Sarah and Grant’s Brittania Park Wedding Festival

Sarah & Grant

Sarah and Grant hired out Britannia Park for their self titled “wedding festival.” They married under trees, danced on the grass and dined out of picnic baskets with their favourite people. They even ended the night with a silent disco to accommodate noise curfews. Could there be a party amongst the trees that looks more beautiful? Blue Robin Wedding Photography  was there to capture it all.

Sarah tells the story of how they came to be. “Grant and I had been good friends for a couple of years prior to us getting together. There was definitely some chemistry between us (even though we had travelled around the USA together pretending otherwise), however we had both been in relationships with other people for much of that time. One day we were both simultaneously single. Grant was sick, sent out a group SMS asking if anyone wanted to watch videos with him and I was the only one that replied. I basically went over to his house for a movie marathon and never left.”

Sarah and grant chose Britannia Park, Yarra Junction (03) 5967 1331 for their wedding venue, noting, “As we were looking to have a weekend wedding festival rather than just celebrating on a single day we needed somewhere that could sleep a large proportion of our guests. Britannia Park was the only venue we ended up visiting but it turned out to be perfect. During the week it holds camps for Guide Victoria members so there were enough cabin beds to sleep 80 guests. It was also surrounded by Australian forests which both Grant and I loved as we had spent many weekends hiking in the bush. The parks grounds were picturesque with rolling green lawns and it had the sweetest little stage set in front of the most magnificent old tree on which to get married. We really felt that we got very lucky with Britannia Park.”

Flowers by Dolly created the floral arrangements for the day, Sarah remarking, “Kirsty the florist from ‘Flowers by Dolly’ created the most beautiful bouquets and floral wreath for the wedding. I asked for textured pretties and that is exactly what she delivered. She was such a dream to work with and truly listened to what I was hoping for. At my request Kirsty even brought her sausage dog, Dolly, with her so I could get my ‘dog fix’ on my wedding day. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Sarah walked down the aisle to ‘Baby’ by Devendra Banhart.

Sarah’s bridesmaids wore their own navy knee length gowns. Sarah wore a gown from Lisa Ho she found at Still White.

Of their photographer, Sarah remarks, “Michael (Blue Robin Wedding Photography) has been a friend of both of ours for a couple of years now. Grant met him through a mutual climbing friend and we have seen his work on many occasions. It was really lovely to have him as our photographer as there was no uncomfortableness with him. We could just be ourselves as we completely trusted him to represent us and our loved ones on the day. He was never intrusive with his work which was such a credit to him. In fact apart from the bridal party photos I can hardy remember Michael taking photos. The hundreds of photos he presented to us afterwards, however, suggested otherwise. I look back at our wedding photos and I truly believe they capture the happiness and festivity of the whole day – they really make me want to experience it all other again.”

The bouquet toss was rather intense, Sarah telling, “Before Grant would propose he stipulated that I had to catch three bouquets at three consecutive weddings (only half jokingly). As Grant’s dad (a maths teacher) informed me, I had a one in eight thousand chance of achieving this. Being ever so slightly competitive I achieved this within the year. As an acknowledgement to all the faces I had elbowed and all girls I had to trample we really wanted the bouquet throwing to really be an event at the wedding. We came across a trebuchet on the internet and thought it would be perfect for our wedding. As it’s not something you can just order online we put my dad to the task of building it. After a false start his bouquet trebuchet perfectly flung the bouquet into the waiting group of ladies at the other end of the field. It was definitely a highlight of the day.”

Of the DIY elements of the day, Sarah notes, “Oh my goodness, we went a little DIY crazy for the wedding. We purchased all the picnic baskets, glasses, table numbers, cheese board and knives from op-shops and decorated them ourselves. All the bunting was either made by the Britannia Park Manager or myself. There were many, many hours spent slaving behind the sewing machine. A friend of ours (who has amazingly green thumbs) spent months growing all of the succulent plants that decorated the stage, tables and picnic rugs on the day.

We also had the help of all our friends on the morning of the wedding in setting up and to decorate the whole park including the hall where we had the silent disco. For our deserts we didn’t order a traditional wedding cake. Instead we asked some of our guests if they wouldn’t mind bring a treat to share. We ended up with a desert table that would have rivaled the deliciousness of any French patisserie – it was truly mind blowing the effort everyone made.” Yarra Valley Catering served up the food for the wedding day.

Of their first dance, which was a surprise. Sarah tells, “We really hadn’t planned on having a first dance as it just hadn’t been high on our to-do-list for the wedding and I also thought the idea was a little too traditional for my liking. However, unbeknownst to us a dear friend of ours had written us the most personal love song which she performed with a group of our most musically talented friends on the day. It was such an incredibly special moment that we ended up getting up and having our first dance to the song as husband and wife. To top it off our friends later went on to record the song at our friend’s music studio and had it pressed onto vinyl for us as a wedding gift.”

The night didn’t stop there, Sarah noting, “As there was a noise curfew imposed by the local council we hired a silent disco for all of the guests that didn’t wish to finish partying after the band had ended. With 80 headsets and two channels of 80’s and 90’s classics everyone danced the night away in a silent room.”

Congratulations on your marriage Sarah and Grant! Thank you for sharing you day with us! Thank you also to Blue Robin Wedding Photography  for sharing today’s wedding with us!