Relaxed Wandoan Country Wedding

When Maddie and Bryce, after a chance meeting at the Romance Races, and a surprise Carnarvon Gorge proposal, set about planning their wedding, they wanted a day that was, in their words “a little bit hippie, relaxed, unique, very us” and so, honouring their sentimental selves, they took to the bride’s parent’s farm, outside of Toowoomba, enlisted photographer Emma Nayler and planned up a storm for a beautifully relaxed, Wandoan country wedding. The result? Something beautiful, something personal and something that is the most wonderful tale to share!

The couple became engaged on a rain-filled weekend away, Maddie remembering “We visited the Carnarvon Gorge for a long weekend in June 2016, it rained the entire weekend, so Bryce proposed on the verandah of our ‘glamping tent’ rather than in the gorge as he had planned!

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The bride wore a Grace Loves Lace gown, telling “I wore the Verdelle 2.0 gown. I had been eyeing off their dresses for a long time, their styles were gorgeous, and very much my style. Months later I couldn’t get the dress out of my head, so purchased it online two months before our wedding! The team at GLL were fantastic! Very easy to communicate with, especially ordering online!” the bride added her grandmother’s earrings, worn on her own wedding day, to complete the look.

Maddie tells “I walked down the aisle to ‘Never let me go’ by Florence & The Machine, a song that played the night we met, and when we got engaged. My mum and dad walked me down the aisle.”

The couple were married by Carol Vincent, Maddie remembering “Our ceremony was short and sweet. We were both very anxious about saying vows in front of so many people! Carol our wedding celebrant was fantastic and helped keep the mood calm and relaxed. We didn’t have a ring ceremony.”

Toowoomba Flower Market styled the blooms. “I wanted flowers that were rich in colour, plus gum leaves! Toowoomba Flower Market filled my request perfectly. I also had beautiful macrame wraps around the bouquets, made by Jeanette at Tie the Knots Macrame” tells the bride.

Of their photographer, Maddie remarks ” I had followed Emma on social media for a few years, and she was the first thing I booked for our wedding, I didn’t want to miss out! Emma was so easy-going and easy to get along with. We felt very comfortable with her, we connected over our mutual love of dogs. She made two awkward people not look awkward in our photos!”

Guests celebrated with a farm reception, complete with a tipi from Gold Coast Tipis. The bride explained “Everybody was wonderful. Gold Coast Tipis were so easy to work with, and we are so glad they were able to travel all of the way out to Wandoan for our special day. Also our caterers, they provided food that everybody enjoyed!”

The bride and her mother decorated the wedding, noting “We did most things ourselves! However, we kept it simple. My good friend drank lots of Kombucha, so I collected a lot of her bottles, plus we used bottles from my late great-grandmother’s bottle collection. We filled these with flowers on the day of the wedding! My uncle is very creative, so he created our signs for us. My Grandmother and Bryce’s grandmother made our favourite desserts. Most of the decorations were either from our home or my mum’s home

We didn’t have a traditional sit-down wedding. We kept things very casual! Between my mum and myself, we rustled up Cane lounges and chairs etc. for seating, plus hay bails. A lot of my decorations were from Loot Homewares in Roma, I used lots of cushions and crystals from our home as decorations. We worked hard on making the day as casual and relaxed as possible! I was also adamant about creating our day ourselves, so I think it ended up being very true to us.”