Sarah & Josh
Sarah and Josh wanted a raw and organic feel to their chic country wedding, a wedding that had a stylish, but relaxed atmosphere. They chose a country venue that started life as a tobacco shed before turning into the most beautiful space for their I do’s. Sarah and Josh chose Corey Sleap to capture their wedding and we’re lucky enough to have a few extra pretty photos of the styled details thanks to Katie Hillary.
Sarah tells the story of how they met. “We grew up in the same small town but never actually knew each other until we met one long weekend through mutual friends.”
Sarah chose Sarina Crowcher to make her gown, she remembers, “My dress was handmade by Sarina Cowcher from The Big Day Bridal in Darwin. I tried on lots of dresses in Melbourne and Sydney but couldn’t find ‘the one’ I wasn’t even sure about what I wanted. I went to Sarina with some pictures and ideas in my head of what I thought I might like. Sarina was amazing and very accommodating. I was able to design the dress as we progressed with the fittings to suit my style. The sleeves were a last minute idea added prior to the final fitting.”
Sarah’s bridesmaids wore pale grey and white gowns from George.
Sarah tells, “Josh handmade the arrows we hung outside to direct people to our ceremony. It gave Josh a good excuse to buy a power saw which he was happy about!”
Sarah and Josh held their wedding festivities at Remel 185 . Sarah tells, “We had our ceremony and reception at the same location – this was very important to us, as we wanted our guests to relax and enjoy the day and not have to worry about moving around too much. The venue is an old tobacco shed on the owner’s property that has been converted into a function centre. The owners are a lovely family willing to go over and above to accommodate your every need. All the food is home made by the owners, which gave the atmosphere a very homely feel.”
For her walk down the aisle, Sarah chose, “Sunflower Man – The Waifs. Josh and I have very different tastes in music but we both like Australian storytelling artists so this was a song we both really like and have listened to a lot together over the years. I remember Josh looking so nervous and trying not to cry as I walked down the aisle and through the ceremony I will never forget that look as he is always so relaxed and never gets too worried about anything. He said he really loved my dress and it was nothing like what he had imagined it to be which meant a lot as I really wanted him to love it.”
Sarah notes, “I loved having my beautiful niece as flower girl she is so funny and made the day extra special.”
Emily from Feast Of Love styled the ceremony along with floral arrangements by Brooke Whelan of Flourish. Sarah notes, “On picturing my wedding day I always imagined walking down the aisle and standing under the arbor. Emily from Feast of Love and Brooke from Flourish did an amazing job organizing and making the arbor with the floral detail.”
Bruce Kilpatrick officiated the ceremony, the bride remembering, “We really wanted the ceremony to reflect who we are and to act as a celebration for our close friends and family as well as for us. Prior to the wedding our celebrant asked us both to write our own versions of the story of how we met. We weren’t allowed to read each other’s versions or help each other writing the story. On the day the celebrant told our guests the stories he had received from us – it gave a really personal and quite humorous feel to the ceremony that we really appreciated. My cousin who we are both close to gave a reading titled ‘Love one another’.”
Of their photographer, Sarah remarks, “Our photographer was Corey Sleap. He is Melbourne based but made the effort to travel the 2 and a half hour journey to the country to capture our day. I came across his work in a bridal magazine and loved it straight away. He describes himself as someone who doesn’t like taking staged or posing photos, which really appealed to us as we are not comfortable with that either.
He didn’t need us to spend a lot of time away from our guests taking photos; that was important to us as it meant we could spend more time with our friends and family enjoying the day. He captured the atmosphere of the wedding so accurately and all our guests commented on how natural the photos looked.”
Sarah and Josh worked with Feast Of Love to plan and style their wedding, Sarah explaining, “Emily arranged, coordinated and setup all the styling for our ceremony and reception. We live in Darwin, so far away from our venue and didn’t know how we would be able to plan and style the day from so far away. Emily understood perfectly the style and atmosphere we wanted to create on the day and was amazing at coordinating and sourcing everything we needed so we didn’t have to worry about any of that. Best of all she setup the venue for us so we had maximum time to spend with our family and relax leading up to the big day.”
Luarna Duncan from Little Robin Cake Studio created a three tier white cake decorated with native blooms.
Sarah tells, “Our good friend who agreed to be our MC did such a great job and surprised us with some games that all our guests really enjoyed.”
Of their first dance, Sarah remembers, “We were both pretty reluctant about doing a first dance. We tossed around the idea of getting lessons from a friend who is a dancer but decided against it. We eventually chose a song called ‘Making memories’ by a country singer Luke O’Shea who Josh really likes and we have met a number of times. The song is very relaxed and we wanted it to really signify the end of the formalities for the evening and for everyone to start dancing and enjoy the night.”
Congratulations on your marriage Sarah and Josh! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Corey Sleap and Emily of Feast Of Love for sharing today’s wedding with us!
Join the conversation