K A T I E & I A N
F R O M T H E B R I D E …
The Meeting…
Ian and I met one night in July 2007, I was staying in the city for my best friend and I’s joint birthday celebrations. After going to many establishments, as you do when you are young, we settled on drinks and dancing at the Cargo Bar in Darling Harbour. I bumped into Ian, who was there with a group of his friends, on my way out from the bathroom (romantic I know!). We spoke for about 15 minutes, laughing the entire time. My friends decided they wanted to head to another hotspot so Ian and I exchanged numbers and continued to text each other throughout the night. After our first meeting, Ian and I exchanged texts and phone calls every day until we finally met again a month later on my 23rd birthday at the Cargo Bar. I had 10 of my girlfriends with me and Ian very bravely turned up by himself. I think Ian and I spent the entire night talking, totally ignoring my other guests- oops! After our second meeting we were inseparable, spending all our free time together.
The Proposal…
Ian proposed on 14-02-08. Ian and I shared a very strong connection that developed super quickly- after just 4 months of dating, Ian proposed. I told him that I had never had a proper Valentine’s Day before and he promised that our first Valentine’s Day together would be one to remember. That night he took me into the city for dinner at the Cargo Bar (where else!) and afterwards we went for a walk around the Harbour. He was very nervous and quiet so I knew something was ‘up’, when we were almost back at the car he got down on one knee but I was in shock so I told him to stand back up! The ring was a beautiful 1930’s estate piece from an antique shop in the Blue Mountains that I had fallen in love with one weekend. Ian was only 20 at the time and had had to take out a loan to afford it. Our family and friends were very excited for us but also concerned as we were only young and had only known each other for a short time. Ian and I made the decision that we would enjoy a long engagement- 5 years!
Wedding Theme…
I have a great love of all things vintage and wanted our wedding to have an air of vintage romance about it. To me this meant soft, muted pastels with a lot of textural detail. Originally we had intended on getting married at one of the Hunter’s many beautiful wineries but couldn’t find one that ticked all the boxes. My dad suggested we look at Tocal Homestead and we instantly fell in love with its beauty. It was then that our styling became a lot more country and rustic inspired. I think we ended up calling our theme ‘Vintage Country Vogue’.
The Ceremony…
Our ceremony was held in the historic barn at Tocal Homestead, Paterson. Originally we had wanted to get married in an old sandstone church and we looked at every sandstone church within an hour of Tocal. There were many that were beautiful on the outside but the interior wasn’t to our taste. After some thought we decided to use the barn at Tocal primarily as we wanted everything at the one location and knew that with some styling, the barn would look absolutely gorgeous.
The Reception…
Our reception was in the converted barn at Tocal Homestead. Apart from being structurally beautiful, we were drawn to the fact that it is hired as an ’empty shell’ and we would have to bring in everything ourselves. Although it was a lot work, this gave us the opportunity to make our wedding a complete reflection of our style and tastes.
The Dress…
My wedding gown was the dress of my dreams! It was the Angelina gown by Karen Willis Holmes purchased from Akina Bridal in Castle Hill. The mermaid cut and tulle Grecian draped bodice was so flattering and the crystal and beaded art deco inspired shoulder detailing was to die for. I fell in love with the gown when I was initially researching dresses but decided that it was too expensive. For some reason I left dress shopping until the last minute- 8 weeks out from the wedding I spent every weekend looking at what felt like every bridal shop in Sydney. I didn’t actually try anything on because nothing really caught my eye or measured up to the Angelina gown. I decided I wouldn’t be happy until I tracked down the Angelina and at least tried it on. It was only the third dress I tried on and from the moment I stepped into it I knew it was the one (regardless of the price tag!).
Bridesmaids’ Dresses…
It was important for me to choose something affordable that the girls could wear again. Initially I wanted mismatched bridesmaids but was having so much trouble finding one dress let alone 3! I decided on a tailored, A-line dress in a cream lace from Cue. I loved the simplicity of it and knew it would flatter each girl’s body, even my pregnant friend! I let the girls pick their own jewellery and let them know that I wanted a heel in a neutral solid colour or muted metallic.
The Flowers…
My bouquet was made up of white freesias and babies breath held together with hessian and pearl pins. My bridesmaids did not have bouquets.
Styling…
Both the ceremony and reception barns were completely empty. The tables, wooden chairs and lounges were hired with everything else either bought or made by my family over the course of a year. We trawled junkyards, op shops, ebay and etsy for cut crystal vases- we ended up with 115 of them! Our props like the vintage suitcases were also found at the Windsor Junkyard and then restored by my father. My dad made all the signage, horseshoe & pallet pew ends and our amazing hessian curtains. My dad also loves antiques so a lot of the items we decorated the barns with were found lying around the house.
Each table was covered in a cream table cloth with a hessian and lace runner- found on etsy. Homemade vanilla and lavender candles lined the middle of each table alternating with vases of various sizes/heights filled with a mix of flowers. Place settings were large plastic farm animals spray painted white with guest names printed on a tag attached with twine. Each guest also had their own menu printed on recycled paper and a chocolate with our wedding invitation graphic printed on it. Our table numbers were vintage books sourced from the junkyard with gold house numbers attached. We also wanted to create ‘floating’ centrepieces with the babies breath pomander balls and glass balls with candles hanging over each table.
We ordered wholesale flowers and arranged them into the 115 vases ourselves. We had a mixture of lavender, lisianthus (white, cream, light pink, mauve), freesias (white, pink, light purple), babies breath and sim carnations (cream, light pink).
On The Menu…
We had a selection of canapés during the garden games on the Homestead lawn followed by more substantial canapés served as a roaming entrée at the reception venue. Main was a sit down alternate dish dinner and dessert was a variety of icecreams from our very own icecream truck.
Canapes
Chipolatas with honey and thyme dipping sauce
Lamb koftas with natural yogurt and coriander
Baby beef burgers with vintage cheddar, rocket and tomato relish
Smoked salmon lasagne with salsa verde
Sticky spare ribs
Main
Chicken breast, creamy mash and prosciutto with white wine, butter and toasted pine nut sauce
Dukka crusted lamb racks with roast kipfler potatoes and red currant jus
Dessert
Frozen confectionery (icecream van)
Wedding Photography…
Ian and I don’t particularly enjoy getting our photo taken- I am convinced I am one of the most unphotogenic people on the planet, but when I looked through our wedding photos I was beyond thrilled! The memories Popcorn created for us are absolutely breathtaking! Popcorn captured the look and feel of our wedding perfectly- I cannot praise their efforts enough. Their professional yet wonderfully casual and friendly manner were the perfect addition to a relaxed, stress-free wedding.
Wedding Soundtrack…
Walked down the aisle to- Can’t Help Falling in Love by Ingrid Michaelson
Recessional- Baby I’m Amazed by Paul McCartney & Wings
Entry to reception- Paradise by the Dashboard Light by Meatloaf
First Dance- Romeo & Juliet by Dire Straits
Special Memories…
The entire day/night was memorable however the definite highlight of the night was the HappyBooth (open air photobooth). Guests were lined up from the beginning of the reception until the very end to get some snaps with our life size cut out cow!
The Honeymoon…
We left for a 2 week cruise around the Pacific Islands on the Carnival Spirit the day after our wedding. We will be going on the second part of our honeymoon in September with a 4 week roadtrip across the United States.
The Future...
We have just bought some land and plan on starting to build our dream home before the end of the year at the beautiful Murrays Beach, Lake Macquarie. We plan on doing more travel with the roadtrip across the States this year, a trip to Hawaii early next year and touring Europe the end of next year. After we have the travel bug out of our systems we plan on settling down to start a family of our own.
Everyone who made this wedding beautiful…
Photography Popcorn Photography Ceremony & Reception Venue Tocal Homestead Bride’s Dress Karen Willis Holmes bought from Akina Bridal, Castle Hill Bridesmaids’ Dress Cue Make Up TranZformations Makeup Artistry Hair Bridal & Editorial Hair by Jackie Groom & Groomsmen Suits Roger David Flowers Valley Fresh Weddings Celebrant Philip Greentree Car Exclusive Vintage Wedding Cars Catering Lillies and Lime Gourmet Catering Ice cream Van Sydney Ice Cream Company Music XYDJ Entertainment HappyBooth