Amy & Chris

Maleny has become a favourite location of mine. With it’s rolling hills and lush backdrops, it really never does fail to impress as a wedding setting. Amy and Chris chose Maleny Manor for their wedding day, mainly so they could include their four legged friends as part of their wedding day and the vintage inspired day was full of love- not only for their four legged friends who so gladly announced their arrival at the ceremony, but through the touches the couple added to their day, the love they shared and the special ingredients their family & friends added to the day.

Amy tells of how they came to be. “Chris and I actually first met when we were in primary school. I remember Chris from grade 7, he was one of the tallest of the boys in the year and when we did country dancing he used to hold my hand really tight, he still does that to this day! We met again in 2002 at a close friend’s 16th Birthday party, thanks Sarah! And the rest is history really.”

Photographs today are by TWK Studio who really captured today’s wedding elegantly and beautifully.

Amy and Chris chose the one venue for their day – from waking up in the morning, to falling asleep at the end of the day. Amy remarks “Maleny Manor and its exceptional staff were amazing from the start of the planning process until the morning after our wedding. We still keep in contact with them now and can’t wait to go and visit them again in the future. It is such a magical venue and we knew from our first meeting that we had to get married there. When you visit the Manor it really does speak for itself. We loved that we could have both the ceremony and reception in the same place and a Garden party in between so guests would be entertained while we were away having location photographs. While researching venue’s we were looking for somewhere that would allow us to include our 2 dogs in our ceremony and Maleny Manor were more than happy to have them on site on the day

The planning process was a breeze as they were always available to discuss details and offer advice. Allowing the bridal party to get ready on site on the day made things so much easier and being able to stay in their 6 rooms the night of our wedding with our bridal party was just lovely! We have had nothing but good feedback from all of our guests that attended. They commented on the beautiful grounds around the Manor, the friendly and professional staff, the outstanding service and the wonderful menu offered. We would not change a thing and would recommend Maleny Manor as a wedding and reception venue to everyone! We cannot thank them enough!”

Amy carried a brooch bouquet by Lillybuds Brooch Bouquets to which Amy added a personal touch. She recalls “I sewed the family photo locket onto my brooch bouquet as a special reminder of family members that could not be with us on our special day. ”

Amy chose a gown and veil by Anna Marie and Mr John  (who also dressed Chris and his groomsmen). Her bridesmaids wore strapless gowns from Casar Elegance (where Amy also found her reception gown).

Amy recalls “We worked together with Nadia from Love Bird Weddings to style our wedding. We used many of our own pieces throughout the venue. My dad made us the wedding arbour that we were married next to and my mother painted and decorated it. He also made us a kissing booth. We printed personalised pillows to be placed throughout our garden party area; we also made some stools from second hand coffee tables. My dad and I made signage for the garden party. My mother, Chris’s mother and I spent hours decorating jars and bottles to be placed and hung around the garden party area and hung on the ceremony chairs, we also used them on the tables in the reception room. The day before the wedding we brought flowers from our local flower market and my bridesmaids kindly arranged them into the decorated jars and bottles. My mother and father made the floral dog collars. ”

For the walk down the aisle, Amy tells “Maleny Manor allowed us to include our 2 female staffies in our ceremony and group photos on site. This was one of our main selection criteria when we were looking for a wedding venue.

I walked down the aisle to one of our favourite songs The Scientist, by Coldplay, played by Angel Strings, String Trio. This song has significant meaning to us and we knew from the night we got engaged that it would be the song I walked down the aisle to. At the end of 2004, when we were 17 and a year into our relationship my mother and father needed to move back to the UK (where we are originally from) for work commitments. At the time I had the hard decision of whether to stay in Australia with or go with them. I listened to that song a lot during the decision period and even printed the words out so that I could learn them off by heart (the things you do when you’re 17 and in love). Anyway I left the printed words out one day and my Dad happened to see them and thought that Chris had written the words as a poem to me… Quite funny really, we still laugh about it to this day. Needless to say I decided to stay and we have been inseparable ever since.”

“My best friend who traveled all the way from the UK to be with us read a short reading during our ceremony. I remember looking at her while she was doing the reading and thinking to myself how lucky we were to have our beautiful friends and family around us.”

Right on cue, the couple’s two staffies Bella and Lilly barked as the couple had their first kiss.

Of their photographers, Amy recalls, “Krista from TWK Studio went above and beyond from the very start. From making us feel comfortable when she shot our engagement photos in 35oC heat at the start of January this year to supporting us on our special day. She was so calm and organised on the day, everything just ran so smoothly. You can tell she loves her job! We loved how her and her partner were able to make us feel so relaxed during the photos, laugh with us, help the guys with their ties (as they had no idea how to put them on), transport the bridal party to meet the Bridal car as I had forgotten to arrange transportation and even help with our 2 staffies. She captured absolutely everything perfectly! We will never be able to thank her enough for the memories she captured that we can now treasure forever.”

The floral arrangements for the day were styled by Mondo Floral Designs. Amy remembers ,” I made up rescue baskets for the women’s and men’s bathrooms, they were a huge hit! I visited a local salvage shop to purchase the window that we used for our seating board. My mother made the linen table runners which we used on the reception tables and the Mr and Mrs chair covers. We brought the cute ceramic birds last time we were in the UK. We purchased the vases and confectionery for the lolly buffet and my bridesmaids kindly set that up on the morning of the wedding. We made all of our own stationery, from our save the dates, wedding invitations and menus for on the guest tables.”

For their first dance, Amy recalls, “We chose ‘You’ve got the love’ by Florence and the Machines as we loved the song and knew we would have fun dancing to it. We didn’t want anything too formal or serious as I knew I would be emotional on the day so this was a chance for us to really let our hair down. A friend of my Maid of Honor kindly choreographed our dance and taught us. It was so much fun learning the dance together and I’ll have to admit Chris was so much better than I was. On the night our friends and family loved it and most of all we just enjoyed the moment!”

Congratulations on your marriage Amy & Chris! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us! Thank you also to TWK Studio for sharing today’s wedding with us!