Nina & Rich

I love when couples escape to the country for their wedding day. Nina and Rich made the most of the landscape for their sweet Spring wedding – choosing an enormous tree as the spot to say their vows, and celebrating with guests at the blank canvas of the local arts centre. They chose to put their own stamp well and truly on the day – handmaking everything from the ceremony seating, to the place settings – adding the most beautiful handmade vibe to the day. They chose Into The Clearing to join them to photograph every beautiful detail.

The newlyweds who met while studying, became engaged after a planned proposal went slightly awry. “Rich really struggles to keep secrets from me as I usually find out by accident in some way or other! That’s why I was so surprised when he kept the secret of a proposal for five weeks.

Unfortunately for Rich, out of the blue, I was offered an interview opportunity on the weekend he had planned the proposal – who organises an interview on a Saturday? I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity so I told Rich about the interview and poor Rich was freaking out inside but kept very cool and told me I should go.
After my interview, Rich drove me to Toms Cap Winery. We arrived late that night in the rain after getting lost a few times along a country dirt road. He was shaking so much by the time we got there that he proposed outside in the cold, on the verandah surrounded by the rain! We love the story because nothing ever goes to plan for us!”

The bride chose a Theia Couture two-piece ensemble with a long sleeve lace bodice she found at The Bridal Atelier, telling “I really wanted my mum’s advice when I went dress shopping however as my mum lives 8 hours away it was tricky to get her down too often. We had 3 days to find the perfect dress and The Bridal Atelier studio was the last stop in our busy schedule. The Bridal Atelier girls were fantastic and so welcoming. The dresses are absolutely amazing and what I loved the most was that there were so many skirt and top options so you can mix and match and find a really unique dress. The Theia Couture dress was an instant favourite. The two-piece dress was so flattering and made me feel young and feminine.”

The couple said their vows on a private farm, the bride explaining “We were so lucky with our ceremony spot as it was on the family property. The fig tree is in the middle of a dairy cow paddock so needed a lot of work before the day.”

The bride chose “Bloom” by The Paper Kites to play as she walked down the aisle with her brother and father.

“We loved our own vows! They made us laugh and cry hysterically! I got the opportunity in front of our loved ones to confess to Rich that I promise I love him more than our dogs.. I don’t think any of the guests believed me!!”

Jane Zwar officiated proceedings, Nina remembering “Our ceremony was so emotional and so us. My bridesmaids walked down the aisle with one of my dogs and I walked down with my dad and brother. I cried almost the whole way down to Rich. As soon as we reached each other we didn’t want to let each other go. Our stunning arch was made by us using old ladders covered in foliage and blooms (and bees) and the benches our guests sat on were also made by us. Rich and I said our own vows which were so special to us, at the end of the ceremony we walked down the aisle while our guests showered us with rose petals.”

Appropriate footwear for a farm wedding? Sparkly boots from River Island of course!

Guests celebrated the vows with wedding cake, grazing tables and drinks in the sunshine.

“We had so much fun wedding planning as we made it our own and I loved sourcing everything to create my concept. Rich and I discussed every aspect and equally planned every part. Every one of our vendors was awesome and easy to talk to, I absolutely loved getting to know every one of them while we planned the day.”

Of their photographer, Nina remarks “Stefan from Into the Clearing was fantastic! From the crack of dawn, he was at the house and the venue taking photos and didn’t end up leaving the venue until near the end. Without question, Stefan agreed to travel from Melbourne to Berry and we were so grateful. Stefan made everyone feel so comfortable and by the end of the night, we didn’t even realise he was still taking shots of us. Stefan is so creative and his photos are candid and so unique.”

Flowers On The Mill created beautiful white floral arrangements with touches of green and blue. Nina telling “Caroline, the owner of Flowers on the Mill has just started her business on the South Coast. She is so talented and made both the ceremony and reception look like a fairy tale. I chose a colour palette of dark greens, indigo blues and whites. We had plenty of foliage, white roses, anemones, privet berries, blue thistle.”

Guests gathered at Berry School of Arts for the reception, Nina explaining “Berry doesn’t have too many venues which you can do your absolute own styling in the middle of town. As soon as we saw the School of Arts Hall in town we knew this would be the perfect spot to style it our own way.”

“We DIY’d almost every aspect of the wedding! As I am studying Interior Design at Mercer School of Interior Design and Rich being the handyman of the house we wanted every aspect to have ‘us’ written all over it. I think we achieved that by creating all the decorations, the wedding arch, ceremony benches, signing table, gold placemat chargers, wooden centrepiece table runners, chicken wire frame for our table seatings and desserts.”

Guests enjoyed a delicious sit-down meal, including shared planners by Rabbit and Co. Caterers, Nina explains “We couldn’t have chosen better vendors! Rabbit and Co. caterers looked after the whole party with their amazing share platters. No one went home hungry and the food was exquisite. We had everyone mention how delicious everything was. The staff were fantastic too and went out of their way to manage the food at two sites on the day. I was even lucky enough to thank each of the staff as I cleaned myself off in the kitchen after a messy incident with champagne (lucky it was only champagne!!)”

The first dance was a last minute change for the newlyweds who opted for an upbeat tune. “Rich and I changed our first dance song two weeks before the big day as we were practising in our lounge room (with the dogs standing on our toes) and realised the song was too slow for us! We chose the song “If you ever want to be in love” by James Bay as it was more upbeat. We were so nervous about our first dance after only practising a few times before the big day and one of those times being in a spare room just before we walked into the reception hehe! Once our dance finished we ran around the room pulling in our guests to join us while we danced to “Somebody Like You” by Keith Urban!”

Congratulations on your marriage Nina and Rich! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us! Thank you also to Into The Clearing for sharing today’s celebration.