Runaway brides escape tradition, by Tonya Turner, June 12, 2007

SHE is not changing her name, there is no engagement ring and there will be no family at the wedding.
It's not that the couple, who live together at Tugun on the Gold Coast, are estranged from their families. It's just that Melissa Lewis doesn't want her wedding to feel like work.

Ms Lewis, 27, is a wedding planner at the Gold Coast's Hyatt Hotel. But she and her fiance, Pete Cybulski, 33, will elope to Las Vegas in September to get hitched by "Elvis'' in a pink Cadillac at a drive-through ceremony at the Little White Wedding Chapel.

It's where Frank Sinatra, Britney Spears, Michael Jordan, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis have all said "I do'' and Ms Lewis found it after typing "Las Vegas chapel'' into Google.

She could have chosen the chapel's helicopter ceremony or hot-air balloon service, but for her, there was no going past the Cadillac.

Many a bride-to-be, swamped by the myriad details which need to be seen to for a wedding, has dreamt of throwing in the towel rather than choosing caterers, flowers, dresses, invitations, band, speeches, the photographer and videographer, a seating plan, bridesmaids, cars, hairstyles, the bonbonniere, the reception, a wedding song, cake and guests.

Ms Lewis helps brides overcome all that, overseeing anywhere from three to nine weddings every weekend and likes helping couples prepare for their big day. But working as a wedding planner for the past seven years, she decided she didn't want her own to be a traditional affair.

"I get enjoyment out of seeing the excitement on their faces and helping to bring their dreams into reality,'' she says. "We're not that type of people. We couldn't sit at a head table and have everyone stare at us all night,'' she says.

The couple discussed ideas about where to get married over a bottle of wine and agreed to get hitched in Vegas.

According to Michelle Zanetti of Weddings Away, Ms Lewis and Mr Cybulski are part of a growing trend of Australian couples choosing to elope.

The company specialises in arranging private ceremonies within Australia for a mostly overseas clientele, but Ms Zanetti says more and more Australian couples use the service each year.

"The British and the Europeans have been doing it for years, going off to the Caribbean or wherever to get married. But Australians are a little bit behind the times like that. They still like to have their big weddings at home,'' Ms Zanetti says.

But that is starting to change.

"We're now finding a lot of couples, particularly if they've been together a long time, and maybe they've even got a couple of children, like the thought of eloping and then having a big party when they get back with all their friends and family,'' she says.

About 30 per cent of Ms Zanetti's clients are from Australia and can choose from ceremonies in Sydney, Port Douglas, Cairns and the Gold Coast.

Ms Zanetti started the company 10 years ago after learning of a similar service being offered to Japanese couples in Australia.

"I thought there'd be a lot of couples from all over the world interested in the idea. Plus I got married 15 years ago in Sydney and it was very stressful,'' she says.

Ms Lewis and Mr Cybulski have been together for six years and will throw a party back home for friends and family members who might regret they weren't there on the special day.

"When we come back, to keep the family happy, we're going to have a small beach ceremony and then have a day at the races with our friends and family. It's not going to be elaborate, it's really just going to be a get-together,'' she says.

Another reason the couple decided to have a ceremony at home is because their Vegas wedding won't be legally recognised in Australia.

Ms Lewis learned they would have to go through a lengthy and expensive process with the American Embassy for their marriage to be made legal.

"A girlfriend of mine got married in Las Vegas and although it's not legally recognised here, to their minds they're married and that's all that matters,'' she says.

Already heading to California to attend a friend's wedding, Lewis and Cybulski, an outdoor education teacher, decided to spend some of the money they've saved by not throwing a huge wedding (the Vegas ceremony will cost about $100) on a honeymoon travelling to New York, San Francisco, Copenhagen and Bangkok.

Ms Zanetti says cost is why most couples decide to elope.

"It's hassle free, they don't have to worry about anything and it's all arranged by the time they get here. It's inexpensive so they don't have to have a big reception for 100 people that they don't really know. Most of all it's very special because it's just the two of them, or sometimes close family and friends. It's all about them and the ceremony itself is very special,'' she says.

On her big day, Ms Lewis won't be discarding tradition completely.

"I was going to wear a white suit, but mum begged me not to.

"So I'm wearing a white dress,'' she says. (Credit: The Daily Telegraph)