Ari and Ben’s Romantic Shearing Shed Wedding

Ari and Ben

I love a county celebration and Ari and Ben’s wedding, held just outside Tenterfield at Deepwater embraced everything about a country wedding – from the golden grasses, the rolling hills to the shearing shed and open fire after the stars came out. It’s a beautiful representation of what is is to be Australian.

Ari tells how they met. “We met through mutual friends when we were seventeen, it only took a quick 10 years to get around to tying the knot! Ben proposed the morning of Christmas eve – we were at home, I was in my pj’s on the couch… I had no idea which is surprising because Ben is normally such a terrible secret keeper… and organiser!”

KISSstudio captured the most beautiful shots that show off the country location – golden sunsets and rolling hills just add to the beauty of today’s wedding.

Ari chose a strapless gown from Anna Campbell.

The wedding was held at Anketell Forest, Tenterfield. Ari tells “We found Anketell Forest randomly while on a road trip holiday and instantly fell in love with it. The old sheep shearing shed, which has been fixed up, has such character and was perfect for our wedding. The fields, mountains and bush surrounding the venue are just stunning as you can see from the photographs.”

“Our dog Ellie was wandering around ‘greeting’ people, until the ceremony began and she decided that she would be part of the bridal party. Ellie would run over to greet each bridesmaid as they emerged from the shearing shed, until finally I came out. She then proceeded to walk the entire way up the aisle just in front of me, looking backwards and not taking her eyes off me.”

Ari remembers, “At the end of the ceremony the celebrant introduced us using my maiden name, instead of Ben’s..! It was definitely an entertaining conclusion to the ceremony and I don’t think Ben will live that one down for some time.”

Of their photographer, Ari says, “KISSstudio were fantastic, it was all very relaxed and we had so much fun taking the photos. And, the results speak for themselves – the photos are absolutely amazing. The rustic style photobooth was also brilliant, everyone had a great time with it, judging by the photos! Its definitely a good laugh, and the photos from it will be great to look back on for Ben & I.”

“The remote location meant that we had to organise and supply everything from food and alcohol to chairs (aka straw bales!), decorations and lighting, which was fun but also challenging. We were lucky we had a big bridal party and lovely family and friends to help.”

“We essentially just wanted a relaxed celebration with family and friends (with wine and dancing!) and that’s exactly how it turned out. Everything from the band, the catering, to the flowers and photography were perfectly suited to our style, and it made the day very special.  We also wanted to minimise environmental impact where possible, so we used local produce for the catering, used compostable bamboo plates, supplied wine from a local winery and had kegs of preservative free beer, cider and ginger beer instead of bottled beer. Everything else was generally either borrowed, recycled or from the property – for example recycled glass jars and native wattle, or crocheted rugs thrown over straw bales.”

Of their first dance, Ari remembers, “It was very romantic and confetti was then thrown onto us. We danced all night.”

Ari describes the wedding as “Rustic environment friendly barn (sheep shearing shed) wedding with a warm bonfire and lots of laughs and dancing.”

Congratulations Ari and Ben! Thank you for sharing your story with us! Thank you to KISSstudio for sharing today’s wedding with us!