Stacey & Michael
The dreaminess of Stacey and Michael’s peaches and cream country wedding is one that is sure to become a favourite. The couple chose a country station for their wedding – the venue, complete with stunning Australian country scenes allowed guests to celebrate in one place and enjoy the celebration, making the most of the setting and the rustic dairy building which saved the couple from the threat of rain! Casey Jane Photography was there to capture their story.
Stacey tells the tale of how she and Michael came to be. “Michael and I met in Canberra in 2009 when he was studying at the Royal Military College. It wasn’t until 18 months later when Michael moved down to Melbourne that love started to bloom. Michael then convinced me to move to Darwin with him. On a trip to Broome WA Michael proposed to me on Cable Beach during sunset.”
Stacey wore a lace gown by Mariana Hardwick, remembering, “Lovingly created by the talented dressmakers at Mariana Hardwick in Brunswick, Melbourne. I selected my perfect gown in their showroom on Sydney Road. It was the first dress I tried on and I just fell in love instantly. My dress was custom made for my body, it was so comfortable and just perfect for our rustic vintage wedding.”
Stacey and Michael chose Yandina Station for their wedding, the bride remembering, “We held our ceremony and reception at the beautiful Yandina Station. Yandina station is a beautiful country/farm setting on the beautiful Sunshine Coast located only 15 minutes from Coolum. We choose Yandina for its beautiful setting and for the convenience of having our ceremony and reception at the same venue. This meant that our guests could soak up the beautiful scenery while enjoying some drinks and canapés while myself and Michael where having our photos taken.
Having Yandina as our venue also meant that all of our photos could be taken on site. We had planned to get married on the lawn under the old tree but the weather had different plans for us that day. The wonderful staff at Yandina set up our ceremony inside ‘The Dairy’ as our wet weather option and this was just so beautiful. Our reception was also held inside the old rustic dairy. The Dairy is a DIY bride’s dream, it does not need to be over styled as it has it’s own rustic charm! The team at Yandina were just amazing, nothing was to much for them leading up to and on the day. Thanks again Neil, Sally and Helene!”
For her walk down the aisle, Stacey remembers, “I chose Sheppard – Something’s Missing. I came across this song a few months before our wedding, the lyrics are just so beautiful and they almost speak about us and our lives before we came together. I still get tears in my eyes when I hear this song.”
Of their photographer, Stacey remarks, “I stumbled on Casey by luck and I am so glad I did.. I think it was fate! Casey has a very natural heavenly style, she has a way of telling your story through her beautiful photographs. A massive bonus and draw card for us was that Casey photographs on film as well as digital, film creates such amazing photos – the colors and light she captures are just so dreamy!
Casey is so genuine and so easy to work with, she makes you feel at ease. I’m not a huge fan of having my photo taken but she made everything so easy and natural! Casey brought along her hubby Alexei as a second shooter and we were so blessed to have them both there to share and captured our special day. I could honestly not speak highly enough of this beautiful lady!”
Willow Bud created the floral arrangements for the day. ” Sandi from Willow Bud created by dream bouquet. It was an over-sized, no structured beautiful beast! It just matched our colors and theme so well! Sandi also graciously offered to order all of my flowers for my DIY styling, this was so kind of her to do as it made the day before the wedding less stressful as I knew everything was organized and I didn’t have to do any last minute running around to buy flowers from the flower market in Brisbane!”
Stacey remembers ,”While myself and Michael were having photos taken it was getting a little windy and the train of my dress kept getting taken up by the wind as I was trying to pose for photos. Out of nowhere my Maid of Honor Sophia pops out from behind a wall like a ninja to full fill her maid of honor duties, she was never far away if I needed her!”
A major focal point of the reception was the custom portrait created by Stacey’s friend. She explains ” A great friend of mine Maxeen Weaver who is an amazing artist created a portrait of me and Michael, it was hand painted on calico and hung up behind our bridal table. This was such an amazing personal item which we an now have as a keep sake for the future.”
Stacey remembers, “The list of DIY items is quiet extensive so it would be impossible to list them all! Everything started with our hand stamped Save the Dates and our invitations and it just exploded from there. Needless to say craft-a-noons became a hobby for the 12 months leading up to the big day, I constantly had some project on the go or some wild idea I was trying to convince Michael about! Some of our DIY styling included our Polaroid guest seating plan which was later used for our guest book as a keep sake, our entrance table with a vintage suitcase for cards and gifts which also show cased old family wedding photos of our parents, grandparents and great grandparents. My amazing maid of honor created our large Menu blackboard from scratch!”
“As we were planning our wedding from interstate we left some of the bigger items to the professionals such as our cute guest favors from Kelly Beans which were mini jars of strawberry jam”.
Sweetness Contained created desserts for the night, the bride remarking, “We decided to have a cake buffet for our wedding to keep with the laid back family style theme of the day. Jane from Sweetness Contained helped me create the perfect cake buffet, it just looked so perfect and all of the cakes were delicious. This was definitely a highlight for our guests!”
Stacey remembers, “There were definitely a few tears at our wedding. During my father’s speech my mother had to help him read the end as he was reduced to tears, I don’t often get to see my Dad so emotional so this was a special moment for me. After the speech he came over to me, my father lost his Dad when he was young and he told me that ‘he wished dad was here to be with us today’ – I told him that I knew that he was with us in spirit.”
“All of the floral styling for the Dairy was put together by myself and my beautiful bridesmaids the day before and was placed into an assortment of jars I had been collecting for months! Our table runners were hand made from natural linen. All of the cake table styling and decorations were my creation, and as my mother is Spanish and the Spanish love nothing more then a party – we created the ultimate Spanish party drink – Sangria! I think this was an extra special personal touch for our guests to enjoy after the ceremony!”
Stacey remarks, “The most important thing for us was that our wedding reflected us as a couple! It was so personal, after all of the hard work and stress of putting everything together it was great to have guests comment on how down to earth and beautiful our wedding was. Our wedding didn’t shower guests in opulence or spend exuberant amounts of money to have the best of the best or to out-do those who had gone before, it was raw and real but amazingly perfect!”
Of their first dance, Stacey remembers, “Our first dance was to Mel Carter – Hold me, Thrill me, Kiss me. Michael and I love old music and knew that we had to have an old classic for our first dance song. Michael and I didn’t take dance lessons however we did rehearse some steps at home. We didn’t want our dance to look overly rehearsed or stiff and just wanted this to be natural moment. When we did get up to dance we both had forgotten what we had practiced! I don’t think this mattered however as we just stayed present and in the moment with each other.”
Congratulations Stacey & Michael! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us! Thank you also to Casey Jane Photography for sharing today’s wedding with us.
Fun, elegant and cute. It’s so romantic and you can see to it that both of them are so in love. They had a wonderful and prestigious country setting and it is a good thing that they were able to capture every single moment of the occasion. I agree that their wedding is indeed very beautiful!
So many beautiful touches – the custom portrait, the family photos. Loving the choice of blooms too!
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing Stacey’s wedding it was such a pleasure to help her look fabulous on her day of days.
Beautiful wedding. Love the colour scheme throughout. It is such a cute touch having the self portrait of the happy couple.