Naomi & Chris

I love the sweet sunshiney vibe that daffodils bring and today’s wedding is filled to the brim with them, all grown by the couple themselves to add that special yellow to their wedding day! Chris is a horticulturist so it seems natural that growing flowers would be on the agenda!

Naomi tells their story. “We were friends for five years before we started dating. We grew to become really good friends and took the chance to date when we fell in love. Best chance we’ve ever taken. ”

Photography today is by Tigs Macallan Photography who captures such golden sunshine and beautiful light in her photographs.

Chris tells the story of how he proposed. “When I (Chris) asked for Naomi’s hand in marriage I took her parents (Wendy and John) out for coffee. I started with “I’m a bit nervous as I’ve only done this 3 or 4 times before…”. I then offered Wendy and John two stuffed sheep as a bride price. It was just a joke but they loved it. The sheep now turn up at most family events and you can see them in the Capper family photos in the morning and on the Capper’s table at the reception!”

Flowers Etc arranged the bouquets.

The ceremony kicked off at St Johns Diamond Creek Anglican Church with tables laden with fresh lemonade. Naomi remarks, “Empire Styling (0430 010 666 ) (specifically Tierney and Paige) designed the decor for our wedding. We gave them colours and they ran with it and delivered a unique and stunning wedding. They are well priced and have great ideas. They were helpful, encouraging and let us have as much or as little to do with the details as we liked. This is a new business so look out for more amazing things from them. We cannot thank them enough for all that they did for us. Together with our families and friends we catered for the afternoon tea. One friend even made around 30 litres of fresh lemonade!

The sense of fun and friendship at the wedding was something we had hoped for and with their decorating, alongside our relaxed ceremony, and our friends Tierney and Paige made this happen. The bright flowers, a reconstructed real tree in the foyer, lemonade stand, candles, chalk boards, candy apples and many other decorative touches tied the day together in the perfect way and was one of the most talked about aspects of the wedding.”

Naomi walked down the aisle to ‘Lemonade’ by Chris Rice, “Because life didn’t give us lemons, it gave us lemonade.”

Naomi notes, “Family and friends made a huge effort to be at our wedding including many guests from interstate. It wouldn’t have been the same without them and we can’t say how much it meant to us having them there. Their help and support in the weeks leading up to this event and in the months following are cherished. Naomi’s best friend in Canada was unable to make the wedding but at last minute connected through Skype. It was one of the best things that could have happened that day and it made the day feel complete with her there.”

Naomi remembers, “Our families got involved! My sisters were bridesmaids, my Dad married us and my Mum walked me down the aisle. Chris’ cousin and brother were in the bridal party as well as his long time friend Michael who is practically a brother. His Mum shared a prayer, his sister and our sister-in-law did readings and his Dad happily avoided attention. Naomi wearing a bracelet from her Nanna Ferg and a ring from her late Nanna Capper.”

Naomi remembers, “The church members were so kind and generous and helped us with so many details of our day. Our new friends, the Frost’s let us take photos on their beautiful property which was conveniently located between the church and Inglewood. They were incredibly generous with their time and energy that we can’t thank them enough. They made us cups of tea and kept us warm and their three beautiful children were willing to help with anything.”

Of their photographer, Naomi says “We’ve seen Tigs’ work before and loved the feel that she captured. We asked for a quote and had a coffee and found out that we have mutual friends. She has this ability to get intimate photos and be totally invisible at the same time. She loves to tell a story through her work so we knew that the important parts of our story would be captured with expertise and an eye for ‘the moment’. Tigs and her team helped us through the whole day to stay on time and embrace important moments. They were on time, professional and were able to coordinate many people into some beautiful photos. Our favourite thing about Tigs was that she didn’t place us in unnatural poses. She just got us to stand somewhere and act natural. Some of our favourite pictures are when we took a moment to practice our dance. Tigs and Mateusz (our wonderful videographer) were fun, personable and just so good at what they do! Thanks guys.”

The wedding reception continued the daffodil style. Naomi remembers, “The delicious cake was made by Carol a good friend of Wendy Capper. She exceeded all expectations and it was beautiful to boot! Our names were engraved on our cake slicer… exactly the same way that my parent’s parents were on their wedding cake cutter. Now we have silverware!”

The decor has largely grown and created by the couple themselves. Naomi remembers “We grew our own flowers and wheat grass to give to our guests and to decorate with. We planted our daffodils in April to be ready for our wedding. We crossed our fingers that they would germinate but not be past flowering by August 4th. The wheat grass we planted 12 days before and kept on a heat mat so it would be the perfect height for the wedding. We also made our own name places by slicing wood into 5mm thin coasters and wood burning our guests names on them. Chris is a horticulturalist and arborist and so his expertise in these areas really helped to pull it off. Everyone loved the personal touches including our own table numbers made out of wood and wood burn.”

The couple had speeches with a hilarious twist. Naomi recalls, “During the dinner we had seven 2 minute speeches (seven if you count our wonderful MC’s adding their fabulous speech). We chose couples that we looked up to and had meant a lot to us in our journeys through life and gave them each a topic. They had two minutes to share their thoughts and they had to use a prop. It was so much fun and we got amazing advice (and some interesting props!). Some of our topics were: “A Good Argument”, “A Question on Romance”, “Going the distance”, “Spirituality” and our MC’s added one to teach us how to share a bed.”

The day wasn’t without it’s faults, which turn themselves into stories to be told. Naomi says, “True to form I got a flat tyre on her way to my parent’s house, spilled wax on my dress during the ceremony and got the bottom half of my dress covered in mud during the photos. The only thing Chris forgot was to take his phone and wallet out of his pockets for the day. My dad (who also married us) had more outfits than the bride. He started the day in a black suit then added a bright red hat during the ceremony and by dinner time was in a bright red suit. We believe that the black hat was added to this outfit by the time the dancing began.”

For their first dance, Naomi remembers, “We rocked the floor. People were surprised that we were that gifted. We lasted all of 30 seconds before we gave up on the romantic dance and just had some fun.”

Congratulations on your marriage Naomi and Chris! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us! Thank you to Tigs Macallan Photography for sharing today’s images!