Rustic Melbourne Wedding at Wattle Park Chalet
I'm pretty sure I could live and die in the flowers behind this gorgeous wedding. They are perfect. Utterly perfect. And the adorable story, the stunning backdrop, the great music choices and the totally smitten couple just make it all the sweeter. With images from Oy Photography, this is one of those wedding that will have you smiling from beginning to end. Full gallery here!
From the Bride...
How We Met: Aaron’s sister works with a mutual friend of mine, and they decided to play matchmaking! It all came about as I was complaining to this friend I couldn’t find anyone who suited to me, which later came up in conversation with Aaron’s sister, when they had a light bulb moment to set us up. A blind date was arranged and the rest is history!
The Proposal: We had planned a weekend in the Dandenong Ranges to celebrate our one-year anniversary. We had promised no gifts, but I couldn’t help myself! As we strolled through the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens, I presented Aaron with a journal titled “Our Year” - filled with our top songs for the year, each song containing an entry that I wrote as to why each song meant something to us, along with the playlist that I had organized on his phone for us to listen to that weekend. After reading through the journal, we were about to head back for a coffee when Aaron quite casually said, "I was going to ask you later...but..." there was a pause for about 10 seconds, he got quite nervous and serious and I just froze, everything seemed so still and crazy at the same time. I had a massive lump in my throat. He just remained silent. ‘Well what, what is it you wanted to ask?!’ I managed to get out. The silence was killing me. ‘Well I was going to ask if you’d marry me’. I burst into tears and eventually I managed to nod a few times, before continuing the water works. It was the happiest moment of my life. Aaron told me he actually planned to propose that evening, he had nice wine and food organized at our cottage, but he just thought this was a good moment. Very Aaron. Very calm and collected and casual. The rest of the day was an absolute blur. I don’t think I came back down to earth until a few weeks later!
Our Inspiration: Our theme was rustic/earthy/provincial. The rustic, earthy element reflects our love of nature and the desire for our wedding to be a laid back, yet celebratory affair. We spend a lot of time bush walking, and I am also a keen gardener, so that earthy feel very much represents who we are. The provincial element comes through as a reflection of our wedding venue, Wattle Park Chalet, the oldest operating wedding venue in Melbourne. The chalet is a beautiful, grand hall and we wanted to let it speak for itself, and honor the surrounding garden and parkland. Our ceremony was held in the chalet’s garden, filled with roses, overlooking a backdrop of gumtrees, the combination of elegance and rustic bushland was the perfect setting for us to marry.
Our Flowers: I feel our wedding theme was ultimately captured through the stunning work of our florist, Mary, founder of Flower Bird. The flowers spoke of our love of native bush, reflected the surrounds of Wattle Park and managed to work in cohesion with the color palette of the bridal party. The bouquets were a mix of native and European flowers, each with a mighty king protea, my favorite flower. Mary went to great lengths to source these king proteas, they were scarce due to the time of the year. Proteas were plotted around the chalet, and it was just such a lovely surprise. She completely surpassed my expectations. She even incorporated succulents tastefully throughout the floral decoration to tie in with our bonbonnieres, which were individual succulents in biodegradable pots for each guest to take home and plant. The floral design pulled every idea and element of our wedding together. The flowers were the medium of all that we could ever wish our wedding to be.
Our Cake: Our cake was a three tier flourless chocolate cake, a crowd favorite. Mary, did a wonderful job decorating the cake with a mix of succulents, roses and natives, tying in with the bouquets and other floral decorations at the venue. The cake was placed on a huge elm log board, sourced by my horticulturalist friend, which in the future we will use as the ultimate cheese board!
Our Music: Both being music lovers, we wanted to make all music very personal. Aaron’s talented cousin played acoustic guitar throughout the ceremony, which sounded beautiful. Aaron and I then created playlists for each stage of the occasion, from the prelude, canapés, background music during meals and dancing. For the prelude and canapés we chose music from a range of our favorite artists including Paul Kelly, The Beatles, The Waifs, Cat Power and Ben Harper. We wanted a mix of our favorite songs. Dinner music mainly consisted of classic soul songs from Otis Redding, Al Green, Nina Simone and Curtis Mayfield. The partying mix was a compilation of new and old hits, the classic songs that get everyone up and dancing! Our first dance was to ‘Take Me Out of This World’, by Jordie Lane, one of my favorite musicians. Our bridal entry was to the Game of Thrones theme song! It’s our favorite show and Aaron insisted we do it, so I just went along with it! The music made the whole event, we wanted a relaxed affair and for everyone to kick up their heels and have a good time. We wanted the way we felt on our wedding day be an extension to the guests, ecstatic, incredibly grateful and ultimately filled with love.
Our Ceremony: A memorable moment of the day for me occurred during the ceremony, hearing the celebrant speak of our story. She did a wonderful job of compiling information from both of us, and listening to how our wedding day came to be was like fast-forwarding the past nearly two years since we had met, and have it sped up to this moment in time. It was surreal and amazing to have all these memories wash over me of significant times we had spent, and then be standing in a wedding dress, with all our family and friends, about to marry. It was a surreal moment, I had to stop and think, wow, this is really happening!
How We Met: Aaron’s sister works with a mutual friend of mine, and they decided to play matchmaking! It all came about as I was complaining to this friend I couldn’t find anyone who suited to me, which later came up in conversation with Aaron’s sister, when they had a light bulb moment to set us up. A blind date was arranged and the rest is history!
The Proposal: We had planned a weekend in the Dandenong Ranges to celebrate our one-year anniversary. We had promised no gifts, but I couldn’t help myself! As we strolled through the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens, I presented Aaron with a journal titled “Our Year” - filled with our top songs for the year, each song containing an entry that I wrote as to why each song meant something to us, along with the playlist that I had organized on his phone for us to listen to that weekend. After reading through the journal, we were about to head back for a coffee when Aaron quite casually said, "I was going to ask you later...but..." there was a pause for about 10 seconds, he got quite nervous and serious and I just froze, everything seemed so still and crazy at the same time. I had a massive lump in my throat. He just remained silent. ‘Well what, what is it you wanted to ask?!’ I managed to get out. The silence was killing me. ‘Well I was going to ask if you’d marry me’. I burst into tears and eventually I managed to nod a few times, before continuing the water works. It was the happiest moment of my life. Aaron told me he actually planned to propose that evening, he had nice wine and food organized at our cottage, but he just thought this was a good moment. Very Aaron. Very calm and collected and casual. The rest of the day was an absolute blur. I don’t think I came back down to earth until a few weeks later!
Our Inspiration: Our theme was rustic/earthy/provincial. The rustic, earthy element reflects our love of nature and the desire for our wedding to be a laid back, yet celebratory affair. We spend a lot of time bush walking, and I am also a keen gardener, so that earthy feel very much represents who we are. The provincial element comes through as a reflection of our wedding venue, Wattle Park Chalet, the oldest operating wedding venue in Melbourne. The chalet is a beautiful, grand hall and we wanted to let it speak for itself, and honor the surrounding garden and parkland. Our ceremony was held in the chalet’s garden, filled with roses, overlooking a backdrop of gumtrees, the combination of elegance and rustic bushland was the perfect setting for us to marry.
Our Flowers: I feel our wedding theme was ultimately captured through the stunning work of our florist, Mary, founder of Flower Bird. The flowers spoke of our love of native bush, reflected the surrounds of Wattle Park and managed to work in cohesion with the color palette of the bridal party. The bouquets were a mix of native and European flowers, each with a mighty king protea, my favorite flower. Mary went to great lengths to source these king proteas, they were scarce due to the time of the year. Proteas were plotted around the chalet, and it was just such a lovely surprise. She completely surpassed my expectations. She even incorporated succulents tastefully throughout the floral decoration to tie in with our bonbonnieres, which were individual succulents in biodegradable pots for each guest to take home and plant. The floral design pulled every idea and element of our wedding together. The flowers were the medium of all that we could ever wish our wedding to be.
Our Cake: Our cake was a three tier flourless chocolate cake, a crowd favorite. Mary, did a wonderful job decorating the cake with a mix of succulents, roses and natives, tying in with the bouquets and other floral decorations at the venue. The cake was placed on a huge elm log board, sourced by my horticulturalist friend, which in the future we will use as the ultimate cheese board!
Our Music: Both being music lovers, we wanted to make all music very personal. Aaron’s talented cousin played acoustic guitar throughout the ceremony, which sounded beautiful. Aaron and I then created playlists for each stage of the occasion, from the prelude, canapés, background music during meals and dancing. For the prelude and canapés we chose music from a range of our favorite artists including Paul Kelly, The Beatles, The Waifs, Cat Power and Ben Harper. We wanted a mix of our favorite songs. Dinner music mainly consisted of classic soul songs from Otis Redding, Al Green, Nina Simone and Curtis Mayfield. The partying mix was a compilation of new and old hits, the classic songs that get everyone up and dancing! Our first dance was to ‘Take Me Out of This World’, by Jordie Lane, one of my favorite musicians. Our bridal entry was to the Game of Thrones theme song! It’s our favorite show and Aaron insisted we do it, so I just went along with it! The music made the whole event, we wanted a relaxed affair and for everyone to kick up their heels and have a good time. We wanted the way we felt on our wedding day be an extension to the guests, ecstatic, incredibly grateful and ultimately filled with love.
Our Ceremony: A memorable moment of the day for me occurred during the ceremony, hearing the celebrant speak of our story. She did a wonderful job of compiling information from both of us, and listening to how our wedding day came to be was like fast-forwarding the past nearly two years since we had met, and have it sped up to this moment in time. It was surreal and amazing to have all these memories wash over me of significant times we had spent, and then be standing in a wedding dress, with all our family and friends, about to marry. It was a surreal moment, I had to stop and think, wow, this is really happening!