Wanda & Matt

A dreamy day at Tanglewood Estate saw Wanda and Matt tie the knot with their closest friends and family. In a relaxed ceremony, lost loved ones were celebrated and family played a major role. The weather cleared and the sun shone through for a beautiful and rustic intimate reception. We wish Wanda & Matt all the happiness for their life together – thank you for sharing your special day with us.

We met at school in year 12. We had our first kiss on the dance floor of an 18th birthday party to Romeo Void’s song “Never Say Never”!

Our wedding was at Tanglewood Estate in March 2018! The entire day was relaxed and fun, without too many formalities. There was lots of dancing, good food and wine! It poured rain all day as we were getting ready, but 30 mins before the ceremony, the rain stopped and it was this beautiful overcast but hot balmy beautiful Melbourne summer night. We got a fantastic sunset.

Matt’s family have a house in Red Hill, so we love the Mornington Peninsula. We loved the rustic relaxed feel of Tanglewood, with is beautiful deck and view of the lake, plus its barn like feel. We wanted a small-medium sized wedding and didn’t want a venue that was too large. We liked that we had the venue to ourselves the whole weekend and could stay at the house on site.

For our flowers, I wanted an unstructured bouquet, something with lots of natives that matched the rustic feel of the venue. I wanted neutral tones. The bridesmaids each had a bouquet made of one type of greenery, and my bouquet was a combination of all their greenery, and some native flowers.

My dress was designed for me by Anna Campbell, a good friend. I wanted something fun and not too traditional and she created a sparkling masterpiece. She has named this dress “Wanda” and it is currently in her new bridal line.

Matt’s attire was a Topman suit – as he likes his suits very tight (he got the super skinny).

My bridesmaids were my two friends from university – Tess and Lucy, and my friend Liv from school. They wore white Zimmermann dresses.

Our photographer was a good friend Harold, who does all the photos for my husband’s cycling brand. He is more of a sports photographer but did amazing candid shots which is what we wanted. My favourite photo is of us sitting on the end of the pier!

Our ceremony was very personal. Matt and I wrote our own vows and Matt’s cousin (who is more like a sister), got her celebrant license especially for our wedding so she could marry us. It was full of laughs and tears. My sister Lucy, read her favourite Dr Seuss poem, which was the only reading.

I walked down the aisle to Moon River – this was the first song that Matt’s parents danced to at their wedding. Matt’s mum died 3 years ago, and it was a very special moment walking down the aisle to their song. My sister Emma played this acoustically on the saxophone as I walked down the aisle.

There were quite a few special things we included on the day. Our wedding bands were Matt’s parents because we wanted to make sure his mum was a big part of our day. My sister playing Moon River as I walked down the aisle was a very special moment, as was having Em as our celebrant.

Wearing a dress from Anna, who I have known since she was sewing in the spare room of her old rental house in Brunswick, and having everyone on the dance floor was amazing. Our DJ also played the saxophone and roamed the dance floor playing saxophone during the songs – it was amazing! He really got people up and dancing and even started a conga line.

We didn’t have a first dance! We wanted everyone up on the dance floor after meals and speeches.

In terms of DIY, we did our own dessert bar with all our favourite desserts, a chocolate fountain and a tower of donuts (instead of wedding cake – because we’re donut people more than cake people). We also did our own DIY cocktail cart so that people could entertain themselves while we took photos, and so that everyone was well liquored. We had a leg of ham and bread rolls come out at the end of the night, for people to make their own ham and cheese rolls (my favourite food) to take on the bus on their way home!

Our wedding was catered by our favourite café Pier Street Kitchen, who don’t usually do weddings but did a great job – it was mainly big Middle Eastern share platters.

Every detail of the day was simply amazing!

One of the best stories from the day was Matt’s brother’s speech. He found a scrapbook I made Matt when we were 17 years old, for our 18 month anniversary. In it was a photo Matt had taken of his abs and sent me on MSN messenger, which apparently he took 30 shots to find the right one, and an email he sent me titled “Love Tips and Hints.”

My mum’s speech was also a good one as it was mainly made up of her telling everyone in broken English how handsome Matt is and how happy she was that he liked her cooking!

Wedding dress shopping and designing with Anna was definitely a highlight and standout in the planning!! We also had a GIF booth rather than a photo booth which was much more fun, and it sent the GIF to your phone that night and people could upload to Instagram straight away.

Wanda and Matt’s celebrant, Emily Hodges. You can locate her at @call.me.cupid

Five things that made our day special to us were: My Dress, our wedding bands, our beautiful celebrant, Moon River played by my sister on saxophone and of course, our ring bearer – Frida, our deaf French bulldog puppy!

Any advice I can give would be, to relax and have fun!