Megan and Barton
We have been together for five and a half years, and unlike “normal” people, we work together 24/7 as race horse trainers. I thought Barton would never pop the question and I always sent him text messages of pictures of rings that I liked. A weekend away turned into quite a surprise for me when Barton popped the question. Usually not much gets past me and I am difficult to surprise at the best of times, but Barton had organised the whole thing; he designed the ring and hid it in an oyster while we were eating our dinner. Quite surprised, I was more in shock of the ring he had picked – it was more than I ever dreamed of.
The wedding planning was pretty relaxed and easy as we both knew what we wanted. A rustic country wedding that was relaxed and informal. We were both happy to have a marquee in a paddock of our property that we had just purchased. Then I came across this beautiful little working farm on Instagram that hire out their property for DIY weddings, “DARCLO”, Washpool Queensland. As soon as I saw the photos I fell in love and it was exactly what we wanted. We went and checked the farm out the following week and right away I knew it was perfect. Without a doubt this venue was us.
Finding the perfect dress was hard, I went to numerous bridal stores and nothing was doing it for me. Then I was Google searching and found Karen Willis Holmes and one dress in particular stood out. So I ducked in the next day by myself and tried and it on and it was the one, but I knew I couldn’t buy it without my Mum’s approval. So I organised another appointment with my Mum and a couple of friends to see how much I loved this dress! I got the “Johanna” gown and a silk tulle removable skirt with a lace hem that sat over my lace gown. It was perfect and the most comfortable gown.
Come the wedding day, I was surprised how calm I was; the weather was a perfect 30 degrees. It all just come together so nicely without any hassles. One thing we couldn’t decide on was how many people to have in our bridal party. Barton only wanted one, his brother – and I have two sisters so it wasn’t going to work, so I thought why not be a little different so I had five bridesmaids. I wasn’t worried because it suited our informal wedding. It was such a relaxing day getting ready with my bridesmaids.
Walking down the aisle was one of the happiest moments of my life, I remember Dad was shaking and I said to him “stop shaking, you will make me nervous.” The ceremony was short and sweet as we wanted it that way. Then we went off by ourselves with our photographer, Marc Grimwade, who is also Barton’s uncle; it was great to spend some time together alone and catch our breaths and take it all in.
I made all the decorations myself, that ranged from navy, white, lace and hessian with lots of greenery. We had hay bales for seats at the ceremony on the hill looking over the paddocks and creeks with the view of the mountain in the back.
The reception was held in the hay shed, where we had hung just over one kilometre of fairy lights as the main feature; we also had wagon wheel chandeliers hanging down – they made such a warm glow and it was magical. I used horse shoes as the name cards for the seats to tie in our background of horses. Hessian and lace table runners ran along beautiful long timber tables with tiffany white chairs and candle lanterns on each table. It was hard to believe we were in a working farm shed.
Our wedding cake was made by a friend from my home town – a buttercream two tier cake wrapped with hessian and lace and decorated with flowers we picked from the gardens.
The reception was great fun and that was what we wanted. With the bar and dance floor set up outside the shed, this was where the party was; we had rusty claw foot bathtubs filled with plenty to drink, cable wheels for bar tables and a few scattered fire buckets with hay bales to sit on.
We chose a buffet style roast dinner and the guests could help themselves to what they wanted. Our first dance was to “My Best Friend” by Tim McGraw; that song really describes us and we felt like the only ones there in that special moment.
We were so happy with all the vendors we used. We picked mostly local vendors or small businesses run by friends of ours. We could not have been more appreciative of the Clark family who run and own “DARCLO”. They let us into their home and lives for months leading up to the wedding and couldn’t possibly have been anymore accommodating. They made everyone feel so welcome and at home. They went above and beyond – from helping us set up the lights to helping sew up some emergency tears in dresses. We could not have had the day we had without the amazing family behind the scenes. They gave us our dream wedding.
Having a DIY wedding is so much work and takes a lot of time but it’s so rewarding and amazing seeing it all come together. One thing we worked hard to do was keep our wedding individual and meaningful to us as a couple. We cannot begin to express our gratitude and love for everything our families and friends did that helped us along the way – they made our day so perfect!
Ms Chinoiserie Says: Congratulations Megan and Barton; your DIY touches added to your rustic theme perfectly; what a beautiful day in a beautiful setting spent with family and friends!
Lovely wedding photography