If there ever was a wedding that epitomised country romance, then this romantic glam Willow Farm wedding in Berry has to be it. The country setting was filled with the most picturesque backdrops for a wedding that was everything the newlyweds dreamt it to be. From beautiful photographs by Kendell Tyne Photography, to the J’Aton Couture beaded gown, to the outdoor reception. Each detail was carefully thought through to remind guests of how Alex and Luke live their life together. “The atmosphere was very important to us we wanted it to remind people of our style at home. So we made the petal toss pages out of my favourite book, my mum made our wedding cake and Luke built our arch”. The handmade details, were sweet, just as the story of the couple, who met while the bride was working at McDonald’s, to the tale of the proposal was.

Alex fills us “We were in America for a holiday and Luke organized for a helicopter ride out to the Grand Canyon. When we landed inside the canyon and everyone was getting out we were walking when Luke suddenly stopped and when I turned around he was on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of our lives together and even though I was in shock I of course said yes! It was such an amazing day we than celebrated inside the Canyon and it was truly unforgettable!”

The bride knew from early on that J’Aton Couture would make her gown, explaining “I always knew growing up I wanted something unique and one of a kind and I’d seen a designer J’Aton Couture in Melbourne that I’d always loved so I decided that it was worth the travelling. There were five fittings over 10 months. Their design blew me away. Then on the 3rd fitting when they came to me with an idea of adding a neckpiece and I instantly loved it! The gown was handmade from different beading that had to be hand sewn on and fabric that would hug my body. The experience was incredible seeing how they work and the amount of detail and time it took to create blew me away. It was everything I could’ve dreamt of and more!”

Alex remembers of her walk down the aisle. “We chose the song “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran because we felt it really spoke the words we felt. My dad walked me down the aisle which I loved having him be such an important part of the day and thankful that he didn’t let me trip on the way!”

Alex and Luke searched long and hard for a celebrant that suited their vision and settled on The Master of Ceremony, explaining “We had been looking for a celebrant for a while trying to find the right person. When I found Adam and I could tell from his page he seemed like a really decent person who had a sense of humor. When we met Adam he was exactly as I thought he would be and very easy going. We didn’t have any readings but Adam got us to each answer some questions and he made a story of how we met and some of our initial thoughts about each other and made a story that he said on the day which was so lovely and something different to a reading. We also wrote our own vows which were hard but I think completely worth it on the day.”

Alex and Luke chose the beautiful Willow Farm Berry for their wedding, telling “We actually found our venue just by seeing it on Instagram on a wedding page I followed after searching for a while for something that we loved and once we saw Willow Farm we knew that’s what we wanted. The property includes a natural river that runs through it which we had our ceremony by, it also had a huge swing and old dead fig tree, it included a big shed which was used as the dancing and cake area and a pond very close and we had the reception and games on the lawn between them. The property had so many options which we loved and also loved that we could create any look we wanted using a blank canvas.”

“We had a big bridal party of 10 which included siblings and our friends. Luke had both of his brothers and three of his best mates and I had my sister, my two best friends and my two sisters in laws.”

Alex and Luke worked with Oh Flora on the bridal party flowers, noting “I had all the bouquets and buttonholes made by Tanya from Oh Flora! As I always loved her style of bouquets and they turned out incredible.” The couple arranged the rest of the flowers themselves.

Of their photographer, Alex raves “Kendell had the exact style of photography that we loved, it wasn’t styled or fake it was real and candid. Kendell was the first person we actually booked for the wedding nearly 3 years before as we had a long engagement. In that time we did two other shoots with Kendell including our engagement shoot and she was so lovely and easy to be around and we could just be ourselves. She had a way of sneaking around without anyone noticing taking photos and just made us feel comfortable in front of the camera which was so important and I don’t think the photos would’ve been so amazing if it weren’t for that.”

Guests celebrated with a sit-down feast catered by Garnish Catering under the dappled shade of the trees, Alex gushes “We seriously had the most amazing vendors for everything. The food from Garnish Catering was mouthwatering and I still think about that food!”

Alex reminisces “The entire day was perfect and all the time we had put into bringing a vision to reality made the day so much more special. We made sure that nothing was forgotten.”

“90% of the wedding was DIY. We made petal toss pages from one of my favourite books as I love to read, my mum made our wedding cake, friends and I made the floral centrepieces, we made an arch and also put all of the greenery on it as well as Luke made the photo booth backdrop and Luke made a wooden board that the cake was on and suspended from the roof. We set up all the decor and fairy lights and it was really enjoyable doing it all!”

The first dance was to a romantic classic, says Alex “We chose the song L.O.V.E by Nat King Cole and had a friend of ours who is a dance teacher make a routine that we learnt and kept practising. It was a bit harder on the day due to the restrictions of my dress that we couldn’t practice with but we made it work and just enjoyed the moment.”

Congratulations to the newlyweds! A big thank you to Alex and Luke for sharing their stories with us! Thank you also to Kendell Tyne Photography for sharing today’s beautiful day.