Cara and Ben's Garden Inspired Wedding

Cara and Ben

The thing about weddings is, it really doesn’t matter where you get married, you can pretty much create your own style, incorporating your own loves into any atmosphere. Which is exactly what Cara and Ben did when they chose to have a garden inspired wedding in the middle of Brisbane. Cara talks about her inspiration. “I love gardens and beautiful fragrant flowers, all of which were incorporated into various elements of the wedding, including the flower design on the stationery, the large silk flower on the back of my dress, and the botanic garden as the backdrop for our reception.”

Cara recalls how she and Ben met. “Ben and I met through mutual friends at a New Years’ weekend in Noosa. I remember thinking how handsome he was and I really enjoyed our conversations over that weekend. As it turns out, he really wanted to get to know me better and asked one of his friends to suss out whether I was interested, which I was, except that the message didn’t get back to him for three months! I was pretty excited when he finally asked me out – and the rest is history!”

Photographs today are by You Can’t Be Serious who always produce incredible images with such a sense of humor.

Cara wore a strapless gown called ‘ Saskia’ designed by Victoria of Eve Boutique. She accessorised with chandelier crystal earrings. Cara explains “I wore a pair of Peter Lang Swarovski crystal chandelier earrings. As soon as I tried these on in store at Eve Boutique, it was love at first sight. The earrings were a bold statement and worked perfectly against the white canvas of the silk dupion dress and simple hair-style. I found a crystal bracelet on Etsy that complemented the earrings like a dream. ”

Cara’s bridesmaids wore coral coloured gowns from J.Crew. Cara recalls “We bought these online. It was a bit stressful not knowing how they would fit on the girls – at first I got all the wrong sizes and had to exchange them via international post! Jaime and Ashley from J Crew weddings were amazing, they walked me through how it would all work and made sure we got the dresses in time!”

Cara and her bridesmaids had their hair styled by Gigi Hair and makeup by The Powder Room.

Cara and Ben were married at Latrobe Chapel Paddington.

Cara recalls ” I walked down the aisle to the Norah Jones version of ‘The Nearness of You’. It is a soft, romantic song and expressed exactly how I feel about Ben! ”

The couple filled their ceremony with personality. Cara explains “My favourite part of the ceremony was when Pastor Murray Averill read out some words Ben and I had pre-written to each other. It was something a little different and was our chance to add our own touch to the ceremony in addition to the more formal vows we made to each other. Here are some words I wrote about Ben… “Ben brings out the best in me – he encourages me to follow my dreams and be the best person I can. He is also extremely intuitive, is a great listener and has the cleverest solutions to any issue I might face. I love his cheeky nature, and that most of our time spent together ends in laughter!””

There were family performances too. Cara says “My brother, Tyson, who traveled from Singapore to be at the wedding, sung ‘A Wink and a Smile’ (from my favourite movie, Sleepless in Seattle) and ‘It Had to Be You’ during the signing of the registry. Tyson was backed by Mark on the double bass and Dominic on keys which gave a smooth jazz feel to the songs – I loved it! Having my brother sing it to us was a special part of our day.”

Cara recalls “I planned the wedding with the help of my Mum and my sisters. I came down with glandular fever six months before my wedding, and while I was recovering, they were instrumental helping me bring all the details together! Their creative ability was an added bonus, with my sister designing the stationery and my Mum styling the venues. I knew I could trust them to do a fabulous job – and they did!”

Of their photographer, Cara says “Firstly, I’d like to say how happy we are with our photos. We were absolutely blown away and were holding back the tears looking over them for the first time, just seeing how well Hailey and Andy captured the events of the day. Hailey and Andy have such a fresh and fun approach to wedding photography that suited our style to a tee. Photography is one of the most important parts of a wedding, because the photos are a lifetime keepsake of your special day. If were to give one piece of advice to a future bride, it would be to choose a great photographer.”

Hobbies were a special part of the couple’s day. Cara recalls “Ben is an avid cyclist and we thought it would be memorable to involve a bicycle in the photo shoot! To give it a twist we used a red vintage bike with a basket on the front (supplied by our fabulous photographer). It would have to have been the most fun of the entire photo shoot. I especially liked using confetti, although I think Ben enjoyed throwing it at me a little too much”

In keeping with their garden inspiration, Cara and Ben held their reception at ‘Botanical’ in the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens. Cara notes “My sister, Natala Stuetz, designed all the stationery, from the invitations to the order of service, and the signs used in the photos (e.g. Just Married, etc.). She was amazing! She transformed a scrapbook of themes and ideas that I had given her into a beautiful design.”

The wedding cake was a classic beauty, Cara remarks “Liz Plowman from Beautiful Bounty made a melt-in-your-mouth tiered chocolate mud cake. Many of our guests raved about how it was the best wedding cake they’ve tasted! We’ve already eaten the top half of the cake that is traditionally kept for the first anniversary – it was just too delicious to wait that long!”

The floral arrangements, says Cara “were arranged by a talented friend, Jessica Van Der Walt. We were thrilled to have some people we know be involved in the wedding”. The couple’s friend Michael Cocetti, was the DJ at the reception.