Real Weddings

Article by

Laura Wilson

Posted on

05/07/2018

Posted in

Real Weddings

For this laid-back couple, the blank canvas known as The Moller Pavilion in Bangalow Showgrounds was the ultimate venue. “We had the freedom to create whatever we wanted. Knowing that we were putting this wedding together with our own time and our own two hands (or four hands), we wanted to ensure that there were no restrictions to what we could do, what time we could play music until or what decorations we could use.” We are nothing short of impressed with the end result, all perfectly captured by Love Her Wild Photography.

THE PROPOSAL Ben proposed down at The Pass in Byron Bay. He told me that we were going down to the beach to meet some of his friends for a picnic, but really, he had all our best friends and family hiding in the bushes, waiting for us to arrive. As we got halfway down the beach, he looked at me and started to cry. I was very confused, but as he tried to get his words out, I noticed about 50-80 of our friends and family hiding (very unsuccessfully) in the bush and caught on to what was happening. Ben had set up festoon lights, champagne and prawns in the sand dunes and we celebrated with all of ours friends after the proposal.

THE THEME We always envisioned having a Mexican fiesta themed wedding, with a taco bar. We also wanted to be as eco-friendly as possible, so instead of cut flowers we used potted plants and off-cuts from friends and family’s gardens. The food was served on bamboo, with bamboo cutlery and recycled paper napkins (all compostable from Green Pack) so our wedding reflected the values we bring to our everyday lives.

DIY The entire wedding was a DIY project. We had spreadsheets for our spreadsheets! Ben and I have both worked in events, however, creating a wedding from scratch with your partner for life is a really good test. I painted all of the signs- not realising how long that would take- and the macramé arbour was handmade by me and my sister. Having most of the food organised by us and our friends and family was a really big job. And although the taco bar and the afternoon tasting platters were a raging success, the amount of work that was put in by our friends and family was a lot to ask and it did mean that we missed having some more time with the people organising this to sit back and reflect on the occasion.

THE DRESS Grace Loves Lace was the only bridal store that I visited. I searched online for something to wear for months before laying eyes on the ‘Emmanuella’ dress on their Instagram. I tried on six dresses at their showroom, and it was the first one. I never envisioned that I would wear a wedding dress to my wedding, but this dress was perfect in every way. I removed the train that it usually has, so that I could get around in the grass without dragging it through the dirt. The girls were amazing.

A WORD OF ADVICE If you’ve decided to do a big wedding on a small budget, you can make it happen. Even with 140 people at our wedding, we never increased our budget, we just got more creative about the way that we did things to ensure that we would end up with what we envisioned from the start.

STANDOUT VENDORS We really loved working with the Vintage Borrow Co. They provided the amazing velvet couches that we set up as a relaxation area. Apart from a few other bits and pieces that we hired for service, everything else was donated/borrowed from friends and family. It really is amazing what you can source from the people you know if you just ask the question. Borrow, borrow, borrow!

This wedding was originally published in Issue 20. If you’d like to check out more from this issue, limited copies are available via our online store and postage is on us.