Meagan & Barney
“We found the best method was to plan for the biggest and best party of our lives rather than planning a wedding” tells today’s bride Meagan, who chose a gorgeous red velvet clad theatre to marry the love of her life Barney. “Having never had a wedding before and wanting to be a little bit different, following all the bridal blogs and social pages, I really wanted to make sure our wedding was our own, and not influenced by anything else. Find what makes you happy and do that!” And do what makes you happy they did. With the majestic Tivoli theatre as their backdrop, Free The Bird Photography behind the camera, and her mother’s wedding outfit made her own, this bride (and her groom!) wrote their wedding rule book and did everything the only way that they could – their way.
The pair, who met one unexpected night while they were both living in sharehouses, became engaged over one of their favourite ways to spend time together – champagne and prawns on Christmas eve! Meagan fills us in. “It is our Christmas tradition to sit at home and drink champagne and eat prawns every year on Christmas Eve, we decided to do it a day earlier that year on the 23rd December 2015.
Before we sat down to our feast Barney said: “I have to go outside with all the dogs for a second”, so he took our three dogs: Scout the Labrador, Brett the Staffie and Dotty the very elderly kelpie outside to the balcony. He called from outside that I had to call each dog in one by one.
I called Brett first, he came bounding in with a note in his collar, it said: “Dad told me to tell you to call Scout”, so I called Scout inside, her note said “Dad has something he would like to ask you, so call Dotty inside”. Dotty, as old as she was, was quite hard of hearing and couldn’t see very well, so it took a while to coax her inside. Her note read “Dad needs to talk to you outside”.
I went outside and my beautiful giant man was standing looking a bit nervous. I joined him, he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. There was no pomp or ceremony, just a man and his now fiancee at home with their beloved dogs.
The story of our proposal is very important to us, our dogs are the kids we don’t have yet and they are really our world. We lost Dotty not long after our proposal too, so having her there made the way Barney went about this proposal all the more special. It’s such a personal and lovely story.”
Meagan and Barney decided to meet before their ceremony for photos, the bride explaining “We decided to do a first look, just he and I, prior to the wedding. We met at our favourite Dive Bar, Greaser in the Valley and had some lunch, some shots and snapped some photos before the Bridal Party joined us and before we all headed in together to the venue.”
“Jai positioned Barney at the bottom of the walkway into the venue to wait for me to arrive. At the perfect moment, he told Barney to turn around to see me for the first time, and it’s been captured beautifully. Such a special moment, just me and Barney. For the first and only time that day!!!”
The bride’s outfit? Actually the very same pieces her mother wore on her own wedding day! She tells “I wore my mother’s suit that she wore on her wedding day in 1988 when she married my stepdad. I randomly found it in a cupboard when I was cleaning up. It is a double-breasted jacket with scalloped collar and shoulder pads for days, and a tapered pencil skirt, all made in beautiful ivory silk.
I had it slightly tailored to enhance the already impressive shoulder pads, had the jacket cinched at the waist and shortened a little bit and the skirt tapered in a bit more. I didn’t tell her I was doing it or that I had found it.
My little mama’s face, when she saw me in it for the first time, is something that I won’t forget in hurry. John, my stepdad, didn’t realise I was wearing it until mum told him!
On her wedding day, mum wore a silk camisole under the jacket and a string of pearls and a hat. I opted for a quiff and chose not to wear a cami, which my Grandmother was silently very impressed with. I teamed my cleavage with a delicate pearl and diamond necklace that my Nana bought for me to wear on my wedding day before I was even born.
Loads of nostalgia in the dress and it was by sheer fluke that I found it!! Only a week before was I looking for something in the cupboards downstairs when I stumbled across it in a daggy old garment bag!! Best discovery and best last minute decision I could have made!!”
“The photos of just Barney and I with our devastatingly photogenic city in the background was the only calm moment of the day, and looking back, an incredibly special moment.””
It was burgers and fries for lunch as the bridal party joined the happy couple for a pre-wedding meal.
Meagan added a special touch to her outfit, explaining “I wore my Grandma’s pearl and diamond necklace that she bought for me when she learnt my mum was having a baby girl. She bought it for me to wear on my wedding day. I stopped halfway down the aisle, mid procession to hug her and show her the necklace.”
The theatre was actually the second choice for Meagan and Barney, who had originally planned an entirely different day. “We originally wanted to get married at a community hall in the Byron Region, but it just didn’t seem to fit with us. I felt like we were organising an event that had been done before and it seemed to suit everyone else except us. Not being from the country, or having a particular affinity with the rolling hills of Byron, as beautiful as they are, we couldn’t articulate why we wanted to get married two hours away from home, where everyone had to travel.
We were celebrating a friend’s birthday one night, not long after our mate, Dave Sleswick took over the ownership of the Tivoli and was lamenting how difficult it was to find a venue that suited us and our needs. He suggested the Tivoli, and the rest was history! Immediately the planning became easier, not only because Dave and the Tivoli staff were so helpful in bringing the event together, but because it suited us more, it felt right! It felt more like we were planning a big party rather than a wedding!!
Once we decided on the Tivoli as our venue, the planning became so much more organic. I studied theatre and work as a Producer, so I have always had a penchant for theatre and performance, so the potential the venue allowed for exactly that was pretty exciting! Music played a very important part for us in the ceremony and throughout the reception.”
The day was filled with unique, fun touches, tells Meagan. “The sideshow that Maddie (Gang of Smiths) and Alicia (Frankie + Mavis) set up in the carriage bar of the venue would have to be our favourite detail. The photo booth pictures and the Shane Warne tattoos that our guests were covered in long after we pulled stumps on the wedding day was such a quirky addition to the day. Everyone went home with a sneaky polaroid in their pocket which is such a nice keepsake of the day.
“Our aisle procession was the absolute highlight of the day. We rehearsed it a few nights prior with all members of the bridal party. Barney’s friends were incredibly patient and good-humoured whilst myself and my 5 dramatic and theatrical besties orchestrated the music cues, curtain calls and entrances of each member of the bridal party. We really wanted the procession to set the tone of the day, we really wanted to blow people away. I could spy the procession from the back of the venue before we entered the main hall. But the best part was hearing all of our friends and family go bananas when Barney walked out on to the stage to join his groomsmen. Barney is so humble and softly spoken and has let me take the limelight for the best part of 9 years so to hear this cheer for him was so perfect and so important. We had loads of little hand held percussion instruments that guests grabbed on their way in to clap us into our position. The sound of cheers and percussion was absolutely deafening. We almost decided against the instruments because we thought it was just a bit over the top, but it has got to be one of our highlights of the whole day. We laughed so hard the next day when we crawled back into the venue to collect our bits and pieces only to find broken tambourines strewn across the dance floor. It screamed Good Times!!”
Meagan herself walked down the aisle to Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up” with both her father and stepfather.
Steve Pirie performed the official part of the day, Meagan noting “Our dear friend Steve Pirie was our celebrant. Steve was so attentive to our needs in creating our ceremony. He listened to our stories and wrote everything down. Being from a theatrical background, Steve was so open to being a part of the theatre we tried to create throughout our ceremony but at the same time was so grounding and such a calming influence amidst the beautiful craziness.”
“We both had the most fun planning the ceremony, out of everything. I am a producer and I studied a Theatre degree so this kind of thing comes quite naturally to me, and Barney, who is a little more reserved than me, really surprised me with his excitement in the whole process” remarks Meagan.
“I am almost phobic of DIY so we made a pledge to one another that we wouldn’t incorporate any craft into the wedding” laughs Meagan. “The venue itself is so rich and beautiful with amazing finishings and details everywhere you look! We didn’t want to get tied down with the decorating nor did we want our friends to spend their day and the days leading up to the wedding, crafting their fingers to the bone.”
Meagan and Barney kept the floral arrangements minimal, using Brisbane Flower Markets with the help of friend Alicia of Davis and Finch Designs. “I wanted something very understated and simple for flowers – the venue is a decoration in itself so it didn’t require much dressing, so to speak, but we had a runner of large monstera leaves down the centre of each long table for the share plates to sit on, and some small vases with silvery ghost gum leaves. I opted not to carry a bouquet as I had my Dad and Stepdad walking me down the aisle so it would have felt a bit cramped. I gave my Bridesmaid’s the option to carry a bouquet which they all opted for, so Renee (my Bridesmaid) fashioned some adorable posies from monstera leaves, magnolia leaves and ghost gum leaves. They were just beautiful and I’m glad I came round to ‘flowers’ because the green on the leaves worked so beautifully against the opulent red decor and finishings at The Tivoli.”
A sit-down dinner was set in the main theatre, Meagan explaining “The size and layout of the space meant guests didn’t have to leave in between ceremony and reception and there are a million and one locations for photographs, so no need for Barney and I to disappear either! We wanted maximum time with each other, our family and the rest of the guests, so it was the perfect venue to keep everyone together, entertained, well fed, and well lubricated! Being able to get married on a stage in front of our nearest and dearest was pretty darn cool too! Maybe not something Barney would have dreamt up as a kid, but he picked a wife who loves a bit of a song and dance, so it was really great that he was so keen on the theatre of it all!!!”
The newlyweds entered their reception to confetti, or almost! Meagan remembering “We had arranged for a glitter/confetti canon to detonate as Barney and I re-entered the Reception after the Ceremony. Our Bridesmaids and Groomsmen each got an introduction – carefully curated by our MC, Tony Lathouras (who dressed up as Shane Warne for a good part of the evening!)
The plan was when Barney and I entered, the canon would go off and the guests would be covered in gold confetti…. Well, only one canon went off, which we didn’t even realise, but our friend who was on Glitter Canon duties felt so bad she collected all the confetti up (on numerous occasions) and kept detonating the canon throughout the evening!!!”
“After the ceremony and photographs, I changed into the dress that I was going to wear originally” tells the bride. ” A little bohemian cotton dress by Stevie May, and a pair of silver French Connection sneakers. It made dancing much easier!!”
The newlyweds chose their first dance in honour of the groom’s late mother, Meagan explaining “When Barney’s Mum passed away a few years ago, one of the songs that played at her funeral was Supertramp’s ‘Give a Little’. Barney and I made the choice to have our first dance to that same song and to play a slideshow of photographs. We asked all of our guests to send us a photo that makes them happy – their kids, their partners, their pets – anything! We played this as we danced. We had had the spotlight for the whole day til that point so it was important that we made sure that Barney’s mum was remembered on the day, without making it a sombre reminder at the same time.”
Dancing? It was so important to these two, who made sure their guests joined in making an epic dance floor. “We really wanted our guests to feel special and feel involved in our wedding in as many ways as possible. We posted RSVP cards with our Invitations asking guests to RSVP with their favourite party song that they promised to dance to if we played. It made curating a diverse playlist a lot easier and it meant that the dancefloor was full at all times. A priority.”
Congratulations Meagan and Barney! What fun it was to share your day! Thank you also to Free The Bird Photography for sharing today’s photographs with us!
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