Our hats (or headbands or whatever else may be atop our heads) are off to this lovely Australian wedding captured by Pobke Photography. It is beautiful for so many, many reasons, one of which is the easy elegance of it all. It’s as if this day came together PERFECTLY without a hitch. AND are you ready for this? Most of it was hand-crafted by the couple and their family and friends. Now that is insanely impressive. See the whole day in one pretty place. Yep, were talking about the gallery.
see the rest of this pretty day here!
From the Bride… When we thought about what we wanted from our wedding we new we wanted our day to be fun, a reflection of us, our relationship and faith, with a rustic DIY country feel as well as fit within our small budget – I think we pulled it all off! We were married not far from home in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia. We had a garden ceremony at The Vintage Golf Course, which was then followed by a garden party next to The Vintage Club House. The Vintage supplied all the garden games (the game signs were made by my father) and was actually one of the reasons we chose them as a venue. Plus the groom was excited that we got to ride around on the golf carts!
Our friends and family really helped bring our day together and keep it all under budget – my bridesmaid and friend helped make our invites, friends from the states kept sending over packages, my aunt helped decorate our cake and made macaroons for our dessert bar and my dad made pretty much everything else you see. On the day friends and family members gave Bible readings, two of our closest friends and bridal party members lead us in worship, Morgan’s uncle married us, we had our parents pray over us and we wrote our own vows – which were a surprise to each other on the day. It all made the day very personal and sweet. On the way to the reception we were in search of a dry country field for our wedding photos and found the perfect setting with the perfect light (the photographers were so excited!) – although I ended up climbing through a barbed wire fence in my dress with the help of the groomsmen to get the photos you see here! It was another funny moment!
Our reception was held at Margan’s Winery – we fell in love with the barrel room at Margan’s Estate as soon as we walked in and knew it was where we wanted to have our reception. It was so moody and rustic it hardly needed any decorating! My mum helped me make the hessian table runners and the flowers were brought wholesale and arranged in an assortment of jars by us and the staff at Margan’s – saving us a lot of money! The photo booth was definitely a highlight at the reception. We hung some Amy Butler fabric from our photographer’s stand, supplied a wooden crate full of empty picture frames and my dad helped me create chalkboard speech bubbles in different sizes. No one was ready to pack up at the end of the night (particularly our photographer, Christine!) and we got some very funny responses. Everyone also loved the dessert table and it was pretty much cleared out before dinner had even begun! My dress was a satin gown with a pleated tulle overlay and croqueted lace flowers which we sourced from New York. I found a dress which I fell in love with which was out of my price line so my dress maker, Kelly from Kel-Leigh Couture, helped me take the elements I loved and created a new gown – which I think turned out even better and was so me! Kelly also made my silk flower headpiece and veil and I purchased my shoes for under AU$100 from zappos.com. The girl’s dresses were made by a friend of a friend and the boys outfits were from Roger David. I made the boutonnieres myself from hessian, feathers, wire and buttons from All Buttons Great and Small. A lot of other items were sourced from my trip to the states earlier in the year, lots of online shops and Etsy. One of our highlights from the day was actually leaving our reception. We had a sparkler send off and everyone gathered on the lawn outside and we ran to the car as our friends and family whistled and clapped. We ended up getting to the car before the sparklers ran out and so we turned and ran back down again. We had also forgotten to do the garter and bouquet toss and now took the time to do it. We then drove away in my brother’s 1958 convertible Bug-Eye Austin Healey Sprite, complete with a Just Married hessian banner (made by the groom) and tin cans trailing behind. The perfect end to such an amazing day captured so beautifully by Pobke Photography!
Photography: Pobke Photography / Event Design and Planning: Bride / Ceremony Location: The Vintage, Hunter Valley, New South Wales (Australia) / Reception Location: Margan’s Winery, Hunter Valley, New South Wales (Australia) / Invitations: Bride / Hair + Makeup Artist: Amanda of Bellus Hair / Dress: Kel-Leigh Couture /