Country Dam Wedding - Polka Dot Wedding

Toni & Tom

The charm of Toni and Tom’s country dam wedding weaves it’s way through every element. From the simple backdrop, chosen for it’s natural, untouched beauty, to the country hall turned celebration central complete with jumping castle, the couple wanted a day that was relaxed, but most of all fun. They chose Florido Weddings to capture their day.

Toni tells the story of how she met Tom. “We met at a mutual friend’s 18th Birthday but left the party without swapping numbers. Luckily we ran into each other at uni two days later. We ended up chatting for hours in the uni bar and then he walked me to my next lecture. He gave me a quick little kiss before I went in and I knew he was someone special.”

Made With Love created Toni’s wedding gown, she remembers. “I hate shopping. I absolutely loath it. So when it came to dress shopping I did hours and hours of online research until I settled on a dress by the lovely Gold Coast girls from Made With Love. I took one of my bridesmaids along and before the buttons had even been done up I knew I had picked the right one. It just looked perfect and the fact my bestie began to cry just cemented that it was the one.”

“My Aunty, who lives in Victoria, was unable to attend the wedding and sent me a nice card to apologise for her absence. In the card was a bunch of handkerchiefs that various family members had worn on their wedding day. I picked one of the handkerchiefs and stitched it onto the inside of my dress. I am the fifth generation bride who has now worn that hankie on their wedding day.”

Toni and Tom married at Braeside Farm, Toni recounting, “The lady who was managing Coronation Hall gave us the number of the lady who owns Braeside Farm and we were able to set up a viewing the following weekend. Braeside Farm is a beautiful private property which backs onto Somerset Dam. We were married in a large open field with the dam as a backdrop. You will notice our ceremony location is lacking in decorations; we decided the view was so beautiful it didn’t need anything at all to perfect it.”

Toni remembers, “I walked down the aisle to “Hey Ya” by Outcast. However It was an acoustic and slowed-down version. We are massive fans of the TV show ‘Scrubs’ and when one of the characters gets married that is the song that is played. My husband made up his own lyrics to the song and has been signing his version to me for years. It is a bit silly but the song is really special to us now.”

Sue Brodie officiated the ceremony, the bride remembering, “We just wanted a really natural chilled ceremony. Tom and I share a special friend, Lucy, who actually photographed the proposal. She got up at 3:30am to hide in the bushes at sunrise to get the perfect picture for us. We asked her to do a reading and Tom actually picked the reading, “On Your Wedding Day” by an unknown author and sent it to her without my knowing. It was a lovely surprise for me on the day.”

“I DIYed EVERYTHING. I made the bouquets (which have been featured on Polka Dot Made before), the bunting, men’s bow ties, button holes, table decorations, swing, jenga set…. EVERYTHING.”

Of their photographer, Toni notes, “Callie’s photography is spectacular. I knew we wanted to hire her when I saw the album on display back in October. We had about $500 in our bank account at the time (as Tom had just graduated uni and we were waiting for his new job to start) and we used it all to put a deposit on her services. Photography was always going to be our priority when it came to the wedding. I love looking at photos and have them all around our house. I just love her style and I’m so happy with how they have turned out. My favourite picture is probably the bridal party on the jumping castle.”

“Tom proposed at sunrise and so we have a special love for the sun rising and setting. I absolutely love the photos at sunset and can’t wait to see the time-lapse our videographers captured.”

Toni and Tom chose the gorgeous Coronation Hall for their reception, explaining, “The reception was in an old hall in the middle of nowhere which definitely gave it that rustic feel so popular nowadays. But, we wanted a really relaxed atmosphere where the emphasis was on fun, so we made sure we had lots of games, an extensive open bar and of course, a jumping castle.

I first saw Coronation Hall in a photograph Flordio Weddings had on display at a wedding expo, long before we were actually engaged. I knew from looking at just a few photos that I had found my photographer and my venue. We visited Coronation Hall a week later and fell in love with the size and rustic feel.”

Toni remembers, “We danced to Adele’s version of Make you Feel My love. This was the one part of the night I would happily forget. We cannot dance to save ourselves and when we messed up the first twirl everyone laughed. Luckily our friends and family all jumped up quickly and joined in.

As everyone was eating dinner, Tom took me onto the dance floor and we just held each other for a few moments. I knew there were people around us and could feel their camera lights flashing, but at that moment I felt like the only people in the room were us two.”