Red Centre Elopement - Uluru NT
Janelle and Jason wanted something truly special for their elopement and they definitely got it by choosing to go to the heart of the Australian outback to say their I do’s.
Uluru (previously known as Ayers Rock) is a sacred Aboriginal site situated in the middle of Australia. The Anangu people reside here and allow visitors to see the ancient Aboriginal landmarks and learn their culture. You cannot quite describe the beauty and how special this place is until you stand here and ‘feel it’ in person.
To be married here is next level, it is an absolute privilege and a moment you will never forget. We made our way here for the first time for J and J, and we feel like we only scratched the surface of this sacred area and how amazing it is to be married here. We absolutely cannot wait to get back and create more elopements here in 2022.
Back to Janelle and Jason’s story. These two are country folk, travelling from Albury for their Uluru elopement, salt of the earth people, super lovely, the type of people you could stand at the pub and chat with for ages without knowing them prior. They not only wanted something special for their day, they wanted it to be just them, to have this moment purely to and for themselves.
We picked J and J up from their hotel late in the arvo, they had had a relaxed day leading in and Janelle was able to get her hair and make up done onsite. Off to Uluru Camel Tours where our host Lisa had made us a gorgeous local native foliage and flower bouquet, and was kind enough to provide her property as the location for J and J’s elopement. Lisa offered the ultimate in country hospitality, she was super excited to create something epic for J and J, so she arranged two camels for them to take the scenic trip to the red sand dunes for their ceremony. With Uluru as the backdrop, and opposing views to Kata Tjuta this place is perfect for an elopement.
Jason and Janelle on the way to their ceremony on camel back with Katu Tjata in the background
We took the dune buggy up the little hill and waited patiently in the silence while J and J slowly made their way to the location. We spoke at that point about the excitement we felt, Kate (our co-owner and celebrant) got the ceremony location ready and had a little happy cry as she felt the weight of where we were and how amazing it felt to be here to be doing what we love.
With Uluru as our backdrop J and J arrived on their camels and we created their ceremony while Glen (video) and Sharne (photos) quietly moved around to capture these moments. Happy tears were shed, signing done and champers sprayed, J and J were hitched, cheered along with the Camel train of tourists below at the exact moment J and J were announced as married.
We spent a little time on site to soak it in, take some shots around this epic spot against the Uluru back drop and opposite backdrop of Kata Tjuta (Mount Olga), as the sun started to drop and that epic golden light lit up the red sand at our feet.
We decided to get a bit closer to Uluru as the sunset was was upon us. On our location scout the day before the elopement we found these epic trees that we know would create an amazing outback silhouette once the sun had gone down, with Katu Tjata on one side, and Uluru on the other. These shots were taken about 30-40 minutes after the sun had dropped below the horizon.
We trekked over to the hill and finished our photos and video as the dark fell and our path was lit only by the full moon. We felt absolutely alive after what had just occurred, we said our goodbyes to Janelle and Jason as they headed for dinner at the Hotel.
As we walked back to our own accommodation we hugged and talked about how thankful we were to have just done that together. Our little side hustle elopement business started 5 years ago, now turned full time, had bought us here beside J and J as they were married in this sacred place.
Janelle’s kind words after their beautiful day - “Thank you both again for our unforgettable day, it was above and beyond, we’ll never forget how you and the team made this dream possible. I still can not believe we were there! I keep crying looking at the pics, simply magic”.
The field of light pre sunrise, the morning after J & J’s elopement
Thank you Jason and Janelle for giving us this honour. For us, this was not only a career highlight but we felt privileged to be given this opportunity and now looking back upon this day, very fortunate we were able to get to this special place in the middle of a time where travel and border closures were so tentative.
Now we have been to Uluru we have met some amazing people and are able to offer the package we created for Janelle and Jason to more couples for 2022. We cannot wait to continue to do elopements right here in Uluru, let us know if you’re keen and we can chat about the dates we’ll be there.
We acknowledge the Anangu people as the traditional owners of this land and honour their elders, past present and emerging. We thank the Anangu people for allowing us access to create this elopement in their sacred place.
We also thank Chris and Lisa from Uluru Camel Tours for looking after J and J and us for this amazing day as our host for the ceremony. Big thanks to Glen from Directors Edge for joining us to video the elopement and our behind the scenes shenanigans and creating such magical films of our time here.