Rachel and Simon’s Chic Air Hangar Wedding

Rachel & Simon

Can you get any cooler than to have a chic air hangar wedding? Certainly not in my part of the world! Rachel and Simon chose the aircraft hangar at Jimbour House, a place Rachel had often visited as a child. With the beautiful homestead, the incredible views of the Australian landscape and plenty of country charm, it’s a wedding you (and I) won’t soon forget! Todd Hunter Mcgaw was there to capture every moment under that incredible tin roof!

Rachel tells the tale of how they met. “We met at a mutual friend’s birthday party. Our eyes locked across the room, and when Simon came and spoke to me, I became completely tongue tied – so much so, that I left the party early feeling completely flustered! As I was leaving the party, I knew he was the man I was going to marry (even though I didn’t leave him my number!). Simon sent a really lovely text message the next day, and the rest is history. We actually had our first text messages sent to each other as readings in our ceremony.”

The country touches were spread throughout the day, including in the floral arrangements by The Butterfly Lounge. Rachel remarks, “Having grown up in the country, I have always felt that pull towards the outback, and I wanted to capture that in the wedding. I had gumnuts and spinning gum in my bouquet (alongside my favourite flower – peonies).”

Rachel chose a strapless lace gown designed by Paul Hunt.

Rachael walked down the aisle to ‘Sunday Kind of Love’ by Etta James.

Rachel and Simon chose Jimbour House  for their wedding, marrying in the gardens. Rachel remembers “I grew up in Dalby, a town close to Jimbour. I often visited Jimbour House as a kid, and we always took visitors there if they were passing through town, as it’s a true hidden treasure. I always knew it would be perfect for a wedding, so it was a no-brainer when we started planning our wedding. The private garden was absolutely beautiful for the ceremony.

There are so many spots around the homestead itself for photos, I think we almost didn’t get every possible photo option we could have as we ran out of time! It has a lot of character and was very meaningful for me to be able to invite my friends to the town I grew up for such a momentous occasion. The reception was in an aircraft hangar – the tin roof and view out on to the Australian outback was exactly what I was looking for to capture that Australiana look that is so iconic and uniquely beautiful. The acoustics in the hangar were also great for a band!”

Mandeep Sandhu of Gum Leaf Weddings, Toowoomba performed the ceremony. Rachel remembers “We wrote our own vows, and we personalised our readings using some of our first text messages to each other. We really wanted to invite our guests in to our private life together, and to see how we feel about each other. We spent quite a bit of time crafting the ceremony, and I think it really set the tone for the day. It was personal, and there were plenty of laughs as well as really touching moments.”

Of their photographer, Rachel and Simon note, “Todd and Alyda McGaw were fantastic. We hardly knew they were there during the day, but they managed to capture moments that took our breath away. They had done amazing photos at a few other friends’ weddings, so we actually based our wedding date around their availability, we wanted them so much! We were thrilled with the photos and had such fun having photos taken by them.

They made posing for photos fun, and it was a really relaxed afternoon. We didn’t want stiff, overly posed shots – we wanted our photos to be natural and to depict the moments as they actually happened and to reflect who we are on any other day than our wedding day. They were perfect.”

Rachel notes, “We kept the styling to a minimum. We gave the garden and the country vista its own voice. Most of our guests are city dwellers, so they loved it.”

After drinks on the lawn, guests entered the old aircraft hangar for dinner, Rachel remembering, “The reception was in an old aircraft hangar. We were able to open the doors out on to the airstrip and this fantastic landscape. There was an electrical storm in the distance during the speeches, so guests were able to see a spectacular light show as well, which everyone was raving about!”

Simon, a graphic designer created all of the stationery for the wedding – from invitations to save the dates, place cards and everything in between. He even created chalk board signage for the reception. As for other handmade touches, Rachel remarks, “My mum made the wedding cake and the flower girl dress which was very special to me. I have always loved mum’s fruit cake, so it was great to have it featured on our wedding day! Neither of us are very crafty, and we work such long hours that it wasn’t practical to make much. We also wanted the venue to speak for itself – it is so beautiful in its own right that we didn’t feel we needed to add to it.”

Rachel remembers, “We set the tables the day before with the help of our bridal party. We put sprigs of rosemary in the cutlery settings as the garden was so full of it and it smelt great. Simon designed personalised golf balls which we gave to male guests (females received jars of marmalade. I had hoped to make the marmalade, but I ran out of time. I got marmalades from this fantastic girl we met on a trip to Tasmania at the Salamanca markets- Amanda Jamm Handmade Jams & Jellies).”

Dinner was a buffet affair catered by Pips n Cherries. Rachel telling, “Our caterer did a great job of styling the buffet. Pips n Cherries created a buffet that had a lot of style, and which was in keeping with our Australiana theme. As a country girl, I love my butter – Pips n Cherries created 3 flavours of butter at our request (rosemary; chilli, coriander and lime; and horseradish and chives).”

Swing Central kept the guests dancing most of the night – with brilliant aircraft hangar only acoustics!

Of their first dance, right in front of the doorway of the hangar, Rachel remembers, “Our first dance was to ‘Come Rain or Come Shine’ by Ray Charles. It’s a beautiful song and a favourite of ours. It was a great moment to take stock of the day and absorb the fact that we’d just gotten married! We were having the most wonderful day, and the first dance gave us an opportunity to savour all that happened, and to have that intimate moment where you know that all the moments to follow will be together as a married couple.”

Congratulations on your marriage Rachel and Simon! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Todd Hunter Mcgaw for sharing today’s wedding!