Emma and Kelly’s New Years Eve Bush Wedding

Emma & Kelly

I think New Years Eve is a pretty magical time for a wedding celebration – imagine spending your first day as a married couple on the first day of a new year? I couldn’t think of anything more special! Emma and Kelly chose a New Years Eve Bush wedding for their big day, choosing photographer Lauren J Marshall to be there to capture it all.

Kelly tells of how they met. “We played in the same sporting team for a number of years before ‘noticing’ each other. We both headed off on a weekend away with friends we both knew and spent some time hanging out.”

The girls remember, “We bought each other a gift for the day. Emma received a gift in the morning delivered by her bridesmaids – an old school hand written letter with a bottle of her favourite perfume. Kelly, a lemon tree – something that we can grow together with! An amazing way to always remember to grow with each other and care for each other.”

Emma and Kelly were married on a friend’s property, telling, “We were catching up with friends one day who had recently moved to a new property. We were hanging out on their property and joked that we should have the wedding here….and that’s what happened. We discovered where the marquee could go, where the ceremony could be held and the planning began. The property felt like it was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by bushland with a little barn as the house. Stunning is an understatement. Before we knew it our friends had built a ‘stage’ for us to marry on. Amazing!

Our friends (Property owners) for everything they did to make sure we didn’t have to worry about a thing in the lead up to the wedding and during the day. We are so thankful for being able to express our love for each other in an environment where we can be ‘us’. No judgement on our relationship! Just love, support and celebrations!”

For the processional, the girls walked down separately at the same time, explaining, “A close friend of ours played Kate Miller-Heidke – Space They Cannot Touch whilst we both walked in with our dads from opposite directions from the stage. The guests didn’t know which way to look!”

Nicole Chambers performed the ceremony.

With the wedding being largely DIY, there was plenty of help from family and friends. The newlyweds telling, “Having many of our friends and family involved in the day was important to us. Three bridesmaids each. Pizza and NYE cocktails to kick off the countdown to NYE. A blessing of the weddings rings from our seven niece and nephews was very cool, oh and we signed over power of Attorney to each other… as a sign of our commitment to each other given our marriage isn’t recognised… YET!”

Of their photographer, Emma and Kelly remark, “Our Photographer is AMAZING! As soon as we decided to get married we knew Loz had to be our photographer. We both followed LJM Photography on Facebook and the pics that would appear on our news feed were always so stunning and natural. We really wanted someone to capture the moment in a really casual setting. We couldn’t be happier with the photos from the day!”

Lawn games, including a handmade Jenga set kept guests entertained as the sun set.

As for what they made themselves, Emma and Kelly note, “We made pretty much all the details. We basically did everything ourselves. From centre pieces, table runners, photo booth, lighting, party boxes (NYE Celebrations), table listings to building our own giant Jenga we wanted to put our personal spin on our big day. We loved creating an environment where our guests had just as much fun as we did.”

The first dance had an unexpected twist, Emma and Kelly telling, “Our first dance was slightly different. It started as a dance between us until Emma’s dad interrupted us and the ‘flash Mob’ unfolded. We had 16 people from all areas of our life involved in the secret first dance, we had a dance choreographed to Wake Me Up by Avicii. We had been practicing for a few months in the led up to the wedding! We had so much fun with it!”

The newlyweds tell, “We wanted our wedding to be a celebration/party with close friends in a private setting…with the works!”Guests were treated to pizza and special cocktails as the clocked ticked down to midnight- catered by Brent Sinclair Catering.

Congratulations on your marriage Emma and Kelly! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Lauren J Marshall for sharing today’s wedding with us!