Caitlin and Matt's Summer Garden Wedding

Matt and Caitlin

Matt and I met when I was 17 and he was 21. I had just moved to the regional uni town of Wagga Wagga to start my uni studies. We initially met at the local pub but were then set up by a mutual friend on a date. After being together for 7 months I had a horse riding accident in which I became an incomplete paraplegic. Matt stayed with me through the 6 months I was in hospital/rehab. After hospital I moved back to Wagga to resume my studies. Since then we’ve travelled, moved to Sydney, got jobs, grown up, moved in together and then 8 years after we started going out got engaged and then a year later got married.

I found my dress at a vintage show however being made in the 1950’s, it didn’t fit my 2014 shaped body and so was recreated from vintage lace by Alyssa at Kitsch Bitsch who was amazing. Hair was done by our local hair dresser Mesmerise Hair and makeup by Liv Lundelius. The flowers for the tables and down the aisle were sourced by us, however the bouquets, my floral crown and the boutonnieres were done by the local talent of Picco lo Pear.

Deciding on a venue was easy. We knew for a long time that if we were ever to get married it would be in my parent’s garden on the Central Coast. My Mum is an amazing gardener and over 20 years of living on the central coast has created a garden oasis. Having a wedding at home also meant we could tailor the wedding to exactly how we wanted it – casual and laid back. Matt and I have had a bit of an up and down journey throughout our 9 years (with my accident) and although we wanted the wedding to be about us we also saw it as an opportunity to thank everyone who had supported us and gotten us to where we are today. So basically we wanted to throw a big party for 180 of our nearest and dearest (yes all 180 of them are pretty special).

For most brides walking down the aisle is a given, however for me I had to decide whether I was actually going to walk or use a wheelchair. If I was going to walk, I needed to decide how I would do this. I can walk a bit over short distances with crutches with some practice so in the end I decided I would walk down the aisle with my mum on one side and my dad on the other. This way I could include them both in the ceremony and also have them both strategically to lean on. The song we chose was ‘First Day of My Life’ by bright eyes. We did the wedding seated and used two chairs that had been bought at a thrift shop so they became the something borrowed and something blue. The ceremony itself had a lot of personal touches, included as many of our closest people as possible and was beautifully written by our fantastic celebrant Jessie Cacchillo.

We wanted people to feel welcome and have a good time so we decided to break up the reception. So first up was a picnic which was technically the ‘starter’ which also kept people entertained so that we could have our photos. Then we moved into the reception for the formal part and main meal.

Almost everything was homemade or sourced from the local op shops including the 200 something vintage plates which my mum spent months and months collecting from op shops, garage sales and Gumtree.

Matt and I are not big fans of the alternate meal (one person gets chicken, one gets fish and then everyone switches their plates around). We wanted a meal that brought everyone together and where there were enough choices for people with dietary requirements. Therefore we had huge pans of paella made by the people at Paella Casa.

We threw a few of the traditions out the window, we didn’t have a first dance nor did we have a cake. Therefore the end of the night was spent dancing along to the very talented The White Tree and eating gelato (being January it was very warm) with everyone that we considered to be very special in our lives and have gotten us to where we are today.