Lizzie & Robbie

There is something magical about Australian country halls I don’t see elsewhere in the world. Perhaps its my bias, but there is a charm, a simplicity, a groundedness. Lizzie and Robbie (who Tigs Macallan captured on their wedding day) chose the closest country hall to their favourite wood fired pizza place – after all, their focus was on good food!

Robbie tells the story of how they met. “While at Uni I played in a band with some friends. During our summer Uni break we went to New Zealand for a few weeks of holidaying and performing. Lizzie and I met through one of her best friends whose magazine were promoting the tour. Lizzie was having a bad day when we first met, so didn’t think much of it. She obviously made a good enough first impression though, since my cheeky bass player dedicated a song to her on national radio the following day!

Over those few weeks Lizzie and I saw each other when we were both in Auckland. There was definitely a spark but we weren’t sure how to act on it since we lived in separate countries. On my last night in NZ I planned to head back to Auckland and hoped to see Lizzie – but I got stuck in Hamilton due to car troubles! So Lizzie drove ~1.5hours to Hamilton, which gave me a good sign she wanted to see me! My accommodation had a little white gazebo in which my band mates set up wine, candles, chocolates, roses. It was a perfect setting to spend the final hours before I had to leave the country chatting and thinking about whether we would see each other again! We weren’t sure what would happen but had so many shared interests and values that we just weren’t ready to say goodbye!

8 months later, after visiting each other 4 times and chatting on Skype for hundreds of hours, Lizzie did a very brave thing and moved to Melbourne! The last few years have challenged us both so much and we’ve seen each other grow so much- we both couldn’t bear to think of it ending so decided to get married and be team-mates forever!”

Lizzie chose a gown by Thurley. Her bridesmaids outfitted in cream knee length dresses by Cue.

Lizzie and Robbie chose St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Warrandyte for their wedding ceremony. Robbie explains, “The ceremony was in a pretty little chapel called St Stephens Anglican Church in Warrandyte, where I grew up. It’s just up the hill from the Yarra river and has lovely windows with lots of gum trees- the perfect Australian chapel! We had become good friends with the minister and the community who attend the church, so it was very special to see it full of our friends and family from both sides of the Tasman!”

Robbie remembers, “Lizzie walked down the aisle to a recording of “Bourée pour les Basques, from “Xerxes” by J-B. Lully. Lizzie’s Dad is a music academic who plays organ at the Catholic cathedral in Auckland- you’d struggle to find someone with more practice in choosing bridal entrance pieces! The piece is typical of 17th century French ballet music- we chose it because it is carefree and relaxed, but still a little regal. ”

“We made the lavender bouquets for the bridesmaids.”

The couple were lucky enough to be married by a friend. “Our friend Megan was the minister who married us – between her amazing and personal message and the speeches of our friends and family we felt so appreciated and supported.”

“It was so special to see all of our closest friends and family from Melbourne, Auckland and Darwin together. We had the bridesmaids over for 10 days and the bride’s family over for almost a week, it was extremely busy and not without drama but heaps of fun to count down to the big day!”

Of their photographer, Robbie says, “Our photographer was Tigs Macallan, who was highly recommended by some of our close friends. We met up with Tigs by the Yarra river to look for locations and talk about what we wanted. She was so lovely and fun, we both found it such an easy decision to go ahead with Tigs and she never missed a beat. For our sunset photo shoot we were pushed for time- Tigs did a perfect balancing act of keeping everything moving along all the while putting us at ease. We felt so relaxed and really enjoyed spending the time together in such a peaceful location as a married couple!”

“We wanted to take the photos somewhere near the reception venue which captured the beauty of the area. We went to an organic winery nearby and found that the property across the road captured the sunset nicely – so the winery gave us the contact details of their neighbours who were happy for us to use their land for our shoot! Tigs (our amazing photographer) checked out the property before the wedding and found some really nice locations – we loved how the trees, hills and setting sun all became characters in our photos.”

Robbie recalls, “Since we had so many overseas guests, we wanted the venues to really represent our surrounds in Warrandyte. Our ‘save the date’ design had gumtrees on it and our wedding venues really delivered in that regard- we even had a kookaburra join in at the reception – he landed on the handrail and was very happy for our guests to take a perfect tourist photo! ”

St Andrews Community Hall was chosen for the reception venue and styled by Tierney and Paige at Empire Style Inc. Robbie tells the story “We love visiting the wineries and farmers markets of the Yarra Valley (only half an hour from where we lived). We have a favourite little wood fired pizza place in a mudbrick building in St Andrews, called ‘A Boy Named Sue’.

We decided the ‘non-negotiables’ for our reception were good food, good drinks and a peaceful setting. We wanted something unique and didn’t want to pay top dollar for a reception venue so we created our own! We hired the St Andrews community hall for $100! It’s a cute country hall with a huge balcony amongst the gum trees- a peaceful, relaxed and ultra-Australian setting. It’s also (most importantly) across the road from the pizza place, so we got them to cater for us! With a heap of help from our friends Tierney and Paige at Empire Style Inc we managed to make a unique afternoon reception featuring local wine/cheese and wood-fired pizza!”

“We started with an empty hall and a big vision. Our families helped clean up the hall, pick up wine barrels, bar, bench seats, food, drinks etc. Our friends Tierney and Paige at Empire Style Inc took our ideas and ran with them beyond our expectations- we were really happy with the feel of the venue on the day! See the photos for more details !”

Music played a big role throughout the day, says Robbie. “Music is a big theme in Lizzie’s family; our New Zealand guests included many members of the Auckland Cathedral choir. It was so special when they sang a Maori blessing before we cut the cake at our reception.”

Congratulations on your marriage Lizzie and Robbie! Thanks for sharing your day with us. Thank you also to Tigs Macallan for sharing today’s wedding with us!