at all. We wanted to embody a ‘boho’ and ‘casual’ wedding and we felt like the clothes we picked really did this for us.
What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day:
Without sounding really cliché’, the whole day was so memorable. I started the day with a 2hr trail run, just how I like to start most weekend mornings! It was so relaxed, I think this is one of the things that I will remember forever. We weren’t stressed, we just went with the flow. It rained, we waited a little for it to clear, it rained again and it was perfect timing for some unique photos. We were able to be 100% ourselves on the day and that is something that I will forever cherish. It was a day about us and our love,
One particular thing that we both found super memorable was the arbour that we used. I casually said to my friend that morning that it would be really cool if they could ‘throw two sticks together to create a small arbour as I thought it could look great in front of the lake’. I got back from getting my makeup done to see our friends hard at work building the beautiful arbour that was in our photos. That will forever be a really special memory for James and I.
Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together:
Never forget the amazing, fun little thing you love about your partner and remember to have fun. Every day is a blessing that you get to spend it with your best friend, the person you love most in the world. We don’t think that is something that should ever be forgotten or taken for granted. Tell your loved one how much you love them, every, single, day!
Photography: @translucent_photography | Ceremony and Reception location: Private AirBnB in Crackenback | Celebrant: Joan Herringer | Bride’s gown: @spell | Groomsmen’s attire: Calvin Klein, Levi’s and Smart Shoes | Rings: @etrnl.rings | Shoes: @therapyshoes | Makeup: @snowymountainsbeauty | Flora: @thornandsnow | Catering and Beverages: @ninecanaries | Cake: @ninecanaries
