"Our story began 5ish years ago. We had worked together for a little while in a restaurant in Melbourne. There were a few work friends that had suggested that we would end up in a relationship but at that point Brad had a girlfriend so that was off the cards. We were given tickets to see the All blacks and Wallabies play in Melbourne as we were the only 2 that cared about rugby in the business. Brad reckons that after that night there was something there. As luck would have it things didn't work out with his girlfriend and they parted ways...
In classic hospitality style, a staff party assisted in our original "hook up". We continued to see each other in secret after that. We would finish work and leave separately only to meet up around the corner.... Seems funny now but it made things fun and allowed us to maintain professionalism at work. We spent a hell of a lot of time together, it was and still is so easy.. It seemed a natural fit."
We had been working long hours and hadn't really seen much of each other for a few weeks. I was looking forward to a Sunday off together and we had one planned. When the day arrived Brad got up and told me he had to go into work for a little bit. I was pissed off.
On his way out the door he told me to pack an overnight bag and that he would be back soon. I had an idea of what he was up to. He returned to pick me up. I was wearing my best flannel shirt and ripped jeans and we left. He started heading towards the great ocean road. I hate that road. Don't get me wrong it's beautiful but I'm not great with windy roads and he knew it. It took forever to get there and I was a bit grumpy.
We got to the 12 apostles and pulled in to a gravel driveway that lead to a pretty big tent. We opened it up and it was the equivalent of a hotel room inside a tent. I sat down and Brad dropped to a knee. I cried and he proceeded to ask the top of my head to marry him. I managed to say yes. After that we celebrated with a large hamper of amazing food and my favourite champagne that he had prepared and packed in secret.
Our inspiration for the day was us. It had to be who we are as people. We wanted to have a relaxed, country, family feel to our wedding. We wanted our guests to feel special and at home. We didn't want the day to be overly formal or starchy, it had to be fun and have the potential to get rowdy. We wanted have nature to play a part in the day hence the outdoor ceremony and we wanted to have a lot of family and personal touches so a lot of our decorations were made and assembled either by us or by family and friends.
I walked down the isle to Best Friend by Queen and when we walked back down the aisle as husband and wife we had What Is Life by George Harrison. We were lucky enough to have musician Marc Joseph from Hamilton playing and awesome array of music that had everyone on the dance floor singing along and dancing. He provided the exact atmosphere that we were after... We definitely recommend him to anyone planning a wedding or special event!
We saved by doing a lot ourselves or having family help. For a start we did our own invites. Brads suit and the grooms outfits were all bought on sale for a steal. On the day... Flowers for the table were mostly dried flowers that Mum grew and dried for us. The fresh flowers for the table were purchased at the supermarket on the day and were really cheap. I made the bunting and we set up the marquee for the reception ourselves. And at the advice of our caterer, desserts consisted of our cake and a couple of delicious slices made by our mums.
Splurge Items...My dress was a splurge item because I'm not good with shopping so bought the first dress that I tried on and liked. No shopping around whatsoever. We spent on the flowers for the arch that we got married under and the bouquets for myself and my bridesmaid and button pins for Dad and Brad. Well worth it as they looked amazing! We also spent a bit on our photographer. This was massively important to us to have have great photos and as you can see they were well worth it!
If we could do one thing differently we wouldn't have trusted a builder saying that Brads parents house would be pretty much finished. As a result our marquee was pitched in the surroundings of a bit of a construction site. It didn't really effect the day but if we had to pick one thing that we could change, that would be it.
Advice for future brides...My advice for brides would be to make sure you don't get carried away on small details and remember to enjoy the day. Don't get lost in the mayhem and don't sweat it if a few things don't go quite to plan. Also make sure you take time to be with your husband, stand back with him and take it all in. It all goes by too fast.
