Caroline and James

How we met:

It feels like so long ago now but James and I met when we worked together at Bridgeclimb Sydney. We like to think the bridge brought us together. I wasn’t looking for a relationship at the time as I was about to head overseas to travel with a friend. But we got talking one night over a few drinks and found out that we grew up in the same area and both frequented the same pub but had never met before. (This pub even made it into the best man’s speech). So from that night on we were inseparable up until the day I left to go overseas. It definitely hadn’t been something I was looking for but it wasn’t something I wanted to give up either. So I went on my travels and we planned to meet half way on my way back to Australia in Thailand.

It was such an exciting time, we planned our trip all over emails and the occasional call from overseas and worked out we would meet in Bangkok airport. He was arriving a few hours earlier so would wait for me at the gates. It all sounded perfect in theory but didn’t go quite to plan. I somehow exited at the wrong exit and was left wandering the airport thinking he hadn’t shown up while James was waiting at the gate watching everyone exit but no sign of me. We were in a foreign country unable to contact each other and freaking out. I had remembered that he said our connecting flight was with Bangkok Air so I thought maybe he would be waiting for me there so I found the lounge and waited and waited. I wasn’t sure how long to leave it before I completely panicked but after about an hour, a stressed James came bounding towards me! Even though our embrace was more sheer relief than the planned romantic moment it was so amazing being back together and just proved that no matter how much you plan something it doesn’t always go as planned. So after we got over the stressful mishap, we had the best holiday and have been back several times always making sure we don’t loose each other in the airport.

His Proposal:

James has always been amazing at surprises and our engagement night has definitely been the best. We had spoken about getting engaged but he had convinced me it wasn’t happening for another couple of years. So I think James even surprised himself the night he chose to propose as he hadn’t planned to do it that night at all.

He had picked up the ring the week before and in typical James style had been trying to think of the most romantic way to propose. We had been at a family party the weekend before when he asked my dad permission to marry me. They have always gotten along so I didn’t think anything of it when dad kept saying to me that night how great a guy James is … I just thought he had a few too many beers! The night he chose to propose, he had been out for the afternoon with his old school friends and in general conversation been talking about me. He thought “She is home right now with her sisters what a perfect time to do it, why wait?”

You can imagine my surprise when he came home early with a giant bottle of Moet and was acting really nervous which is so unlike James because he is always loud and confident. He sat down on the lounge and was holding my hands and then letting them go. He stood up and moved the coffee table and asked me to stand up with him. He got down on one knee and I remember looking at my sisters thinking what is wrong with him! Although I’m pretty sure they thought straight away that something was going on because they both were holding hands with their mouths open! James always used to joke when we were out at romantic places to get down on one knee but then do up his shoe lace and laugh at me and say just kidding. So again I thought he was just mucking around until he pulled out the box! I just started shaking as he was saying all these beautiful things and then he opened the box and I just started crying! My sisters were screaming, I said “yes” then we were all jumping around the room. We cracked the champagne and had an impromptu party.

It was the perfect night and he couldn’t have “not planned” it any better. It was even more exciting calling people with the news because he hadn’t told a soul he was planning it so everyone was so genuinely excited. It was fantastic!

Planning process:

Because our wedding was in the Hunter Valley and we live in Sydney I did most of the booking online. I researched a lot on the internet and chose our suppliers by reading reviews, emailing and calling them directly. I chose the suppliers by who had the best customer service and the places that got back to me quickly and were the most helpful. I didn’t waste my time on places that I had to chase because at the end of the day they were supplying us a service and we shouldn’t have to chase them for answers. I actually really enjoyed the planning process. I love organising events so was excited to plan our wedding and make it unique and a night we and our guests would remember. I was very organised and thought it had been a really easy process until a couple of weeks before the wedding when everything seemed to go wrong!

I thought I had chosen fantastic reliable suppliers but when my emails and calls weren’t getting answered I started to worry … What could I do when I was a week out from the wedding and I couldn’t confirm the decorations would be turning up? So I started thinking of back up plans and asked our coordinator at the Sebel to help out. She was wonderful and kept trying to contact the supplier as well and together we came up with a back up plan if she didn’t turn up with the decorations. At the end of the day I didn’t mind if there weren’t any table centrepieces as we had plenty of other wonderful touches organised that it wouldn’t have mattered. But thankfully on the day she did turn up! In her mind it was all still organised but just never thought to answer the phone or respond to any emails … enough said.

I wore a Carla Zampatti dress which I love; I wanted something a little bit different and was so excited when I found it. I borrowed my sister’s veil and my mother in law bought me the flower I wore in my hair. My bridesmaids wore nude pink dresses from Wish and the boys hired their suits from Spurling, the whole bridal party looked stunning!

Jody Brooks from Make Me Over Make Up Artistry was our hair and makeup artist on the day. Not only is she amazing at what she does she is so down to earth and lovely it was a real pleasure having her there helping us get ready, I can’t recommend her enough!

Shoes were from Tony Bianco and jewellery from Peep Toe Shoes

Our flowers were from the gorgeous Darlene at Peonies Floral Designer. I originally asked for white Peony bouquets but the weather controlled that decision and two weeks before the wedding Darlene called me with a change of plan. I let her create something that she thought would look great and I was blown away when she arrived on the day with the flowers. They were ivory and blush David Austins combined with marathon roses and honeymoon with dusty miller greenery.

We had a “first look” before the ceremony. I highly recommend this as it was one of the most memorable moments of the day, seeing each other for the first time all dressed up was amazing. It definitely calmed my nerves before the ceremony and allowed us to have that special moment alone rather than seeing each other for the first time with everyone else watching … in the end it turned out he was the one that was emotional and shed a tear and not me.

We wanted to incorporate how we met in some part of our wedding so we asked our friend Melissa Duane who we worked with at Bridgeclimb to be our celebrant and she did the most amazing job. We wanted our ceremony to be personal, so we wrote the majority of it ourselves and got our bridal party to read a poem, each of them reading one line. We also had my aunty read the poem ‘He never leaves the seat up’ by Pam Ayres it was very light hearted and very us.

The main focus of our day was to have fun, one big celebration with our family and closest friends. We had our ceremony and reception at The Sebel in the Hunter Valley. As soon as we saw it we knew we wanted to have our wedding there. Everything about the hotel is gorgeous which made it difficult to choose our photo locations. Luckily we had our fantastic photographer Kieran Parsons to help with those decisions and capture our day so amazingly. I wanted mainly candid, fun photos which Kieran captured perfectly. She brought some of her own props for our photos and created our photobooth which was one of the highlights of the night!

I went for soft pastels with a shabby chic feel. I had signs made for photo props and reception decoration. Our tables were decorated with glass house birdcages with candles inside and fresh petals. We made wine bottle labels for the table numbers, which were a hit at the end of the night when guests snuck out with them to drink in their rooms. In the ladies’ bathroom my sister and I made a basket full of hair pins, band aids, mints, hair spray, perfume etc.. So everyone could freshen up throughout the night, this was another clever idea I found on a blog. My father in law made a chest for our wishing well, which is such a gorgeous keepsake from the day.

Images courtesy of Kieran Parsons Photography

Having a destination wedding was the best decision we made, everyone was so relaxed and really got into the celebrations. It also meant we got to spend more than one night with our nearest and dearest. It truly was the wedding of our dreams, it was all about fun and it came together so perfectly. I love looking at all the photos of our guests and seeing everyone either laughing or smiling. So many of them have said it was one of the best weddings they have ever been to and really who could ask for a better compliment. I didn’t want the weekend to end and feel so lucky to have the most amazing husband and to have celebrated our special night with all our friends and family.

Ms Gingham says: A gorgeous proposal story. You can’t plan moments like that so why try! Thanks to Caroline and James for sharing such a lovely journey with us! Thanks also to Kieran Parsons for sharing such beautiful images with us!

Caroline says: “My favourite part of the day was definitely our ceremony and marrying James, but also knowing that everyone was there because they love us and seeing everyone so happy for us really blew us away. We wanted one big celebration and that’s exactly what it was!”