An Elopement at Mount Cootha and Wedding Boudoir Photoshoot

Tell us about how your love story began, what did it feel like to fall in love?

We don’t have the most conventional beginning to our story. It involves arriving in a new city, an extremely lucky swipe right, an impulsive decision to drop out of uni, and on our first date, walking from midnight till morning along the Brisbane River. 

But our beginning perfectly reflects our relationship, who we are, and how we love—with fierce vulnerability, fun, impulsivity, passion, and adventure. 

The instant connection felt that night on the river continues to deepen, forming a bond and foundation that provides each other with strength, hope, and a feeling of belonging. When you are in love, you get to hold a piece of transcendence with you in your daily life. You don’t need to go searching to feel something important and indescribable; you can feel the beauty and enormity within yourself. 

This is what being in love feels like to us. It feels transcendent, enormous, indescribable.

 Tell us about your decision to elope, even though you were planning a wedding.

We eloped in Mount Cootha reserve, just us. Initially, we were planning a wedding with all our friends and family, but the idea of being in the spotlight and the center of attention made us both feel a little uneasy. 

Danni suggested eloping, and once the idea was out there, it felt so right and so ‘us’, that to do anything else felt inauthentic.

You eloped just the two of you, but how did you incorporate family into the day?

On the big day, we woke up together, spending the morning sipping coffee and making wildflower bouquets. Eventually, we said goodbye and got ready for the day separately. 

We met each other at Mount Cootha Reserve, where we walked down the aisle to Hold Me by the Teskey Brothers. Our ceremony was intimate and full of tears, laughter, and special moments, including a special reading from our friends and family. 

Although we made the choice to keep our day just for the two of us, it was important for our families to be incorporated. I decided to surprise Danni by sending a poem we had chosen for our ceremony to our parents, siblings, grandparents, nieces, and nephews, and bridesmaids/men/people. 

Each person read a line and sent it back to me. I collated all the recordings into an audio poem and played it during our ceremony. 

Our youngest niece at the time was too young to read any of the words, so added onto the end ‘I love you Danni D, I love you Danni-Dog’ which was the cutest surprise ever. 

Tell us about the elopement day, and your choice to have a boudoir photoshoot in the middle of the day. 

Both being somewhat restless people who love to keep moving and trying new things, neither of us expected to get so much joy and fulfillment from building a base. The home we have created together has become such a meaningful part of our lives, and we really wanted to acknowledge and capture that, which is why we decided to have our home part of our photographs. 

So, after the ceremony, we went home to cut and share our wedding cake with our three dogs – Chase, Jesse, and Einstein. We also incorporated a boudoir shoot. We wanted to do something different and capture some intimate moments we could look back on as we grow old together. 

We got back into our wedding gear and went for a walk along the Brisbane river, retracing some of our steps when we first met. We love that all the most meaningful places to us have been part of our day and immortalized forever in our photos. 

We ended our day with a romantic dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, before making our way to the mosh pit of Paramore’s gig. I just needed to swap out my heels for my boots, and hook my train over my arm and we were ready. Their music has been such a huge part of both our lives and was the soundtrack to us falling in love, so it was perfect to have them part of our day.

A few short hours of sleep and we were on our way to the airport to fly to India, Facetiming friends and family along the way. On a high, exhausted, loved up with lost voices and finally wives.