Kate & Tom

Kate and Tom wanted to celebrate their wedding in a day that was “Boho, romantic and country” in style. They chose Kate’s parent’s expansive property in country Western Australia to set the scene, the gardens and paddocks beautifully suiting the bride’s vision of an outdoor Summer wedding filled with trees. It was just the beginning of the effort family and friends put in to help this beautiful outdoor country wedding come to life. Kate and Tom chose Bird on the Wall Photography to capture their memories.

Kate tells the astory of how they came to be. “Tom and I met roughly 8 years ago through mutual friends. We actually went to the same high school in different years but only met a year or two after at a friend’s party. We had a sneaky first kiss on the dance floor at the Hip-E Club but didn’t get in touch again until 10 months later when we started dating.”

The sentimental details started with the bride’s earrings. “I was able to wear  beautiful sapphire and diamond earrings that were given to my grandmother by my grandfather when my mother was born. They belong to Mum now and I’ve adored them for ages. It was very special being able to wear them on my wedding day.”

Kate chose a lace gown from Grace Loves Lace to wear, noting, “I chose the Grace Loves Lace ‘Venice’ gown. I had stumbled across Grace Loves Lace earlier before I was engaged and always thought I’d choose one of their gowns if Tom and I got married. I wanted something with a lace feature and sleeves of some sort, and fell in love with the Venice instantly. Purchasing the dress was too easy as you simply give them your measurements and purchase through the website. I was a little worried that it might not ‘fit’ perfectly because I ended up deciding to lose a little weight after I had submitted my measurements. It ended up still fitting beautifully thanks to the semi-fitted design!”

The Flower Hound  created the floral arrangements for the day, Kate remarking “The Flower Hound in Fremantle did our wedding flowers and crowns. I had come across Claire on Instagram and saw her beautiful work and knew she’d be able to create exactly what I wanted. She managed to create the most stunning bouquets that tied together the mismatched dresses my maids wore.”

The bride walked down the aisle with her parents to Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez.

Kate and Tom were married by Pat Stieg, Kate telling “Tom and I chose to have a simple yet meaningful ceremony. It was important to me that our celebrant Pat (who coincidentally lives two doors up from my parents!) talked about the meaning of love and marriage and not just dive into the legal parts of the ceremony. We asked Tom’s sister Liesha to read ‘On Love’ by Kahlil Gibran and my cousin Sophia (also a bridesmaid) read Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres. It took a lot of sifting to find readings that could summarise all of the emotion and love you feel for your partner but also not sound cheesy. I finally found these two and they seemed perfect.”

Of their photographer, Kate tells “We chose Mel from Bird on the Wall Photography. She was the first vendor we booked and also the first and only photographer I got in contact with. We fell in love with her candid style and just loved all the photos I was seeing. I flicked her an email and she agreed to squeeze our wedding in. I was so grateful, she was a such a joy to work with. Tom and I aren’t photogenic at all so I was very nervous about our wedding photos. We had never really had a nice photo of us as a couple and all I was hoping for was one or two pretty photos that we could cherish and be proud of. Thankfully she managed to snap hundreds of beautiful shots, exactly in the style I love. She is so talented and I am so so thankful we chose her.”

Plenty of the details of the day were handmade, right down to the bride’s shoes! “My sister and bridesmaid Nat made all of the bunting that we strung a long the lights themselves. Nat also made the beautiful wedding sign. My Mum, sister and a cohort of Mum’s close friends and sister did all of the catering for the wedding themselves. We hired all equipment from local hire companies but they did all of the cooking and food preparations themselves. My Mum also made our beautiful wedding cake from scratch.

I ended up doing a small DIY hack on my wedding shoes too. I had wanted a simple looking wedding shoe with just a small amount of detail to make it stand out.. and couldn’t find anything in any of the shops that was remotely what I wanted. I ended up finding a plain pair of shoes from ASOS and then glued some bejewelled pins that I found on eBay onto the toes a few days before the wedding! Luckily this DIY hack turned out, and I loved my shoes in the end.”

Guests took home jars of handmade jam for wedding favors.

“I asked one of my friends from work Jess to sing at our wedding. She has such a beautiful voice and I had seen a few videos on her FB so knew she’d add a perfect moment to the day. Her partner Michael played guitar alongside her whilst she sang Kiss Me by the Sixpence, None the Richer and then Sea of Love by Cat Power. Right during the more slow and romantic Cat Power song our giant Jenga tower blew over in the wind! It made everyone giggle for a moment, but Jess and Michael managed to continue on pretty seamlessly.”

“I really wanted to display some old wedding photos of some of our relatives. We gathered them over the months leading up to the wedding and managed to have some beautiful photos from both sides of the family. We placed them on a table next to the guestbook, which was a polaroid style book where guests could snap a pic and then write a message next to it! This was a big hit and surprisingly nearly everyone managed to take a photo and write in the book!”

For their first dance, Kate tells “We chose Lover you should’ve come over by Jeff Buckley, one of our favourites.”

Congratulations on your marriage Kate and Tom! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Bird on the Wall Photography for sharing today’s celebration with us!