Modern Yarra Valley Wedding

Claire & Jason

We love a romantic wedding amongst the vines and Claire and Jason’s modern Yarra Valley wedding ticks all the boxes for romance, style and of course – the thing we want most from every wedding at Polk Dot Bride – a whole lot of love! They chose Love, Katie & Sarah to capture their day.

Claire remembers the story of how she and Jason met. “Jason and I met 12 years ago on a cold, winter’s evening in a small bar in London, Jason had recently began his travels through Europe and I was studying Fashion Design at Art School. As fortune had it that night I was working in the bar and Jason, waiting for his cousin, ordered a ‘tequila and water’ (which was very strange on a week night in Fulham). Later that night we got chatting and he proceeded to tell me that he ‘did not want a girlfriend’… a few months later we had moved in together!”

Claire chose a modern wedding gown by Johanna Johnson. “I worked in bridal couture for several years in London and having studied and worked in design for some time, I always knew I didn’t want anything too traditional… in fact it was the less ‘bridal’ the better in my eyes! I toyed with designing a dress myself and knew that Jason would love to see me in a classic wedding dress (I think I scared him a little with some of my ideas of pant suits) so when I saw Johanna’s gowns I knew her gowns would be the perfect option!

The gown was an absolute joy and so much fun to wear, it felt effortless and so glamorous! I was lucky enough to meet Johanna when I selected my dress, who advised me that the gown was designed to be easily separated into a skirt and top later and I can’t wait to wear my wedding dress again… Next time pairing the beaded top with a simple pair a black cigarette pants and my wedding heels!.. ”

“At the end of a lovely day visiting wineries around the Yarra Valley we found ourselves driving up the gorgeous tree lined road leading up to the Barn at Stones of the Yarra Valley. We both instantly knew that this was where we would be married. We wondered around the grounds visiting the Chapel, Dairy, Stables and Barn and just loved the ease of hosting all of our guests at one location and the relaxed atmosphere at the venue was just perfect. We could not talk highly enough about our venue Stones of the Yarra Valley and the incredible staff.

Not only is the location stunning (the rain only made it more beautiful in my eyes!) the food and service were far beyond our expectations! We had all of our guests complimenting the service, food and drinks throughout the evening and the days, weeks and months that followed the wedding. We couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

The bride walked down the aisle to “500 miles, Sleeping at Last (The original version of this song had so many fond memories from the time we met and this is such a beautiful cover).”

“We really wanted a relaxed, personal and happy feeling for our wedding ceremony. After 12 years together and with families and friends that had traveled from all corners of the world and Australia it was the most incredible experience to have those we love altogether celebrating not only our wedding day but also shared memories and the exciting journey ahead. For us it was not just the ceremony that was special but also lead up and preparation.

Debra, our friend and incredible celebrant sent us some questions to answer early on in the process and we spent a lot of fun spending time together looking back at when we met, first fell in love, special moments and how we worked through the hard times. With my family having travelled from France, my brother did a fantastic job reading key parts of our wedding in French which helped make the wedding feel so personal and inclusive to those whom didn’t speak English.”

“We were really lucky to be able to have our gorgeous Labrador Hugo as part of our wedding day. We didn’t realise how special it was to us until we saw him there on the day and our dog handler Roger from Urban Paws went above and beyond to get him there on the day. It was a really fun, special moment and the photos captured by Katie were incredible.”

“My best friend and bridesmaid who was traveling from London, was due to land Melbourne after honeymooning in Bali. She was due to arrive the day before the wedding however the universe had other plans as that night all flights out of Bali were cancelled due to the ashcloud! After a few tears and many emails to try to work out extravagant ways of getting her out of Bali we were having no luck. Our incredible vendors helped us with some last minute table reshuffling the day before the wedding (Jo was meant to be sitting next to me!) and Samone from Cake Ink assisted with some additional table hashtag cards which were scattered around so that Jo and friends overseas could feel part of the wedding throughout the night from a distance.”

Claire remembers, “The day before our wedding we had terrible storms and even a tornado in Melbourne! I wasn’t too concerned about rain on the day due to the venue being under cover however I received a call from my maid of honour whom very cleverly was searching all Bunnings stores throughout Melbourne for gum boots in preparation for the wet weather forecast for our wedding day! She managed to find a pair of red gum boots which were a saving grace whilst doing our wedding photos when I began sinking into the mud in my suede shoes!

I have to say that on the day it was one of the most fun parts of the day walking around in the mud with our best friends in bright red gum boots and a super glamorous wedding dress!”

“I love all craft and had always planned to do much of the stationery for the day. With work and renovation pressures in the year leading up to the wedding I only managed the Save the Dates which I painted one afternoon, our wedding guest book and our wedding website.

I absolutely love our wedding guest book and it will be something we will always cherish and look back at. We created the hard back photo book on the website Artifact Uprising full of old photos of us with all our wedding guests over the years for them to sign around! It was so much fun to go back and look through old photos and there was a queue all night whilst guests went to sign the book and look through our the photos and memories!”

“The wedding menu and stationery on the day was something really unique and special in our eyes and so personal. We approached Samone from Cake Ink whom was incredible at bringing to life all our ideas and just such a joy to work with.

Our wedding menus had one side covered in hand-drawn sketches of all things which have been part of our relationship. From a sketch of our home, to the cities we had lived, a sketch of our dog and key words which we always say to each other, or mean something. Our tables were also all named after cities we have lived in over the years and featured the unique sketches. Creating the suite was one of the most fun experiences in the build up to the wedding, working with Samone late in the evening via email and playing around with different ideas!”

“From a flowers perspective it was great to meet with our florist Kate from SoilFlowers by Kate Main (whom is just so incredibly talented!) and play around with tear sheets and ideas. Jason and I wanted something a bit unexpected and I didn’t want anything to look ‘perfect’, in fact the less ‘perfect’ the better! I didn’t really know what to expect on the day having said to Kate that if she found anything amazing the day’s before just to go for it and she did with incredible results!

The tables were full of stunning oversized fuchsia peonies and an eclectic mix of moody, beautiful flowers. We had accents of rose gold and copper throughout the wedding and for our table Kate designed a gorgeous copper hanger on which she hung olive branches and white roses, to complement this she then styled our table with only candles. Sitting down at the table was beautiful with the rich candle light. The pops of colour in the bridal party flowers were incredible sitting back against the moody, rainy weather that cold November evening! It was simple and perfect!”

Claire and Jason chose to get their party started at the beginning of the reception with their band The White Tree, Claire remarking, “We were keen to get all the formalities out of the way as early in the night as possible, so straight after walking into the reception we cut our cake and got straight into our first dance! It was fun to surprise our guests a little and our band, The White Tree was incredible and played our wedding song live, Jack Johnson’s ‘Better Together’. Although Jason is a great dancer I would describe myself as having two left feet.

A couple of weeks before the wedding two of our friends came to the rescue and choreographed a perfect little dance ending in a fun dip and a lift! On the night I couldn’t believe that we did it! Following the dance our bridal party and guests joined in, the band played a couple of up beat songs and that got the party started! The band was amazing and had people up and dancing all night! ”