canberra garden wedding

Gemma & Scott

Nothing beats an at home wedding and today’s bride is the sixth generation, on the farm just outside of Yass. How special is that? Gemma and Scott’s wedding is the epitome of a garden wedding- filled with sunshine, romance and the beautiful backdrop of Mother Nature.

The couple have known each other for a long time! Gemma tells, “Scottie and I are high school sweet hearts. We first met at the end of year 10 (year 2000), at Scottie’s friend’s house, when some friends and I dropped around briefly one afternoon. About a year later, in 2001, we were at a mutual friend’s birthday party. It was later that night that we shared our first kiss. We have been together ever since.”

Photographs today are by Beata English Photography who has a beautiful softness and romance to her photographs.

The bride and her bridesmaids all wore Melissa Vivienne Westwood Lady Dragon Love Heart shoes in various colours.

Gemma wore a gown custom made by an Etsy seller. She remarks, “My dress is a 1940’s inspired dress made from vintage French lace. I love it! It honestly made me feel like a princess on the day. I wore a mantilla veil for the ceremony which matched my dress perfectly. After the ceremony, I changed headpieces, to a small vintage birdcage veil.”

Gemma and Scott chose Gemma’s parents farm in Yass for the ceremony. Gemma being the sixth generation of her family to have lived there! Gemma walked down the aisle to “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” played on a classical guitar.

Gemma describes the day as, “Extremely overwhelming but wonderful at the same time; we wouldn’t change a thing. We were both really nervous during the ceremony but when we looked around and saw lots of familiar faces looking back at us, it felt very special.”

Gemma and her mum arranged the bridal party flowers together. Gemma recalls, ” We used succulents in the bouquets and button holes. Mum and I picked the flowers and succulents for the bouquets etc from the garden the day before the wedding. We both really enjoyed doing this and it saved us lots of money by doing it ourselves.”

Of their photographer, Gemma says, “Beata was there all day. She has a great talent for capturing detail and telling a story with her shots. Beata is such a great person and really fit in with the whole wedding. Beata is beautiful inside and out.”

Guests headed back to The Lobby Restaurant in Canberra for the reception- and cake! Gemma remembers “Mum made the wedding cake, which was a rich chocolate mudcake with white chocolate fencing wrapped with ribbon and topped with icing flowers. It looked beautiful and tasted delicious.”

Guests received a potted succulent as a wedding favor. Gemma explains “have always loved succulents so with the help of my mum and her garden club, we gave succulents as gifts to our guests. We wrapped the small pot plants with recycled brown paper and then tied with green twine.”

The first dance was as casual and fun as the rest of the wedding, Gemma recalls. “We danced to ‘Loving You Is Sweet Than Ever’ by the Four Tops. Scottie and I can’t dance so it wasn’t too serious! We had fun though! We got our bridal party and other guests to come join us 1 minute into the song.”