Tina & Charlie
When life throws you a celebration, you take hold of it with both hands and make it your own. Just as Tina and Charlie did with their mountaintop festival wedding. Guests camped, guests ate a big cookup breakfast but most of all, guests celebrated in a way that was truly “Tina & Charlie”. They chose Lara & Susie Photography to capture it all.
Tina tells their story. “We met at the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney when I was on a working holiday from the UK. And Charlie was on a night out with his cousin and friend. We spent the whole night talking about comedy and music. After 6 months of flying back and forth from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast, I decided to make the move to the Sunshine Coast for good.”
Tina and Charlie spent the weekend, and held the celebrations at Maleny Retreat. Guests “glamped” all weekend, finishing off with a giant cook up breakfast on the Sunday morning. Tina telling, “We chose Maleny Retreat as it was a blank canvas and gave us the opportunity to create our dream wedding. We knew as soon as we saw it that this was the place we wanted to have the ceremony and reception. A big bonus was having the house from the Friday until Sunday where we could both get ready and have our family stay with us for the weekend. We wanted a festival feel so we had a nomadic tent for the reception and had our guests stay in the 20 permanent tents on site.”
There were plenty of handmade details for the day, Tina explaining, “I work as a visual merchandiser so I called on my amazing team (and their husbands) to help me with all the styling and making of my decorations. Lucky for me my boss Heather has an amazing collection of furniture, Indian silk rugs and cushions. We even pulled up her Persian Rug from her living room floor for us to get married on. I collected jars/glasses for flowers, made our seating chart from an old frame and a bit of chalkboard ply, made bunting from folded over doilies. Heather and her husband made bunting for the ceremony from A4 white paper attached to white ribbon.”
The bridal party travelled to the ceremony location in golf carts.
Tina walked down the aisle to “La Ritournelle by Sebastien Tellier – we both knew this was the song we wanted straight away. I always have goosebumps and get a lump in my throat when I hear it.”
Penelope Watson performed the ceremony, Tina explaining, “We didn’t want a traditional or religious ceremony, but one that reflected us and our personalities. We wanted laughs and not many formalities. The property had so many amazing places to have the ceremony but we decided on having a more intimate setting in – between the trees with a view behind us of the Glasshouse Mountains.”
Tina chose a lace wedding gown from The Babushka Ballerina. Her bridesmaids wore pale pink dresses from Debenhams and Forever New.
The reception was filled with heartfelt touches, Tina explains. “Both my dad and Charlie’s mum sadly passed away when we were both 19. We wanted the day to be a happy one and not dwell on the fact they could not be there, so we included a remembrance table for them both with a candle and a photo of both of them. It was very special to me to have my brother walk me down the aisle.”
Tina tells, “My sister in law Emily is luckily a florist so she did all the flowers. Along with Charlie’s other sister Katie, they helped set the tables. We had the marquee set up on Friday so we got some things set up then but mostly everything was done on the morning of the wedding. As I left to get ready I left a couple of wonderful friends and family to finish the final details and decorate the ceremony area. So it was a lovely surprise for me when walking down the aisle and when I entered the reception. It was exactly the look that what I wanted. Anything I could do myself I did with lots of help from friends and family. I also made up bags for the kids filled with toys, colouring books, lollies and chips to keep them entertained.”
Guests enjoyed a sit down dinner catered by Sue and Jon Koning (Fish on Parkyn) with drinks by The Bar Boys, Tina explains “We was so happy with our vendors and how the day went. We really felt that they were part of our day. The Bar Boys kept the drinks flowing and were so friendly chatting and mingling with everyone. Our photographers Lara & Susie were amazing and we had many complements from our guests. They even stayed the night in one of the tents and were able to capture some great photos the next morning.”
Tina tells, “We hadn’t planned on a first dance but we did end up in an impromptu dance-off with each other to the Rolling Stones “I can’t get no satisfaction” with our interpretation of Mick Jagger moves.”
Congratulations Tina and Charlie! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Lara & Susie Photography for sharing today’s wedding with us.
The celebration at the end of the ceremony says it love, beautiful.