Emma and David's Bohemian Chic Country Wedding

Emma & David

David and I met six years ago at a mutual friend’s birthday in Newtown. Good old Facebook played a part in fate as David had followed me online and thought that I was ‘pretty good-looking’ (his words!) He heard that I was going to be at this birthday and decided to go along.

I remember David wearing jeans, t-shirt and a dress vest; I thought he looked very dapper – that vest became an iconic item in our proposal! He asked me to go on a date that night. The next day we shared a smoothie on the steps at Coogee Beach, chatted for hours about life and other such things and well, the rest is history.

David proposed on the 11th January 2014 – the morning that we got back from our two-week Thailand trip. After a long red-eye flight from Bangkok to Sydney we were met at the airport by our friend who drove us home. As we approached, David asked our friend to quickly stop the car as he had to ‘run to the bathroom’. David ran from the car while we parked. I eventually got out of the car and walked up the stairs to my front door.

The stairs were lined with beautiful white floral arrangements. As I walked around the corner to the patio, I heard our favourite song playing ‘Over the Rainbow’ by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’ and David was standing there wearing the very same vest that he wore the night we met in Newtown. He got down on one knee and proposed. I was so surprised. Of course I said YES! The ring was designed by Cerrone and was exactly what I had envisioned.

After saying ‘yes’ and gazing at the ring for a few minutes, David took me out to our backyard where I was surprised yet again with our family and friends who were all there to celebrate our engagement. We shared hugs and laughs as we sipped on champagne and partied the day away! The surprises weren’t over yet as David had one more up his sleeve. A trip to Hayman Island in Queensland for a week to complete this already whirlwind of a ride. It was one of the happiest moments of my life.

On the 5^th September 2015 we were married in the Southern Highlands, New South Wales at Mali Brae Farm. We knew that we wanted to get married on a farm. The Southern Highlands was a perfect choice for us. It holds many memories for the two of us as it is where David grew up and my family spent many weekends there.

As we arrived at Mali Brae Farm, we knew instantly that this would be the venue we say ‘I-do’. It is a beautiful French Provincial farm with such beautiful and romantic characteristics. The owners Shelley and Greg were absolutely amazing, from the very first moment we met them. So helpful and accommodating, we had the best experience we could have asked for. Mali Brae Farm was the quintessential fairy tale wedding venue and is truly what dreams are made of.

The day of the wedding was a beautiful spring day. It had rained the day before and poured the day after. The gods were on our side that day! My four bridesmaids and I got ready at a house in Moss-Vale, only ten minutes from the venue. Our makeup was done by the absolutely talented and beautiful Nikita Lauren. From the moment we met Nikita was so helpful and went above and beyond for me. She even came to the rescue many times that day.

My bridesmaids wore beautiful lace dresses by Langhem. They looked elegant and absolutely gorgeous. I wanted them to blend in with my dress so I chose white but they had a point of difference with the lace. Beautiful and timeless.

I wore a dress by Nicole Miller that I had shipped over from New York. It was exactly what I had envisioned for myself, very simple yet elegant. I had some sleeves added to it to tie in the bohemian feel. My headpiece was from Bo and Luca which I chose to add to the theme.

Getting ready with my bridesmaids was so much fun. The champagne flowed and the music played; there was dancing and even some jumping on the bed!

I kept my wedding dress a secret from my bridesmaids. I wanted them to first see the dress when I was all ready. So I had the girls all line up outside my room and I made the grand entrance. There reactions were priceless and so sweet!

My twin sister was the one who walked me down the aisle and it was one of the greatest moments of the day. It was so special to have the woman who I have spent my entire life with hand me over to the man I will spend the rest of my life with. We walked down the aisle to ‘1000 Years’ by The Piano Guys.

It was such a beautiful ceremony and there weren’t too many dry eyes to be seen, even David couldn’t control the tears. Our photographer even said it was one of the most touching ceremonies she had seen. We were married by Cari Worstencroft. Cari provided a unique and special ceremony for us. David and I wrote our own vows and heard them for the first time that day. We asked our good friend Holly to read a poem for us which was personal and had meaning to us.

We played the ‘Jurassic Park’ theme song as our signing registry song. We wanted to have light-hearted music with a bit of humour, and who doesn’t love that amazing piece of music?

Our Recessional song was ‘Sky Full Of Stars’ by Coldplay. We both love that song and it has a beautiful meaning behind why we chose it. The film clip was filmed in Newtown which is where David and I first met. It was also a perfect song to kick of the celebrations.

We booked Holly Prins as our photographer and wow! David and I were so impressed with the pictures that she took. She truly captured some precious moments of our special day. Holly’s directions were clear and she knew exactly what to do to capture the best possible photo. We keep having our friends and family and even people we don’t know comment on how beautiful the pictures are. Now when we look back at our photos we can truly relive the entire day over again – we owe all of our reminiscences to Holly!

Our wedding reception came together beautifully. It was something that David and I both envisioned. I designed our entire wedding and sourced all of the products. There were many DIY day and nights!

I found some old and rusted round vases from a florist that was closing down for only $2 each. I sprayed them a bright gold to bring them back to life. I also bought some white lanterns and sprayed them the same gold to tie it all in. As the reception was held in a barn and quite rustic we didn’t want to add in anymore rustic elements so added in some glamorous decorations instead to contrast against the tin walls, roof and the wooden pillars.

The decorations were quite simple; the flowers were the main focus. The flowers were put together by the artistic and oh so talented Merci Bouquet and were a thousand times more stunning than I had could have imagined. I asked for a mixture of red, pink and white. I thought my bouquet was just absolutely beautiful and tied into the venue beautifully. They added the glam and the colour pop that we wanted.

The speeches were filled with many laughs and even twice as many tears. My twin sister Felicity and David both made tributes to our late mother and it was very special. David’s speech was a humorous rendition of his Quarterly Business Review, which I am accustomed to listening to while he practices late at night. He put in timelines for our life ahead. Q3 2016 – a new puppy, Q4 2017 – a European trip and so on. He had all of the guests in tears of laughter.

After the speeches concluded, we cut our cake which was made by one of my bridesmaids Cordelia the morning of the wedding. Thank you Betty Crocker!

David and I then had our first dance. Our first dance wasn’t rehearsed; we wanted to have that moment just us two to reflect on the day and not to stress about our routine. Our song was sung by our beautiful friend Michal who pre-recorded it as our wedding gift. She sung our all time favourite song, ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ by Frank Sinatra. It was personal and something we now listen to as we dance at home.

After our first dance the real festivities begun! There were hours of dancing and twirling and even some melodic singing to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen which was the highlight of the night. Our DJ was XYDJ and they provided a night that was filled with Aussie anthems and oldie classics. It was truly a magical day which we are both blessed to share with our family and friends.