The Details
How did you and your partner meet?
We met at a mutual friend’s bonfire in Cowra on the June long weekend 2013. There were so many people we didn’t meet until the end of the night when everyone was leaving so it was a quick conversation but instant connection. He was searching for me on Facebook but I didn’t have it anymore and it wasn’t until about a week later that I come across him on Instagram and started to follow him then we started talking, then catching up on weekends, then dating, my dad was a bit skeptical of him until I was rushed to hospital one night (1st June the year after) with a bleed in my brain and even though I was in a wheelchair for 3 months not knowing if I was going to walk again, he still wanted to marry me. That’s when dad knew he was as perfect as I said he was.

How did he propose?
Out of hospital for 4 months he took me to a look out to give me an Ipad that I had wanted for a few months, we had to leave the look out when random people showed up. When we got down to the river I got out of the car and sat on the bench with my present he paniced and couldn’t find one of his shoes so he quickly tied a bucket hat on his foot and hopped over so he wouldn’t get a bindi, when I opened the iPad I wondered why the charger was black instead of white so I pulled it out of the box and it was actually the ring box! Then I looked over at him sitting next to me huffing and puffing from trying to rush over before I opened it and he had the biggest smile as he got down on one knee.

What’s your most important piece of advice for creating and maintaining a strong relationship?
Never go to bed angry with one another, always speak nicely to each other and don’t forget to tell each other how you feel.

Tell us about your wedding gown and how you chose it:
We went to a lot of dress places and I was being fussy and getting depressed as I had put on 20kgs from being in hospital and unable to move properly. I was ready to give up and let mum choose for me until we went to Beautiful Brides and they listened to me and helped me choose something that would match my new body type as well as trying to match what I originally wanted.

What sort of style did you envision for your wedding day?
I envisioned pretty much exactly what we had, I wouldn’t change it! Country, timber, leafy green, perfect sunny day with blue skies. Belgenny Farm wasn’t much on looks from the outside a rundown old timber and glass hall but it was perfect inside paved floor and there was a vineyard and beautiful trees outside where we could have photos. The flowers were perfect we had succulents, a lot of greenery and a few white flowers to pop.

What was your favorite moment from the day?
The whole day was just amazing it went to fast it felt like one small moment. My favorite moment would have to be driving away from the ceremony as a married couple ready to spend quality time with our close family and friends, we didn’t want to leave at the end of the night.

Any DIY décor elements?
My sister and I made the Table numbers, Nathan cut the timber for the center pieces, also Nathan’s Nanna made my shawl to keep warm.

If you could do it all over again, what would you change?
I would have remembered to get a cake knife for the wedding day instead we had to borrow our friends the night before and I would take more photos preparing and leading up to the big day!

Any tips that you can give to future brides?
Make sure you get a good photographer because it is the only thing you can keep forever from the best day of your life. Also make sure you enjoy your engagement period leading up to the wedding it can get stressful but when you get to the day it just goes so quick and then it’s over so just take your time make sure you’re 100% happy with your decisions and have fun doing it!

The Team
Photographer: Holly Prins Photography www.hollyprins.com.au/
Stationery: Adorn Invitations www.adorninvitations.co.uk
Dress: Beautiful Brides
Makeup: Tamee Rene
Hair: Nicole Hamilton
Shoes: Sheplers
Accessories: Carati Jeweler
Bridesmaids Dresses: Seduce
Grooms Suit: Roger David
On The Day Stationery: Bwedding Invitations www.bweddinginvitations.com/
Cake: All Things Sweet By Carissa www.allthingssweetbycarissa.com.au/
Food: Belgenny Farm
Flowers: Shaynee Lou
Ceremony Venue: Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses
Reception Venue: Belgenny Farm www.belgennyfarm.com.au/
Photo Booth: Mace Photo Booth http://www.macephotobooths.com/

The Details

How did you and your partner meet?
We met through a mutual friend – it was a case of ‘right place at the right time’. I was walking to the station after work and bumped into this friend who was with Dean and he introduced us.

How did he propose?
Dean proposed by taking me away on a romantic weekend in Hunter Valley. We went to the Audrey Wilkinson Winery, sat in a secluded area on the grass and that’s when he started rambling and getting nervous so I knew something was up. He then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

What’s your most important piece of advice for creating and maintaining a strong relationship?
Be best friends and share in lots of laughter.

Tell us about your wedding gown and how you chose it:
I was inspired by an off-the-shoulder dress from Anne Barge. We added French Chantilly Lace to the bodice and the removable sleeves were made from chiffon.
What sort of style did you envision for your wedding day (in terms of venue & décor + styling)?
I envisioned a very simple but elegant style. In terms of venue we would have loved a wedding at a vineyard in the Hunter Valley or Southern Highlands, but we thought it might be too difficult to get everyone there (especially the older people). So we opted for a beautiful outdoor wedding at Oatlands House which was perfect. It was under the ‘Chateau’ in their gardens. We had floral arrangements on the chateau and a beautiful white curtain.

Inside the venue I didn’t want to go overboard with flowers. We had a beautiful arrangement on the main table and then small fishbowls on the guest tables. The centerpiece was a tall crystal flared candle stick. Oatlands House surprised us with fairy lights behind the main table. Colour theme for the décor was black and white.

What was your favorite moment from the day?
The ceremony – when I saw Dean for the first time, I felt so relaxed.
I also loved the reception – seeing the dancefloor full and everyone having lots of fun made me really happy.

If you could do it all over again, what would you change?
Nothing – even if there was something, at the end of the day it’s not really that important when everyone had a great time anyway.

Any tips that you can give to future brides?
Be really clear with vendors about what you want.

Don’t forget that the day is about you and your future husband. In the lead-up to the wedding, there will be drama and you will be stressed, but just enjoy the day once it arrives.

The Team

Dress: Personalised Wedding Couture http://personalisedweddings.com.au/
Makeup: Jackie Franks Make-Up Artist
Invitations: Adorn Invitations https://www.adorninvitations.co.uk/
Hair: Franck Provost Breakfast Point
Shoes: Sophia Webster
Earrings: Love On Jewellery http://www.loveonjewellery.com.au/
Accessories: Kate Ketzel
Bridesmaids Dresses: Dollhouse XOXO https://www.thedollhousexoxo.com.au/
On The Day Stationery: http://www.bweddinginvitations.com/
Grooms Suit: Aquila
Photographer: Two Peaches Photography http://twopeaches.com.au/
Cake: Pretty Parties http://prettyparties.net.au/
Food: Oatlands House
Flowers: Joanne’s Flowers Galore http://www.joannesflowersgalore.com.au/
Ceremony Venue: Oatlands House
Reception Venue: Oatlands House http://www.oatlandshouse.com.au/
Entertainment: Suara Indonesia Dance
Music: DJ Co
Photobooth: Photobooth Me

We actually did something a little bit untraditional and both changed our names. Adam’s name was Adam Shirley, and when we got married we also took on his late grandfather’s last name, Spencer, in order to keep his memory alive, as he was the last remaining Spencer and him and his grandfather had a really close bond.

How many guests? 170

The Details

How did you and your partner meet? We met on an airplane on the way to Thailand. I was on a girl’s trip and he was on a boy’s trip. We ended up staying at the same hotel on the first night and then travelled the entire 3 weeks with their group and became great friends for many years. We were friends first and only started seeing each other many years afterwards. I thought he was pretty annoying when we first met and we didn’t really ‘click’ at first.

How did he propose? He proposed in Noosa at our favourite restaurant, he had hidden the ring in his pants for a huge walk beforehand so that I wouldn’t suspect anything in his pocket.

What’s your most important piece of advice for creating and maintaining a strong relationship? Keep laughing, don’t let things get too serious. Communication is so important, and listening to the other person and respecting their point of view, even when you don’t agree, is also pretty pivotal.

Tell us about your wedding gown and how you chose it: I wanted it to be quite fitted, but also have a really long train with embellishments without being too traditional. My brief was ‘no lace’ so instead we used a range of appliques and different mesh materials to get a more modern take on a traditional dress style.

What sort of style did you envision for your wedding day (in terms of venue & décor + styling)? Lots of colour, lots of fun, lots of greenery. No white and green styling in sight. Everything had to be really vibrant and colourful.

What was your favorite moment from the day? Our first dance, definitely! We love to have fun and we are always the last ones on the dancefloor together so that was a moment that truly represented us. We danced to Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars and the energy was just so electric and upbeat – our guests literally jumped into the dancefloor halfway through to join us.

Any DIY décor elements? A lot of the styling was DIY, we were very hands on! From the beginning, I came up with all the concepts and then my mum and I brought them all to life over the next few months. My mum was amazing, she is really talented and so she handwrote all the place cards and table numbers, she hand-painted 80 sets of oyster shells as makeshift salt-and-pepper shakers and trawled the internet for weeks just to find the right vases for our table settings.

We also got a bit DIY with the menu and asked the venue to create one canape that was my favourite food (fish tacos) and another that was Adam’s (hot chippies). We then made little toothpicks that either said ‘from the bride’ or ‘from the groom’ on them. Also my Aunty, Uncle and cousin were incredible. My uncle runs a family nursery so he arranged the shipment of about 16 Oak Trees into the venue. The ceilings were really high and the room was massive so we knew we needed a bit of height in there. We wrapped them all with fairy lights and the end result was just incredible. Also, because I had created most of the styling myself, I couldn’t be there on the day to set up so my talented cousin managed the entire bump in and bump out including styling a huge 2.4m tall flower wall which formed a backdrop for our DIY photo booth.

If you could do it all over again, what would you change? I just asked Adam this question and his response was “can I change my wife?”. We really wouldn’t change anything, it was great.

Any tips that you can give to future brides? Don’t get too caught up in the styling of it all. People can go way, way overboard with it all but at the end of the day if you can nail all the big ticket items like the ceremony, the speeches, food and the music, no-one is going to remember what colour the tablecloths were, or whether there was Aesop soap and heaps of candles in the bathrooms or not. It’s really easy to get so caught up in the detail, but on the day, none of it even matters.

Suppliers

Dress: Helen Manuell http://www.manuellandmoore.com/
Makeup: Tre Dallas
Hair: Sarah Caporale
Accessories: Ichu Jewellery https://ichu.com.au/
Bridesmaids Dresses: Finders Keepers
Grooms Suit: P Johnson Tailors
Photographer: Darin Collison http://darincollisonphotography.com.au/

Personalised Wedding Gift: Adorn Invitations https://www.adorninvitations.co.uk/

Plants: Warner’s Nurseries

Wedding Invitations: BWedding Invitations http://www.bweddinginvitations.com/

Creative concepts and styling: Papermill Media http://www.papermillmedia.com.au/

Styling: Party Plants
Cake: Cherry Tree Bakehouse
Food: Bursaria
Flowers: Botanics of Melbourne http://botanicsmelbourne.com.au/
Ceremony Venue: Abbotsford Convent http://abbotsfordconvent.com.au/
Reception Venue: Abbotsford Convent Rosina Room