Ashleigh & Nick
This gorgeous country marsala inspired wedding is such a romantic celebration. Ashleigh, a self confessed design nerd, wanted to include the Pantone colour of the year in her wedding day. Marsala touches were added to everything from the flowers to the bridesmaid’s gowns and added a deep richness of tone to the wedding day. All of which was captured by Casey J Photography.
Ashleigh tells the story of how they came to be. “Well to be honest, it wasn’t the most conventional, fairytale meeting. We met on Eharmony of all places, I like to think that we were in the right place and in the right time of our lives and by that stage had enough bad relationships to begin thinking outside of the box when it came to finding our next relationship. As it turned out, Nick was my first and ONLY date from my little online dating adventure.
We had arranged to meet for the first time and I can remember walking up the steps to Black Coffee Lyrics on the Gold Coast and laying my eyes on Nick at the top, and then it was pretty much love at first site. Our coffee turned into tapas and wine, which evolved into dinner (it’s usually a really good sign when your first date accomplishes three separate courses!) and the rest is history!”
Ashleigh wore a lace gown by Maggie Sottero from Casar Elegance. She tells, “I purchased my dress from Casar Elegance in Brisbane, it is a Maggie Sottero Gown “Heather” and I fell in love with it because it was just so simple, timeless in design and suited my personality. I love comfort, and I had it in mind to fully enjoy my wedding rather than feeling completely constrained and self-conscious. I had a few little alterations to ensure the fit was spot on, and wanted a slightly more dramatic “fishtail’ element. All in all it was affordable, comfortable and I felt beautiful.” To finish her look, she custom designed her bridal shoes at Shoes Of Prey.
Ashleigh’s bridesmaids wore marsala dresses from The Iconic.
Ashleigh and Nick were married at Yandina Station, Ashleigh remarking, “We chose the 6.6.2015 as our wedding day, this date has particular relevance to us as it was already our anniversary day, and also the date we moved into our first home together. It just seem liked the stars aligned for us! It took me next to no time to book our venue, Yandina Station is an iconic part of the Sunshine Coast with over 100 years in history gracing the property. The cottage gardens in front of the beautifully restored homestead was where we said our vows, and then our guests were ushered down to the ancient fig free where we had cocktails and lawn games prepared under crisp white market umbrellas looking over the paddocks of grazing heifers.”
Ginger Lily & Rose created the floral arrangements for the day, the bride noting, “When designing my dream wedding, I thought about who we were as a couple and individuals, that really helped me shape the setting, the colours and the atmosphere. Nick is a very grounded, down to earth guy who really loved the outdoors and country. So it made perfect sense to have an outdoor ceremony surrounded by rolling cattle pastures, iconic rustic buildings and the native bush. I love contradictions (my husband has called me a walking contradiction many a time). I wanted bold and vibrant, demure and elegant all rolled into one.
I coupled the very popular “Rustic/Vintage Country Wedding theme with bold blooms and a contrasting colour palette. The Pantone colour of the year is Marsala (I am a graphic designer and a bit of a nerd) and I wanted to pair this striking burgundy with the softly complimentary tones of peach and grey. If I had to string together a sentence to describe the style it would be “Vivid Vintage Country with a touch of Glamour”. The flowers were the hero of the day with radiant florals dripping from almost every structure I could afford to put them on, it just brought the most divine feeling of freshness and life to the setting.”
For her walk down the aisle, Ashleigh remembers, “Nick was in charge of the music selection for the day, and he was determined to have me walking down the aisle to something acoustic. He found a completely acoustic version of Bruno Mars – Marry You, and it was delightfully sweet.”
Alison Dempster officiated the ceremony. “Neither of us are particularly formal people so we opted for the simplest of ceremonies (a total of 15 minutes I believe). We wanted it to be intimate and to the point, and our lovely celebrant Alison Dempster took care of all the finer details. We chose not to have any poems, or readings and made our personalized vows the focus of the ceremony.”
Ashleigh tells, “I have been in quite a few positions of project management through out my own employment history, so wedding planning came very naturally for me. With the help of my amazing Prop Hire (Splash Events), Florist (Ginger Lily & Rose) and Yandina Station we were able to whip up this wedding in just 6 months. I think the best part of the wedding planning was seeing everything transform from my little collection of images on my mood board to the real thing. It was nice to know that what I had envisioned in my head all these months wasn’t just an assortment of colours, flowers and designs. That feeling of everything just falling into place was so satisfying.”
“Nick and I had always agreed that weddings are less about the bride and groom, and more about the celebration among our nearest and dearest. We just wanted to make sure our friends and family had a wonderful time during the very rare opportunity that we are all in the one place. I think the Garden Party underneath the Fig Tree was a really lovely touch, the guys were entertained with Lawn Bowls, Bocci, and Horse-Shoe Tossing and the ladies were able to relax and chat with a glass of Champagne or a Pimms Cocktail.”
“I had done a fair bit of research prior to coming across Casey Jane Photography, and I had a certain idea of how I wanted the photos of turn out. I fell in love with her ability to capture emotion int the most natural way, the softness of her images just oozed romance. I already knew she was a skilled photographer, and the fact that she shot with a mixture of digital and film just made me love her all the more.
It wasn’t until I met Casey on the day of my wedding that I realized how exceptional she was. Nick can not stand having his photo taken on the best of days, so I knew getting him to pose and smile on command was going to be quite challenging, but Casey had this incredible way of relaxing you and taking the awkwardness out of intimate photos. The whole experience was fantastic, and the photos are breath taking, something Nick and I can cherish for the rest of our lives.”
“The Yandina Dairy Shed was where we held the reception, dusted with fairy lights and the exquisite blooms from Ginger Lily & Rose it was an absolute site to behold. We a coffee nook created with leather chesterfield lounge and white washed chandelier supplied by Splash Events and just added the most wonderful touch of class to the area.
Sally and Neil run Yandina Station, and to be honest, I couldn’t have done all of this without the constant support and guidance from Sally. Their team is incredible! The staff were so professional and attentive through out the whole day, and that food.. OH MY GOD THE FOOD! Friends and family are still raving about the quality of the meals. Yandina Station was everything I had ever hoped for in a venue and more.”
Ashleigh created a lot of the decor pieces, telling, “I love all things artsy and it was only natural to make a lot of the wedding elements myself. I hand-sewed the bunting that we had strewn about the ceremony and reception area. I up cycled a few old window frames I found at our tip shop to create the rustic blackboards that displayed our menus, ceremony info and photobooth instructions.
The most time consuming part of all the DIY creations would of been the wine bottle vases (hand wrapping 50 odd bottles with twine felt like it took a lifetime). And with the help of my amazing Mother In-Law we put together a home-made tomato relish and rocky-road for our guest favours. All the littler personal DIY details made the wedding more intimate and real. Our guests really appreciated the efforts.”
Ashleigh tells, “Aside from how beautiful everything looked, I felt that mixing our guests tables with half and half of each side of the family was a wonderful way to integrate the Hamilton’s with the Treacher’s so to speak. It honestly was such a great thing to see our friends and family laughing and joking, and even fighting over the last piece of steak from the banquet meal! It is so hard to single out details when the whole event just flowed so seamlessly, it’s true what they say, your wedding day feels like a blur.”
Of the first dance, Ashleigh remembers, “Coming from two people who hated the idea of dancing in front of 100 of our closest friends and family, the actual moment that we took those first swaying steps was magical. We had Vance Joys – Georgia playing and it felt like everyone else in the dairy shed just melted away. I love looking at the photos of Nick and I dancing together, you can tell by the big cheesy grins that we are having a fantastic time.”
The entertainment for the day definitely had a family vibe, Ashleigh explaining, “Nick’s Mum is the lead singer of a local band called the Limeburners, they specialise in good ole fashioned classic rock! So to conclude the evening Robyn, Chris and Wayne took to the stage to liven up the dance floor with the likes of The Eagles, Eric Clapton and Fleetwood Mac. The music and vibe was so good that my awesome 80-year-old Grandmother was out of the dance floor most of the night busting out some fantastic moves with her 90 year old partner.”
As an added bonus today, the couple hired Tatjana Hamilton to film their wedding. A film that captures the romantic intensity of the day.
https://vimeo.com/136986543
Congratulations Ashleigh and Nick! Thank you for sharing your wedding with us! Thank you to Casey J Photography for sending this wedding our way!
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