Real Weddings

Article by

Dani Connor

Posted on

03/08/2023

Posted in

Real Weddings

Clare and Anthony, together for 12 years, always joked that nothing would be different after getting hitched, “except we would have less money,” the newlyweds laughed. “And while we’re definitely down a few dollars, we are beyond glad that we decided to actually have a wedding. It really is one of the only times where you can have all your people together at once.” The pair hosted a weekend lovefest in the beautiful south-west region of WA for all their fave peeps, and cleverly invited Emma MacAulay along to capture all the fun. Scroll down for the phenom photos (which include cameos from emus and roos!) But first, we’ll let the happy couple spill about their day of days…

THE VENUE “We wanted a place where we could have all our favourite people come and stay for the weekend. The weekend part was really important to us. For us the best thing about Donnelly River is that you can hire the whole venue so there was only our people on-site for the whole weekend. Donnelly River Village is just that – a little village with over 30 cottages so we could walk down the street and only see people we loved. How bloody good! It also allowed us a lot of flexibility and freedom about how we used the place – no real curfew, BYO alcohol, no transport, forcing all our family and friends to have a giant sleepover!”

THE VIBE “We wanted something casual and fun where we could get everybody together. We wanted it to be special but also didn’t want to take ourselves too seriously.On the Friday night we had drinks under fairylights. Our big deal MasterChef groomsman Brendan Pangs company Bumplings catered dumplings and noodles to the hungry guests. Saturday morning we had a coffee van and croissants delivered from the local bakery served with fruit and jam from Anthony’s parents farm. Saturday lunchtime all our guests headed down to the river for a swim where pies, choccy milk and vanilla slices were delivered from the Nannup Bakery. Then we nipped off for about an hour and got ready before our beautiful little ceremony in the bush and then the big party.”

MEMORABLE MOMENT “My gorgeous best friend Kia passed away a few years ago and obviously left a gigantic hole in our wedding day. We were able to celebrate her in lots of ways on the day. I had a place for her as one of my bridesmaids, her niece and nephew were our adorable flower people, we had a shots table in her honour and we asked for donations to the WA Youth Cancer Service instead of gifts. Most importantly, it felt like a party she would have loved.”

STANDOUT VENDOR “Emma MacAulay our photographer was, of course, amazing. She very clearly reads people for a living and could tell we were not into the kissing photos and instead captured the fun. We did about 20 minutes of shoots working around the emus and kangaroos.”

To find the very best WA-based vendors, we definitely suggest checking out our directory – there are so many great folks there, fabulous photographer Emma MacAuley included!