It was all kept secret, with their story only recently surfacing thanks to the bride’s proud mum.

Both grew up in Port Macquarie, with Nicole attending Mackillop Senior College and Michael went to Westport High. They met through a mutual friend when at 18 and have been together ever since.

Nicole explained they had not married sooner because they never knew where to begin, finding the planning a daunting task.

“The thought of planning a wedding was so overwhelming. We both never wanted the cost and stress of a big wedding,” she said.

“We always knew that we would either have an intimate ceremony with just family, or we would elope.”

Despite the former expected to happen, with family and friends none the wiser, they opted instead for the latter, venturing to Santorini for their big day.

“It wasn’t until six weeks prior to our holiday to Europe that I contacted our wedding planner,” Nicole said.

“We didn’t tell anyone of our plans because we didn’t want anyone trying to talk us out of what we wanted to do.

“By the time we returned to Australia, we had all our wedding photos and video that we could share with our family and friends.”

Although family and friends missed out on the formalities, the now Mr and Mrs Clayworth had an elopement party on their return.

“Santorini is one of the most beautiful places in the world,” Nicole said.

"If we had our time over we would definitely do it all again. It was perfect. Stress-free and at a fraction of the cost of a wedding in Australia.

“Our wedding team planned the whole day, including my wedding dress that I saw for the first time the night before. We literally just turned up.

“We have no regrets. Our wedding day was beyond our expectations.”