Madeleine & Simon

I love the vibe of Madeleine and Simon’s engagement photos and party. They spent time with their photographer Madison of Sweet Natured Photography before they headed to celebrate their engagement with their favourite people.

Madison tells the story of how they met. “My Mum worked with a friend of Simons and she had tried to set up Simon and I but I resisted the idea of having a blind date. She gave Simon my number but I ignored all his calls. Simon is an electrician so Mum arranged for him to come over to our house and do some electrical work. I was so awkward when we first met; I hardly spoke to him at all. I didn’t even offer him a drink! A couple of days later he came back to the house to finish off the work. He asked if I’d like to go out with him and some of his friends that night. I said yes and we went on our first date.”

Madeleine remembers, “Our first date was actually a bit of a disaster. Simon and I went to a local bar with a bunch of his friends. In an attempt to calm my nerves I ended up having a bit too much to drink. Midway through the night Simon had just finished telling me all about how he had a sneaker collection and just moments after pointing out the new pair of sneakers he was wearing I accidentally spilled almost an entire drink all over them. Later, when we kissed for the first time, the entire room erupted with cheering and clapping. Apparently all of Simon’s friends had been closely watching us all night. I was mortified and woke up with a terrible hangover but Simon still called me for a second date!”

Celebrations continued with the guests at The Back Bar – Windsor , Maddie noting, “We were keen to have some professional photos taken at our engagement party and decided we would like to get some shots of the two of us together beforehand. A few days before the party we scouted the area near the venue and found a couple of places we might like to have some photos taken. We wanted the photos to be natural rather than too posed so just before the party we met with our photographer Madison and the three of us just went for a walk together.”

“We wanted an engagement party that allowed everyone to dress up but that wasn’t too formal and structured, so a cocktail style event seemed right. Simon and I had been to Back Bar for cocktails in the past and thought the 1920s décor was beautiful. The venue is very elegant with low lighting and thoughtfully chosen furniture. The Back Bar website had all the information on functions and pricing readily available which made booking so easy and Grant was so helpful, booking Back Bar was an obvious choice.”

The carefully planned engagement party went slightly awry when a blackout occurred, the waitstaff carting food to a staff member’s nearby home to keep it hot. “We both liked the 20’s theme and the venue Back Bar was perfect. Fantastic ambiance, brilliant decor and had a great feel about it. The staff at Back Bar were fantastic. The night of our party the entire street block lost power but Grant and all the staff at Back Bar took this glitch in their stride and did everything possible to keep the night running smoothly for us. They went above and beyond, even shuttling our canapés back and forth from a staff member’s house to heat them up. We were so grateful to them and so pleased with our choice of venue.”

So what does Maddie remember of the proposal. “After about four years of being together all our family and friends began constantly asking when we would be getting married. We knew we wanted to get married but it would be in our own time. I think the pressure to get married only made Simon delay the proposal even longer! One Tuesday night I was in the kitchen making us both a cup of tea when Simon came in with a little organza bag. He said he had bought a present for me. I opened the bag and inside was a beautiful carved wooden box. I assumed that was the gift but when I opened it there was a ring inside. Just as I realised it was a diamond ring, Simon asked, “Would you do me the honour of being my wife?” It was perfect, a beautiful moment just for us.” ”

And Simon’s take? “I work away a lot so had to organise the ring over a few weeks whenever I was home from work. I measured Maddie’s finger with a piece of string one night while she was asleep and used that to size the ring. I found the perfect setting that I knew she would love and organised for one to be made with the diamond size I wanted. BAM! The ring was sorted. Next was the ring box as I wanted something that no one else had. I found the perfect hand carved box on Etsy but it was in Lithuania so it was a nervous wait to see if it arrived in time for when I was next home. Luckily the box arrived just before I came home from work. It was stunning. I wanted the proposal to be a quiet moment just between Maddie and I so I decided the right time would be right after we’d spent a lazy night on the couch watching movies together.”