Prue & Mat
I am positively enchanted by the outdoor Trentham wedding of Prue and Mat – the flowers! The romance! The sneaky cigar moment! All set in a gorgeous, sweet country homestead in the beautiful Trentham and captured by Bobby Clark from Bobby & Tide.
Prue tells their story. “We met at Mount Hotham Ski Resort in North East Victoria about 9 years ago. We were both working our first ski season; Mat on Hotel Reception and Prue in Guest services. We joined the same darts team (a social staff competition on the mountain) and were best mates. The snow left a little to be desired that season so many hours were spent at the pub practicing our darts skills! Mat headed to Japan for a few years after the season and Prue went backpacking around South America so it wasn’t until about 3 years later when Mat returned from Japan that we got together.”
The bride chose Ellen Stanistreet of Lissom Yarn to make her gown, remarking, “My dress is a bespoke design from close friend and designer Ellen Stanistreet of Lissom Yarn. Ellen designed some initial sketches based on elements of different dresses which I liked. I always loved the idea of incorporating a two piece or the look of this so that’s how we landed at the gorgeous lace cropped top overlay with scooping back. The lace is cotton guipure, sourced from Tessuti Fabrics in Melbourne. I wanted something elegant and fitting with our country wedding theme whilst maintaining some modern design elements.”
Prue and Mat held their wedding at The Estate Trentham, noting, “The Estate Trentham is in the gorgeous little country property with a small Barn event space attached in the town of Trentham (about an hour North West of Melbourne). It has recently been renovated and styled by Melbourne interior designer and owner Lynda Gardener of Gardener and Marks and is available for small events and gatherings. We were lucky enough to be the first wedding at the venue!”
The styling and floral arrangements on the day were crafted by Flos Botanical. “The styling and sheer volume of the flowers and foliage installation in the barn ceiling was incredible – thanks to the very talented Vivien Hollingsworth of Flos Botanical. We helped Vivien forage for the foliage in the bush around Trentham the day before the wedding!”
“We chose ‘I’ll be around’ by Yo La Tengo to walk down the aisle (or garden path) to. The music started playing and Prue’s bridesmaid Georgie had already started to walk around the garden path when Prue realised the wrong song was playing. So she walked in to ‘Victor Jara’s Hands’ by Calexico instead – a little random but hey we were still married at the end of it all!”
Alison Saunders officiated the ceremony, Prue remembering, “We wanted it to be relaxed, a little bit funny and a true reflection of us as a couple. Our dog Otto kicked off the ceremony walking in with Georgie (Prue’s sister) – a very handsome groomsdog with fresh floral collar to match the wedding party. Prue decided she wanted to walk in with both of her parents on her arm too. We only had one reading: a snippet from Dr Seuss, The Places You’ll Go and wrote our own vows. We decided we wanted to ask two very important people in our lives to witness our marriage certificate so Frank (Mat’s grandpa) and Pam (Prue’s grandma) happily obliged.”
“We styled the garden space with some throw rugs and homemade cushions which Prue’s family friend Jan made and purchased some white beach chairs, plus borrowed a few pieces of vintage furniture to create some lounge spaces near the croquet which we set up on the front lawn. Our best man James curated some playlists with our favourite tunes to play in the afternoon before the DJ set. We also made our own candles and vases for the tables from a collection of glasses and jars. The rum and cigar bar which we setup was a special touch as we used crystal decanters from Prue’s grandmother. Prue proposed to Mat with cigars and rum after returning from a trip in Cuba so it was only fitting to have the same rum and cigars for our guests to enjoy at the wedding.”
“Our wedding wouldn’t have happened without the help of our very talented and creative friends and family. Prue’s sister hand painted and designed the wedding invitations which were a set of three postcards, we then used her artwork to design signage for the bar, menu, welcome sign, rum & cigar bar and dessert table.”
The couple rented out the house for the entire weekend and loved it. They note, “We enjoyed staying at the beautiful venue. It was so relaxed being able to have a couple of days at the venue staying on the property before the wedding and we had a recovery brunch on the Sunday where the drinks continued to flow. Making a whole weekend of it was great!”
Pot & Pan Culinary Tailoring catered a gourmet feast for the reception. “We wanted to setup a beautiful buffet in the barn space where guests could help themselves and eat when it suited. It worked so well without allocated seats as people got to know each other better and just found a place to sit in the gardens where we had two long rows of tables set up under festoon lights. The food was also delicious and all of our guests were raving about it.”
The finishing touch? A dessert buffet made by the newlywed’s family and friends. Prue remembers, “We have a lot of bakers in the family and opted for a dessert station where everyone could contribute by baking some tasty treats so we had Grandma Betty’s famous caramel slice, Deb’s chocolate pavlovas, Jan’s lemon tart, Georgie’s chocolate stout cake, Lizzy’s cookies and Nai’s chocolate brownies. We designed tent cards with everyone’s names next to each of their desserts as we thought this is a nice way to acknowledge and thank our bakers.”
Prue remembers, “Mat and I snuck off to the front yard for 10 minutes to enjoy a quiet rum and cigar together (which seemed fitting with our engagement story) and grabbed Bobby to capture the moment. I love those shots.”
And then? They danced the night away, or rather, soul trained it away! “We didn’t choose to do a traditional first dance, we wanted to mix it up a little and do a Soul Train instead! The guests loved it and we kicked off the soul train dancing to Aretha Franklin, Signed Sealed Delivered.”
Congratulations on your marriage Prue and Mat! Thank you for sharing the details of your day with us! Thank you also to Bobby Clark from Bobby & Tide for sharing today’s celebration!
Great shot! I love your photos 🙂
Very nice photos.