Julian and Emily

Jules and I have been dating for over three years now and the announcement of our engagement was long awaited by our friends and family. To celebrate, we wanted to put together a night that meant all of our family and friends could get together and just enjoy the occasion! Both Jules and I love being creative, he is a whiz when it comes to design and hospitality and I love DIY and decorating. We have both acknowledged that with the busy year of work and study we both have ahead, having a DIY styled wedding isn’t such a great idea. So our engagement party really became our opportunity to channel all that creative energy and make it our own, whilst I still had a little summer holiday time up my sleeve. I’m blessed that my Maid of Honour and sister is an incredible photographer and has done many a wedding and engagement shoot, so having Nicola (N.East Photography) do the photos on our night was an amazing blessing!

The party was held in our garden, with lanterns and torches to light up the night. All the little details were hand-made and sourced from op-shops, craft places and online. It’s actually pretty amazing what you can  find if you know what you’re looking for! We found the woven basket at an op-shop and I painted it with some antique white paint. My sister made the bunting out of textured paper and twine. The little vases of flowers I put together myself using twine, second hand glass mason jars and a selection of (pretend) purple wildflowers. I bought big bunches & cut them up to make the selections look unique.

The wooden chairs are actually ones we plan to put in our house one day! We bought them second hand, and though we haven’t done them up yet, they worked with the rustic feel of the night. I hoisted up some 40 feet of bunting, which I found on Ebay from a seller in the UK.

My dress for evening was by Some Days Lovin, and was actually one Jules spotted one day and told me he would be perfectly happy marrying me in it! I’ve since picked out a stunning wedding dress (the details of which will remain a secret of course!) but I knew this dress would in fact make a perfect one to celebrate our engagement in… it was indeed a cute surprise!

When we cut the cake adn instead of candles (which felt silly as it wasn’t a birthday cake!) we asked all our guests to light sparklers to celebrate with us and mark the occasion.

The whole evening was simply magical! A highlight of the night was seeing how happy our families were. One of my amazing bridesmaid’s M.C.’d the speeches & the games which included competing with our parents in a family vs. family hands free donut eating challenge! My dad asked our Pastor and family and friends to gather around and pray for us, which was really special. Both of our parents made touching speeches & my dad managed to shower me in champagne!

All of the food was prepared by our family & my bridesmaids and my mum and I made the lavender coloured cupcakes together. It was really special spending the time with her to put detail into something like that, especially as the rest of the food was catering to so many people! The little milk bottles were also one of my favourite things, I ordered both these & the straws online and our guests really loved them.

Jules and I had the most amazing night. It’s simply a dream come true to be marrying him & in amongst the socialising we managed to grab some photos with our my amazing sister and photographer! I can’t wait to see what she does for the wedding! I’m counting down the days & simply can’t wait until our special day!

Photography by N.East Photography

Ms Gingham says: A hands free donut eating competition? That sounds like my kind of party!

Emily says: “I’m getting married this year in November, and after a long wait I’m sooo excited to finally be marrying the man of my dreams & preparing for our special day and future together. I’m both a marketing manager & a film student so I love any opportunity to be creative! The struggle for me has been finding a good balance of opportunities for creative outlet & services to help us on the way (as we are both a little time poor) as we plan our wedding. I’m a massive fan of homemade & DIY, I love learning & sharing ideas and especially love seeing everyone’s pictures!”