Kellie & Gavin

I’ve been watching Downtown Abbey lately, I’m only a few episodes in but when I read today’s couple Kellie and Gavin are so in love with the show that they wanted to evoke the same feeling for their wedding, I knew it was set to be a beauty. Kellie describes the day as “Downton Abbey meets English Country Garden ” and I think they nailed it!

Kellie tells how they met. “Gav and I met back in early 2005 when I landed a job at a laboratory where he was working. As the year went on we became very good friends and realised that we just had so much in common, sharing the same sense of humour, values and we just really enjoyed being together… and he is just such a sweetheart! We began dating later that year, and the rest is history! Our relationship was at first a slow burn for me, but he still maintains that for him, it was love at first sight! I couldn’t imagine my life without him!”

Nerida McMurray Photography lent her classic, no fuss style to capturing the beautiful images of today’s wedding.

Hello Lucky! created the vintage style stationery suite.

Makeup By Megan styled the girls makeup. Kellie remarking, “Megan was amazing and did such an amazing job! The bridesmaids and my makeup was flawless and I remember thinking (even at the trial) as she was applying the makeup “surely that’s not enough makeup?”, because it felt like she applied so little and that there was nothing on my face! But then as I looked in the mirror, I nearly cried, because I never thought I could look so beautiful. It is very hard to have makeup matched to my skin correctly since it has a strong reddish tone. She is the only makeup artist I have been to who has managed to match makeup to my skin so perfectly that it looks natural. She is a true artist!”

“As we both love antiques and anything old, most of our special details involve these. We had wedding rings made to match my antique engagement ring (made 1902), which was personalised by the inclusion of our first initials. Gav wore antique cufflinks (made 1920’s) which I bought him for his birthday, and I wore my very much loved 1930’s marcasite brooch on my bouquet which Gav bought me for Christmas, and a beautiful 1930’s diamond watch.”

Kellie chose a gown by Helen English with a veil and jewels from Johanna Johnson . She remarks “I wanted to get that pre-1920’s old-world look, so I chose to wear a couture Helen English gown and Johanna Johnson silk tulle veil.”

“We chose to have a “first look” before the ceremony due to time and travel constraints. I’m so glad we did, as it was just so nice to share that special moment together and we could just be natural without the added pressure of everyone watching us. I will never forget that beautiful moment.”

“We really love old buildings and country gardens, so we tried to search for venues that gave us an old world feel. Our photography session was held at ‘Camelot’ in Kirkham (near Camden, Sydney). It is such a wonderful place and a venue that we discovered while looking through some of our photographer’s previous work. The owners were lovely and the place was amazing, both inside and out with so much history. After booking, we found out that the channel 7 T.V series “A Place To Call Home” was being filmed there… what a bonus!”

Of their photographer, Kellie says, “When it came to choosing a photographer for our wedding day, I was extremely picky and made sure that I did as much research as possible! I came across Nerida’s work in a wedding magazine and thought that her photos looked so natural, and candid with an element of fun. We went to meet her in her studio, and after talking with her decided that she was the one for us. I will never look back! She was absolutely fantastic throughout the planning stages and on the day. And if being so pleasant on the day wasn’t enough, she even managed to make me feel better when I was feeling quite ill during the reception (feeling unwell? Low blood sugar? Have a coca-cola! spot-on advice!). We are in love with our wedding photos, and will treasure them all our lives long!”

5th Avenue Vintage Automobiles provided the transport for the day, Kellie explaining, “We tried to find the oldest cars we could possibly find, and we trawled the internet for so long until we came across the wonderful James of 5th Avenue Vintage Automobiles. He had some 1929 Buicks, which were just beautiful and were such a treat on our day. After we had booked the cars, we got to know James quite well and he sent us a few cheeky pictures of the cars (which he has named “Loretta” and “Gable”) in action on the set of the upcoming Baz Lurhman film “The Great Gatsby”! What a treat, we had no idea they were famous!”

Kellie and Gavin held their ceremony and reception at The Gardens on Forest.  Kellie noting, “We had our ceremony and reception at “The Gardens on Forest” in Peakhurst, which is a home turned function centre built in 1885. This place really fit the bill – English style garden in which to have our ceremony, and beautifully antique style on the inside. Everything about this place was amazing! What we loved most about it was that it still really maintained that intimate, homely, welcoming feel -which all our our guests loved too!”

Kellie and Gavin loved, “Seeing all of our family and friends together in the one place, and knowing that all those people love and care for us so much.”

“We displayed family wedding photos of our parents, grandparents, and as I was lucky enough to know my great grandmother before she passed, we had her wedding portrait from the 1930’s proudly displayed as well!”

Ashleigh of Clementine Posy styled the flowers for the day, Kellie remembering “She did such an amazing job on our wedding day! The bouquets were stunning and she did such an amazing job on the table decorations. She displayed vintage glass bottles full of beautiful blooms, made a floral arch to sit behind the bridal table, and placed fresh blooms on our wedding cake. The venue was decorated beautifully with flowers everywhere, which was exactly what we wanted – to bring that English garden inside!”

For their first dance, Kellie tells, “Our first dance was to a song called “Let me call you sweetheart” which was written around 1916. We tried to find the earliest recording we could find of that song and we managed to find a recording from 1926 by The Shannon Quartet. Later in the night after our first dance, some of my relatives came up to me and said that it was so nice of us to choose one of my (late) grandparents favourite songs, but I really had no idea it was one of their favourites! So that was a really special moment for me and made me feel like they were there watching over us!”

Congratulations on your marriage Kellie and Gavin! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Nerida McMurray Photography for sharing today’s wedding with us!