Coldstream Wedding by Stewart Leishman Photography
It's official. I am done. This wedding has me completely and totally speechless. Well, not speechless per se because let's face it. I'm rarely at a loss for words. But this wedding is so pretty...with a bride who is rocking out a gown that I could die happy in, a groom that is decidedly dreamy and an Australian backdrop that leaves me breathless....that I'm kind of having a hard time gushing over it with my goodie bag of superlatives. And don't even get me started on the photography by Stewart Leishman. Photography that brings this jaw-dropper of a wedding to a status of total LOVE. Well, it's a good thing the pics speak for themselves, because this wedding is one for the books. Click here to see even more.
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From the bride... We met while studying at Melbourne University almost seven years ago — hitting it off immediately, even though it did take Brad a few weeks to get up the courage to talk to me! We eventually got together following a uni ball and the rest, as they say, is history — we have been together ever since! We had talked about getting married for a little while when I began playfully hinting that it would be nice to get engaged during an upcoming European trip. Not wanting me to be able to plan everything in our lives (I like to plan), Brad surprised me by proposing a month before the trip on our fifth anniversary. Brad proposed with an “interim” faux (but beautiful) cubic zirconium ring, which remains one of my favourite sentimental pieces of jewellery. I then went about searching for my ideal engagement ring, deciding on a beautiful art deco piece from Keshett Jewellers. It has a yellow sapphire in the middle and two baguette-cut diamonds on either side.
We had over a year to plan our wedding so it wasn’t too stressful. My sister Anne, the maid of honour, did much of our wedding planning and appointment making in the beginning, for which I am very grateful! Most things fell into place very easily. We fell in love with Stones of the Yarra Valley as a location for our ceremony and reception. It’s a beautiful estate surrounded by vineyards with a great restaurant and wine selection, which was very important to us. The only Saturday night they had available in the month we wanted to get married was December 31… so we set about planning a New Years Eve wedding! I had a lot of difficulty finding the perfect wedding dress. Not many dresses felt like “me” until I found Shane McConnell. As clichéd as it sounds, I knew that the dress was “the one” when I tried it on! My bridesmaids were spread interstate and across the globe. I wanted them all to love their dresses, so I decided that they should each choose their own black cocktail dress. This was a huge success and they all chose stunning dresses that suited them individually. All of our suppliers were fabulous, especially our florist Bec from Art Stems on Lygon. She understood my vision, and the bouquets were even more beautiful than I had imagined — an eclectic bunch of exquisite mixed flowers, leaves and berries of different textures. She decked out our tables with different sized vases of gorgeous flowers, which guests took home as their bonbonniere. Stewart Leishman was our amazing photographer, who also did an engagement shoot with us before the wedding around our home streets in North Melbourne. We wanted a more photojournalistic/fine art approach rather than posed stereotypical photos, and are so pleased with the results.
We personalised our ceremony and reception to reflect who we are. We had all of our closest family and friends there, and the whole day was a huge success. We did our wedding “rumba” as soon as we were introduced, which started everyone dancing and set the mood for the evening! We saw the New Year in, celebrating with the people we love the most in the world – it was the best night of our lives! Our bridal party was quite large at 12 people. We rented a beautiful, secluded resort in the Yarra Valley and had our entire bridal party and their partners stay with us for a long weekend surrounding the wedding. It was a great way to make the wedding celebration last – and meant that we kicked on partying after the wedding until the sun rose the next morning!
Wedding Photography: Stewart Leishman Photography (Available Internationally) / Wedding Venue: Stones of the Yarra Valley in Coldstream, Victoria / Flowers: Bec of Art Stems On Lygon / Wedding Cake: Farmgate Cheese / Wedding Dress: Shane McConnell / Bride's Engagement Ring + Wedding Band: Keshett / Groom's Wedding Band: Georg Jensen / Bride's Earrings + Bracelet: Peter Lang / Bride's Shoes: Vera Wang / Bridesmaids' Dresses: Rachel Gilbert, Ted Baker, Karen Millen, Cue + Whistles / Bridesmaids' Jewellery + Bride's Bag: Vintage via Shag / Getting Ready Venue: Hazeldene Yarra Valley / Hair: Lindy Hartley (lindz68@mac.com) / Makeup: Nikki D (nikki@nikkid.com.au)