Madison + Isaac \\ A Wild Elopement Captured by Sophie Lewis Photography

Spontaneous, intimate and wildly romantic. Doing things their own way, Madison (who we know as the main gal behind Oh Teepee Styling) and her main man Isaac escaped to the dreamy Central Otago to elope in the most wildly beautiful destination!

Wearing a Leave Her Wilder gown in the perfect tone to match the surrounding untamed backdrop of Lake Hawea. Madison + Isaac planned this spontaneous elopement to fit in perfectly with their Winter getaway to Queenstown earlier this year. Looking for a ceremony destination that was away from the hustle, they ventured to the wild shores of Lake Hawea. With surrounding mountainscapes and lakeside beauty, this was the perfect remote destination to say “I Do”, with only their celebrant Jodie Stuart and photographer Sophie Lewis Photography.

Proving sometimes weddings don’t need to be anything huge, the pure magic moments are the intimate ones created together. Adventures and memories that will forever last a lifetime.

How did you meet and how long have you been together?

We met through mutual friends and have been together two short but amazing years.

Tell us a little bit about the proposal and your engagement?

Madi mentioned in passing that we should get married while we were in Queenstown on our already planned winter holiday and to her surprise Isaac said yeah sure why not. And planning was all on from there.

How would you describe each other?

Madi is the romantic and Isaac is the realist, but knows how to tell a good joke.

Tell us about your wedding style. What influenced your planning for the day?

We planned our elopement in less than 4 months. It started with us just wanting amazing photos with epic backdrops to acknowledge and remember the day by. It escalated from there with the dress, florals and platter. Our style could be described as ‘us’. Chill but with a Madi always making it a little “extra”. We loved the dark wintery vibes that South Island had to offer at that time of year, everything worked so perfectly.

Why did you choose your destination?

We already had our winter holiday planned for Queenstown before we decided to elope while away. In 2018 we had previously visited Wanaka and knew that we wanted to head over to that area as it was a wee bit quieter than Queenstown. Up until the morning of our elopement, we still didn’t have an exact location of where we were going to have our very very low key ceremony and exchange of vows. Our celebrant Jodi suggested a spot along Lake Hawea and Sophie confirmed that it was an amazing location to tie the knot.

Do you have a favourite quote or piece of your vows you would like to share?

Our vows where the most exciting part of the day as we kept them a secret from each other. When isaac ended his vows with “Madi, you are the gin to my tonic and it’s almost happy hour ” and when Madi said “I do!” no backing out now.

What was your favourite moment from the day?

Arriving at the location of our ceremony and realising that we had actually been there before on our previous trip where we had eaten our takeaway pizza in our campervan.