Vanessa & Rich

A wedding in a lavender farm is such an incredible thought but it’s even more fun to see it come to life. Vanessa and Rich took to Daylesford for their wedding and married next to the vivid purple lavender fields. Bliss!

Vanessa tells their story. “Rich and I met by chance when we were both out for Sunday night drinks at a pub in Melbourne. I was with a group of girlfriends and he was with his Uni mates, and just as I was about to call it a night, we crossed paths on the dance floor. Rich introduced himself and I decided to stay out a bit longer – the best decision I’ve made yet! The following week we started seeing each other, and after a month of dating we were officially a couple. That was almost 10 years ago now – we knew from the start we were in it together for the long haul!”

Photos today are by Brent Lukey who captures weddings classically and cleanly and just the way they are.

Vanessa recalls, “We put a lot of effort in to personalising our wedding, and made all of our ‘save the date’ cards and invitations. My parents made rustic looking signs to welcome guests to our wedding and direct them to the ceremony. They fitted in really well with the country / rustic feel of the wedding.”

The floral arrangements for the day were styled by Tonia Todman. The bride’s bouquet had a special something blue. Vanessa recalls, ” My grandmother who wasn’t able to make it to our wedding gave me her blue antique crystal brooch as my ‘something blue’, which I attached to my bouquet and kept with me all day. ”

Vanessa wore a gown and hairpiece designed by Catherine R Couture. She explains, “I designed my dress with Catherine and she and the girls there did a tremendous job making it – I adore my dress and seeing it come together was a lot of fun!” Vanessa’s bridesmaids wore lavender gowns from Out With Evie.

The bride arrived at the ceremony in a London taxi cab from London Taxi Weddings . Vanessa remarks “A nod to my (the bride’s) English father, and the year we spent living abroad in London.”

Vanessa walked down the aisle to “Bella” by Angus and Julia Stone. The couple chose Sault Estate for their ceremony and reception. Vanessa explains,  “Our wedding was held at Sault Estate, a beautiful lavender farm in Daylesford near the Wombat State Forest. The estate has a French provincial feel about it, surrounded by stunning purple lavender fields, manicured gardens and a feature lake.

When we first began looking for a wedding venue, we were after a one-stop shop venue that had a great setting for our ceremony, brilliant food and wine for the reception, and beautiful surrounds for our photos. We didn’t want our guests to have to move to another location, and we wanted our photos onsite so we could spend more time relaxing with our guests after the ceremony, and enjoying the night. Sault had it all.”

Post reception, guests enjoyed champagne and a local touch from Vanessa and Rich. Vanessa remembers, “We served local Daylesford mineral water at our ceremony (for which the area is famed for), and created fun little straw flags, which we attached to striped straws. One side said ‘eat drink and be married’, and the other had our names and wedding date.”

Of their photographer, Vanessa remarks, “We had been admiring Brent’s wedding photography on his blog from early on in our engagement, so when the time came to decide on our photographer, it was an easy choice to meet with him. It was obvious that Brent really understood the vision we had for our wedding, and we shared his love for candid, relaxed, yet stylish photography. After viewing his wedding albums, we also really loved the way his photos told a story about the day, without looking too posed or unnatural.

On the day Brent was a pleasure to work with, and he remained professional, friendly and calm despite the weather making his job difficult. He did a wonderful job capturing our wedding with such warmth and happiness, despite the freezing cold wind that whipped up in the afternoon. Brent worked tirelessly to make sure he got the perfect shot, and everyone was very impressed with his energy and the way he went about his work on the day.”

Of Sault’s reception venue, Vanessa says “The food was modern, and featured a lot of regional produce. The interior of the restaurant was just what we were looking for – understated and elegant. The restaurant had big windows overlooking the lake that offered great views at sunset, as well as couches to relax in, and an area for our live band where guests had a ball dancing the night away.”

The personal touches continued into the reception, Vanessa explains “For our seating chart, we used escort cards. We hand wrote guests’ names and table numbers on tags, and attached felt letters or little birds or birdcages to them. We pegged the tags to wire that was strung across a rustic frame, and guests searched for their tags to find their seat.”

The decor was scattered with personal photographs. Says Vanessa “To acknowledge our parents’ long marriages and those of our Grandparents we framed photos taken from their own their wedding day and displayed them at our reception, alongside our guest book. None of our Grandparents could be at our wedding so it was nice to have their photos with us on the day.”

Even the table numbers were handmade with Vanessa explaining, “My husband made the table numbers, which featured sketches of us during our travels, that he took from photos.”

The reception kicked on with the speeches becoming a highlight of Vanessa’s memories of the day. “My Dad’s father-of-the bride speech got everyone laughing about a very funny and appropriate childhood story that was so fitting for a wedding speech. It was a very touching moment for me to see him up there speaking in front of everyone so proudly about myself and Rich. Our best friends (maid-of-honour and best man), each made memorable and heartfelt speeches too. A highlight was my maid of honour’s speech. Everyone was in awe when she recited a very cleverly written limerick about our friendship, and my relationship with Rich – people are still talking about it! And the best-man’s speech was the warmest and nicest speech I’ve ever heard! We’ll treasure these memories for a long time. “

As favors guests received mall glass jars of locally produced Daylesford Des O’Toole Pure Honey. The wedding cake was made by Sault, a croquembouche filled with white chocolate and lavender flavoured custard.

Vanessa and Rich hired The White Tree to entertain guests at their reception, starting with their first dance  Vanessa remembers  Our first dance was to “This Old Love” by Lior, a gorgeous song about growing old together. It’s been a favourite song of ours from the early days of our relationship. We had a hand full of intense lessons in the few weeks leading up to our wedding with Charlie from ‘The secret garden of dance’ in Kew. These were a lot of fun, and gave us plenty of laughs too!”

Congratulations Vanessa and Rich! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us! Thank you also to Brent Lukey  for sharing today’s photographs!