Nerida & Paul

The spirit that is woven throughout today’s wedding enchanted me. Nerida and Paul chose a wedding that was about celebrating love rather than tradition and the pieces that came together to make their story did so beautifully and magically.

And their meeting? As much about love as their wedding day. Nerida tells, “We had a chance meeting one morning in an elevator whilst working in the same building. Glances turned into conversations which turned into an incredible love and friendship.”

Photos today are by Andrew James from Lovers & Light who has captured a dreamy, soft romance to today’s wedding.

She Designs styled the venue, turning it into a celebration that was all about countryside chic. Nerida remembers, “Sheree and her team take you on a styling journey. It all starts with a cup of herbal tea in her showroom and finishes nothing short of a perfectly styled fairy tale setting.” The wedding day stationery was created by Heather Hawk. Nerida notes ” Heather is the ultimate creator. Her bespoke one of a kind wedding stationery is enviable and she carried our style and mood for the day perfectly into our wedding stationery designs.”

Nerida chose a pale pink Lisa Ho gown and designed her accessories herself. She remembers, “I designed and created my own jewellery using vintage Swarovski crystals and silk chiffon. After many hours trolling internet sites and visiting boutiques I still couldn’t find the right piece. It definitely was not as easy as finding my wedding dress which was bought from Lisa Ho in Perth on a work trip. The wedding was fast approaching, three weeks out and still no jewellery. So, I decided to play around with some fabric and vintage stones. Days later a headpiece and bracelet was born along with a new passion for Nerida.” The experiment kicked off Nerida’s new business Nerida Mason.

Brodies Blossums created custom floral designs for the male bridal party members and flower girls. Nerida recalls, “Brodie is the designer behind the handmade corsages for the groomsmen and wrist corsages for the junior bridesmaids. I gave her little direction and her fabulous craftsmanship and artistic flare came up beautifully in the designs.”

Nerida and Paul chose Hill End, Jaspers Brush for their wedding venue, Nerida explaining, “We decided to have an unconventional wedding venue as we wanted to have control over the food, beverage, styling and the mood of the day. When Nerida’s mum recommended we take a look at Hillend, Jaspers Brush, we knew this was where we would like to get married. The property is set on a 50 acre estate in the country side of the south coast in NSW. The property offers complete privacy and is only accessible by dirt road. With a tree lined driveway, dam and livestock, Hillend truly was the perfect setting for our wedding ceremony and reception.”

Nerida walked down the aisle to the Ashokan Farewell – composed by Jay Ungar performed live by Matt Fanning (acoustic guitar) and Steve Preston (violin).

The bridal party made their own bouquets of babies breath bought at the flower markets by Nerida, and her best friend and bridesmaid Sally the day before the wedding. Nerida remarks, “Creating handmade bouquets was something that I had my heart set on doing with my bridesmaids the night before the wedding. So, we all sat around giant pile of babies breath and piece by piece created our own twine wrapped bouquets.My  6 year old niece Avoca was a natural, maybe a future florist in the family?”

Of their photographer, Nerida says, “We stumbled across Andrew by chance and instantly fell in love with his style! Andrew is so unassuming and we quite often found ourselves getting lost in the moment, giggling and creating natural poses and frames. With minimal direction and a keen artistic eye Andrew is able to capture personality and the natural moments that just seem to happen. With his commitment to only 12 weddings a year we felt privileged when he agreed to shoot our wedding day.”

Nerida notes, “We kept the day about a celebration of love. We took a moment during the evening together just watching our guests enjoying themselves. The atmosphere was at ease and natural. Having our closest family and friends around us on our special day knowing that they were there for us was an amazing feeling. We stayed true to our style the whole day. From my pink dress, the boys outfits, the venue, the cake, the vintage lounges, fairy floss, cocktails in jam jars…the list goes on.”

Nerida says, “After many discussions we decided against having a first dance. It was something that didn’t feel quite right for us to do? It didn’t feel natural. We wanted our wedding day to be a celebration of love rather than wedding formalities and traditions.”

Congratulations Nerida and Paul on your marriage! Thank you for sharing your story with us! Thank you also to Andrew James from Lovers & Light for sharing today’s wedding with us.