Vintage Mountain Wedding - Polka Dot Bride

Emily & Joshua

Emily and Joshua held their vintage mountain wedding in the sweetest little church in the mountains and were all set for a sunny garden party…. until it rained! But as all polka dot brides do, they picked up their pretties, took them inside and still had the most amazing day filled with love, a literary touch or three of handmade, beautiful moments and details.

Emily recalls the day she and Joshua met – well they both do, Joshua had plenty of input into today’s story too! “After an otherwise mundane science laboratory session at university, two new classmates sat down together on a bench. The next hour seemed to fly by and as the surroundings faded into insignificance, the conversation absorbed each of them deeper and deeper within. This was the start of a great friendship, which saw us through our university years. A few years later Emily moved interstate for further study and one year later, Josh flew down for a catch up visit. Following Josh’s visit, we both realised that something was there, although neither of us mentioned it to the other! Just over a month later, Emily got a surprise knock on the door, and there was Josh who had flown down to ask her out.”

Beautiful, romantic photography today captured by Sophie Baker .

The style of the day started with the paper treats, Emily telling, “In keeping with our vintage theme, we went for a scrapbook style stationery. The invitations were set out like a storybook inviting our guests to join in our tale. We even included a little bookmark with our gift registry details. In keeping with our literary theme, each program was uniquely handcrafted, and was laid out like a program for a play – identifying the “cast” and the acts.”

Emily wore at gown from Vons Gorgeous Gowns with coloured shoes and earrings from Wittner & Portmans. Emily’s bridesmaids wore gowns from Review.

Emily notes “Our vintage wedding was a beautiful, fun-filled afternoon full of laughs, memories, family and friends.”

“Together with my Mum and my Maid of Honour, we made the bunting which decorated both the ceremony and the reception room. This was a really sweet touch which completed the festive but homely atmosphere. We also had jars that we decorated with lace and ribbon and which we filled with old-school pastel coloured lollies and hung from the trees. Emily’s grandmother gave us two old trunks, which she decorated to hold the gifts. Vintage bird cages were hung from the trees and used to hold the cards.”

“At the ceremony we had little chalkboards that marked the chairs of important guests. Emily’s Dad cut and drilled some plywood and Emily painted them with blackboard paint and threaded them with string. Emily’s Dad, used wood from recycled pallets to make lovely little wooden tables. He inlaied one table with our names and the date of our wedding as a keepsake. This table was at the entrance to our wedding ceremony and used to hold the programs.”

Emily and Joshua chose The Old Church in Mt. Tamborine for their wedding venue. “We chose The Old Church as it had both a lovely old chapel and a quaint garden. The Old Church offered us both indoor and outdoor options so we could party regardless of the weather. As it turned out, due to a casual afternoon thunderstorm, we needed to take advantage of the indoor reception venue where we held the afternoon tea. We were also conscious that we were getting married in the middle of Summer in Queensland, and so when picking our wedding location, we were also looking for a cooler option, hence going for the mountain wedding.”

Emily recalls,”The maid of honour and the bridesmaids had parasols which looked really cute and fitted in well with the style of the day. We also loved that the groomsmen all had slightly different hats and ties. The braces also looked really great and fit with the vintage theme!”

For her walk down the aisle, where she was met by Joshua, Emily chose Gossling’s “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday”.

Stevenson’s Florist created the floral arrangements, Emily noting, “Stevenson’s Florist were very helpful, as I only organised my flowers a week prior to our wedding (whoops!) and they even did up a demo for me to view. I wanted my bouquet to have a very natural look, I had just picked wild flowers on my way to the wedding. When I saw the flowers, they were exactly what I envisaged.”

Emily and Joshua chose a different format for their ceremony. “We decided that we wanted the wedding ceremony to tell our story. In order to do this, we chose to have most of the speeches that are normally given at the reception as part of the ceremony. This worked really well as it meant that our guests were invited to join in our story as told from many different perspectives.

We both wrote our own wedding vows and a speech to each other, which were a surprise until the ceremony. Hearing your loved one sharing these words especially written for you made the ceremony even more memorable – the guests loved it too! We also loved how people cheered, clapped and laughed throughout the ceremony.

The bridal party led the way with this which made for a relaxed and fun day where everyone really got in to the spirit and celebrated with us. To show our love and commitment to each other, we decided to wash each other’s feet. This was a really touching moment for both of us and a unique way to express our love for one another.”

“Our original plan was to have an outdoor picnic afternoon tea, on picnic rugs, with cushions and outdoor games. Alas it rained right when we signing the register! Consequently everyone had to race into the chapel for us to be announced as Mr and Mrs, but it also meant that we have lovely indoor photos as well. One of our favourite photos is the one at the entrance of the church with us dancing together and Emily’s dress twirling out. For us this really captured the mood of the day.”

Of their photographer, the newlyweds note, “We chose Sophie Baker to do our photos. We loved the way Sophie worked the natural lighting in each of the photos to really make them come alive. We also loved her eye for detail. We had great fun working with Sophie before and on the day and really felt like she took the time to understand the feel we were after in our photos.”

“It was a really relaxed day and everyone really enjoyed themselves. We loved having an afternoon tea for the reception which followed immediately from the ceremony, meaning everyone from the ceremony got to celebrate at the reception with us too. It also meant that people were free to mingle amongst themselves and weren’t tied to a seating plan (and we didn’t have to write one!)”

A friend made a teeny cake for cutting while Monsieur Macaron created a colourful macaron tower for guests to enjoy.

“During the afternoon tea reception we placed some of our favourite board and card games on the tables for the guests to enjoy. These provided an interesting get to know you activity between some of the guests.”