Anna & Rich

Do you remember A Country Practice? Fatso the wombat, when Molly died, Cookie, Shirley, Dr Terence and Lucy- that theme song will never be forgotten and the memories don’t fade too easily either!

So today’s wedding of Anna and Rich is a little special in that respect- it took place in Wandin Valley, the home of A Country Practice, or to be specific Wandin Valley Estate, Lovedale, Hunter Valley. The wedding is so completely rich with Australiana- from the landscape, to the subtle cricket theme Anna and Rich wove throughout their day, I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did!

Anna says, “We met playing hockey in a charity tournament in the UK. Anna had just come out of ambulance having been injured on the pitch and Rich was the only guy not to show any sympathy but to wind her up over it which began a day of sledging. Over 5 years later, the laughter continues…”

Photographs today are by Welsch Photography who have managed to captured the Australian landscape, the details, the moments but most of all the love of Anna and Rich!

Anna and Rich planned a wedding weekend for their guests. “As many guests had flown in from the UK (both of us are English), we planned a weekend wedding, organising transport and accommodation for all guests. We hired 3 vineyards, WVE, Adina and Tatler, all in Lovedale. We had activities planned all weekend with wine tastings and a hog roast on Friday evening, a trip to Aqua Golf and the Hunter Valley Gardens the morning of the wedding and then a cricket recovery brunch BBQ on the Sunday. All our guests were on fantastic form when it came to our wedding and reception which made the day so much fun!”

Anna wore a gown from Elizabeth De Varga while her bridesmaids wore emerald green gowns from Dessy. Hair and makeup was styled by Rachel and her team at Sublime in the Hunter Valley Gardens.

Anna and Rich placed a great importance on the music for their day. “Music is very important to us and so we spent a lot of time preparing playlists for each section of our day. This worked really well, kept everyone in high spirits and amused guests during the ceremony.

Our aisle song was ‘Industrial Revolution Part 2’ by Jean-Michel Jarre. We spent our holiday in 2007 following the England team round the Rugby World Cup in France and this was the song that teams entered the stadium to, which created such an electric atmosphere at the time and did so on our day.”

Jade McIntosh Flowers arranged the blooms for the day.

Anna and Rich had many special treats for their guests. Anna says “We had thought about every detail in advance and so the guests were constantly surprised and entertained and we didn’t worry about a thing on the day, e.g. song choices at the ceremony (including ‘Signed, Sealed and Delivered’ for the signing), the cake made of cheese with our figurines, the English cricket theme (particularly the first dance) and the engraved port bottles as favours (filled with sweets for the kids).”  The stationery was by by Huetopia Design.

In lieu of a traditional wedding cake, Anna and Rich chose a stack of cheese and apples from Jay Power of Imagine Cakes with hockey playing figurines to represent themselves.

Although their wedding was at the one venue, Anna and Rich made elements of the day feel very different. “We had our ceremony on the lawn in front of the winery and had a champagne bar at the back for post ceremony drinks. Our guests then followed the driveway through the vines down to the reception venue which was held in the cricket pavilion with the cricket pitch one side and a view of the vineyard the other. It is a beautiful, remote, relaxed setting and although both the ceremony and the reception were held on the same venue, it felt as though they were two different places.”

The importance of music flowed through to the reception. “To keep with the cricket theme of our reception (in a cricket pavilion, table names of 2005 Ashes Winning Heroes with a cricket recovery brunch planned for the Sunday), we choreographed a short salsa routine to ‘Soul Limbo’ by Booker T and The MGs (1968) which is the music that introduces BBC cricket coverage and is the theme tune for Test Match Special on Radio 4.”

Duck and Cover kept guests on the dance floor all night long. Anna says “Our guests were incredible. They went with everything we planned with such enthusiasm which is something you can’t plan for. They made our wedding day perfect.”

Congratulations Anna and Rich! Thank you for sharing your wedding day on Polka Dot Bride! Thank you also to Welsch Photography for sharing today’s images!

Photos by Welsch Photography