We’re going to the chapel and we’re going to get…eloped!

It has been a wee while since my last blog post, and in classic Maggie style, boy, do I have a life update.

Now if the title of the post or the cover image isn’t obvious enough — SURPRISE! I’m married!

For those who want to know the background story (I know I’m nosy and personally love the nitty gritty details) I met my husband on Hinge many moons ago, back at the end of 2022. I was on a break from boys after on-and-off dating for a year after my separation (swiping and small talk can be so incredibly exhausting). But of course, it was during this break, where I decided to “just” check what fish were still in the sea, that I stumbled across my now husband’s profile and decided to strike up a conversation.

After a year of dating with limited kid-free time, I had a pretty good radar on whether someone was worth meeting in person. I also created a hard & fast rule that first dates were 20min coffee dates for a vibe check (this was put in place after the people pleaser in me spent an 8hr date with a guy I knew after 5mins I wasn’t keen on).

The conversation with my husband flowed incredibly easy so I quickly teed up a time to grab coffee. I will admit at this juncture that the 20min coffee date rule was quickly tossed out as the conversations in person were just as easy breezy as they had been in text. From there our relationship begun and soon we found ourselves talking about all the big life topics of kids, houses and marriage.

There was a period after my separation where I was fairly certain I wouldn’t marry again. Having “been there, done that” I was aware marriage was nothing more than a very expensive party and a piece of paper, the actual affects it has on one’s relationship is almost non-existent.

However, I was also aware of how selfish that mentality was, especially if I was dating someone who hasn’t had that opportunity yet. Luckily for me, when discussions about marriage came up, we were on the same page with not wanting to spend a year’s wages on a big party. We were both happy to have a ceremony with our nearest and dearest.

The conversations about marriage ramped up earlier this year in the midst of selling our houses to join forces to buy down Sydney’s south coast. With everything that was going on, we parked the idea of a wedding for this year, not wanting to add to the already chaotic to-do list we had (sell two houses, buy a house, move houses, relocate the kids’ schooling etc.).

But after some discussion, we decided, “f*ck it", go hard or go home” and plans to elope began (yes, even before a ring was on my finger — this quickly became a running joke of whether I would even get a proposal before the impending wedding date).

Between the travels booked in between both sets of parents’ and the birth of my nephew, we managed to find one weekend in July where all our family were available for us to tie the knot, only 8 weeks from us deciding to pull the trigger.

I booked our elopement through Just Married who organises everything for you: the location, a celebrant and all the legal paperwork for $450, which is cheaper than an elopement through the BDM registry.

Now, for those wondering how the proposal went, it happened one month out from the wedding. Every weekend until the wedding was booked out and for a moment there I genuinely thought we would get engaged the same weekend we married.

Hubby had managed to get me out of bed bright and early to head to Wollongong’s south beach for a sunrise before a day of house hunting. It was the first day of winter and I had not dressed appropriately, paired with a cloudy sunrise-less morning, I joked that I hoped his proposal didn’t bank on me doing anything like a beach walk because my lazy ass will most likely ruin it by refusing to go.

Despite not being keen for a beach walk, somehow he managed to convince me to walk a few hundred meters on the beach. I barely made it 100m when I decided I had enough and turned to walk back. It was then I realised I had done exactly as I joked about and ruined my own proposal, so proceeded to laugh while repeating “omg, I actually f*cked it up”.

We got married to the beautiful backdrop of Sydney Harbour in Kirribilli Lookout before wrapping up our wedding day with a delicious lunch overlooking Sydney Harbour at Sails Lavender Bay.

For anyone considering getting eloped, I cannot recommend it enough. It was so nice not having to “host” and greet a bunch of guests while not spending any quality time with each other or with people we actually want to spend time with.

As for our friends who want to celebrate with us? We’ll be having an old school house party once we get the keys to our new pad. Did someone say fill the bathtub up with ice & beers? ;)

Photography: Argel Diosep
Elopement + Celebrant: Just Married
Flowers: Abdo Florist
Dress: ASOS
Hair & Make Up: Myself
Engagement Ring: Austen & Blake
My Wedding Band: Sarah Gardner Jewellery
His Wedding Band: Heirloom