Emily and Mark’s Charming Rustic Country Wedding

Emily and Mark 

We chose a rustic country setting for our wedding at the Tuggeranong Homestead in Calwell, ACT. My husband is a farm boy and has always loved the outdoors, so an indoor wedding was just not an option! Wanting to stick to his heritage, we added touches of country to all areas including the ceremony, entrance and reception. The wedding is just as much about the groom as it is the bride and I wanted to stay true to that through the entire day!

We also wanted to DIY as much of the day as possible to save money. So my husband made chalkboards, flower table boxes, signs, and our incredible arbour that we were married under.

I always said I did not want it to rain on my wedding day. Thankfully, we got the complete opposite. 39 degree heat and a scorching Summer’s day.

Getting ready was surprisingly relaxing. I had always expected it to be stressful and rushed, but we were waiting with time to spare! A healthy champagne breakfast, giggles and smiles all day were the best. It was definitely one of the best parts getting ready with my girls.

Our makeup artist was insanely amazing. She did eight faces in record time and didn’t run late. I would highly recommend Meg Stewart to any bride who doesn’t quite know how to put in to words the look you are going for. Meg will know.

As for my dress. I took a bit of a risk and ordered something online. I had gone shopping a few times and tried on some dresses but nothing was the one. I had found this incredible dress on an Instagram model, which I just couldn’t stop thinking about.

So I sent some pictures of it off to Made With Love Bridal, an online boutique who at the time made custom made dresses, and within a day I’d paid and ordered my dress. It was so easy. To be completely fair, I was a little nervous about the dress, but only because I am a perfectionist. When the dress was delivered, it was so stunning and just amazing! It made me feel like a princess all day.

I’d had my heart set on our florist pretty much since the day we got engaged. Flowers, to me, were probably the most important part of the day. I absolutely love flowers and always have, so it was pretty important to me that the florals were right. I thought she was booked out because she was so amazing, I just had a feeling she wouldn’t be available. However, I was delighted when I found out that she actually was available for the date! I booked her straight away.

When you have had your heart set on something for so long you don’t question it. Alicea from Lilygrace Flowers took the stress out of choosing my bouquet. Because I had had my heart set on her for so long and loved everything she did, I literally told her to do what she thought. And she absolutely blew me away. The bouquets were more than I could have asked for. They were just amazing. And she got my favourite flower, roses.

Another thing I had had my heart set on was our photographers. Daniel and Maria from Keepsake Photography also made life so easy and were so easy to get along with. It felt like we had friends photograph the wedding. From the first time we saw their photos there really wasn’t any other photographers that we looked at. We just knew they would capture every second in a stunning way, which they did.

The whole day was so perfect. Mark and I look back on it still to this day and say how amazing it was and wish we could do it again. Honestly, I think anything could have happened and we would have been happy just because we were married.

One of my favourite parts of the day was hanging out, eating gelato with Mark and our dog who attended (and wore bow tie!) It was like we were finally a family and it didn’t matter if there were 1000 guests or 1. We were so happy in that moment that it did not matter.

We hired a gelato cart as we knew the forecast was going to be hot. We also wanted something for guests to do while they waited for the reception. We got so many compliments on the gelato and how it was such a great idea. It kept ‘hungriness’ at bay and also cooled guests down. Zoltan from Pure Gelato was so easy to work with also.

The reception was an absolute dream. My husband worked tirelessly for two days beforehand and most of the wedding day to set up festoon lights so that we could eat under the stars, and they were amazing. I just couldn’t believe it was our wedding. The Homestead has this old barn which most couples have their reception in, but we wanted to be different. We used the barn as a dance floor.

A bit of a story about the festoons – the weather was so hot on the day of our wedding that the wire actually melted, causing a few of the lights to drop and break. Luckily the groomsmen and my husband are all quick thinkers and are able to fix anything – and they got the lights replaced and running without too much of a glitch. It just meant my beloved groom only had 30 minutes to get ready!! Thankfully he’s handsome enough as it is!

My advice to any future brides – you will get over the planning. You will get over the stress and just want to be married. I can guarantee you that it will be the most amazing day of your life, no matter what happens, because in the end all that matters is that you and your love end up married. If that happens, then it has been a perfect day.

Ms Chinoiserie Says: Congratulations Emily and Mark; what a beautifully pretty wedding – and in the heat! I’m sure you enjoyed that refreshing gelato; such a wonderful idea!