In love since 2004 – and finally tying the knot in 2012!

The future hubby and I are high school sweethearts that have known each other most of our lives! We grew up together, attending sunday school together as well as primary school. We went to different high schools but found each other again through our local youth group.

Inseparable ever since, Tom proposed on our 7th year anniversary celebration weekend. We went for a picnic at Balmoral, walked along the beach to the rocks and he got down on one knee and nervously asked for me to be his girl… forever.

Needless to say, it was pretty magical!

We celebrated our exciting news with family and friends at our engagement party last August. We used the Eat, Drink & Be Married theme throughout the party and invites, because to us, that’s all we want our wedding and lead-up parties to be; a relaxed time to eat delicious food and drink yummy drinks and eventually be married!

My parents kindly offered up their house for our engagement party and we filled it with lots of delicious foods and delightful friends!

We laid out a cute little lolly buffet on my trestle table and with the help of my wonderful girlfriends made little signs for each item! We are so lucky to have a friend who makes AMAZING cakes… our frilly double layer cake was (layer 1) white chocolate mud and (layer 2) orange and almond with white chocolate ganache… YUM!

We set up a photobooth with lots of fun frames and props for our guests to use!

There were some silly photos:

And some cute photos:

And there were lots of kisses and love…

We had our own little cafe – ‘cafe Katom’ (a lifelong dream!).

A bar for all the cold drinks…

And don’t forget water for your hydration needs!

Our guestbook was a table set up with little pieces of paper for guests to write advice or draw us a picture and then pop it in the birdcage. It was so much fun reading through these after!

I made a pinboard backdrop strung with love quotes and b/w photos of famous couples throughout history, including my grandparents of  course and Charles and Ray Eames – my design idols.

Looking over the photos again makes my heart smile! A big thanks to all our friends and family for making it a very special day and for spoiling us with love and presents!

Mr B and I also had our engagement shoot last month with the amazing Dave Sheerman from Sheer Image Photography... stay tuned for some photos soon!

Images from Kate and Tom’s collection.

Ms Gingham says: Such a gorgeous, intimate celebration. Can’t wait to see the rest of the wedding plans! Thanks for sharing Kate!

Kate says: “I’m an interior designer from Sydney, engaged to my best friend (& the love of my life), and I couldn’t be happier! I’m absolutely loving planning our dream wedding in the Hunter Valley for November this year, but most of all, I just can’t wait to start my life with my new hubby in our new little home!”