Emma & Ryan  

Set amongst the golden countryside of the Hunter Valley in NSW, Emma and Ryan threw a spectacularly elegant wedding bash! Starting with the bride’s Grace Loves Lace gown and in every detail from there, this rustic homestead day is nothing short of magnificent! James Day captured the day.

Meeting in Year 7, Emma and Ryan became close friends, sharing most classes. In Year 10 Ryan plucked up the courage to ask Emma out, and they have been together ever since! The bride shares of the proposal, ”We traveled to the USA for a couple of weeks, and were in New York for New Years Eve. Ryan had organised for us to ice skate at The Rockefeller Center, very brave of him I must admit as I am a terrible ice skater! He had a big task ahead of him, keeping me on the ice long enough to pop the question..but boy did he do well! As I was clinging on to the wall for dear life he got down on one knee. I felt like to luckiest gal in world..and would have to say I ended up pretty keen on the whole ice skating thing!”

It took mere minutes for Emma to find her wedding dress! She shares, ”I never really had the perfect dress in mind. I started looking online when after only minutes I came across Grace Loves Lace and the Inca gown. A combination of French and Japanese lace with its low scooping back, so beautifully detailed. I immediately called my mum and told her we had to go to the showroom, on the Gold Coast. Mum’s response ‘Em, I’m sure we can find a dress just as beautiful but in Sydney!’ A few weeks later we hopped on a plane! The Inca gown was the first I tried on and just as I knew when I was looking at it online, I knew it was THE ONE. It was a very special moment, one I was fortunate to share with my beautiful mum.” The groom wore a navy suit by Paul Smith, while the bride accessorised with one of her Nana’s treasured rings.

Held under an old fig tree, the ceremony was picture perfect. Emma shares, ”Our ceremony was very much a celebration of love, family and our story. We were blessed to have the incredible Kathryn Breusch as our celebrant. Ry and I wrote our own vows and my brother and Ryan’s sister, our best people, shared two readings – ‘He Is Not Perfect’ by Bob Marley and ‘Friendship’ By Judy Bielicki.” Remembering walking down the aisle, the bride says, ”First was Ry’s mum and sister, then my mum and brother and then my dad and I. My dear dad and I were was a bit of a mess as we were walking down the aisle, we held onto each other so tight, I will never forget how special this was.”

Winter provided the colour scheme for the florals from The Wedding Designer. The bride shares, ”We choose to go with whites, silvers and blue tones for our florals, with a few natives and succulents. Our reception space was so rustic to begin with, we went with lots of greenery and lighting to add a touch of elegance.” And of their talented photographer, the newlyweds tell, ”James Day – what a dream! For two people who are incredibly camera shy you wouldn’t know it looking at our pictures! James made us feel at ease from the get go, we were able to be ourselves throughout the whole process and had tonnes of fun. It takes a very special person to be able to bring this out in people. James captured our story so beautifully, better than we could ever imagined. We will cherish these photographs forever.”

Avoiding a wardrobe malfunction, the groom was very crafty! Emma shares, ”A funny story I found out late in the night was Ryan actually used dental floss to pull his top button together as he was unable to do it up due to it being too tight around his neck! We were both in the barn later at night taking pictures with James when Ryan sneezed and the dental floss finally snapped. He explained freaking out that morning when his shirt wouldn’t do up and having no needle or thread so a family friend came up with the brilliant idea of using floss. It worked out perfectly as you could not tell it wasn’t tied up and broke right at the end of the night as if in a way signifying time to relax after a great wedding.”

Tocal Homestead provided the perfect space for an elegant and rustic day. The bride tells, ”Ryan and I wanted an away wedding with a rustic vibe, something private and a little out of the ordinary. Tocal Homestead tied this together so perfectly. Our ceremony under a gigantic 100 year old fig tree and our reception in the Blackett Barn with beautiful timber throughout created the most magical backdrop! Not to mention the venue as a whole which allowed us to explore and have so much fun with our photos.”

Absolutely thrilled with the final look of the day, Emma and Ryan used The Wedding Designer. They tell, ”They are an amazing team who literally did it all! Reception and ceremony styling, florals, signage, furniture you name it – we were so happy to pass the creative reins over to these ladies. We didn’t lay eyes on anything until we were introduced as husband and wife at our reception, it was the most incredible surprise.” Not only a wedding celebration, but a birthday party was had too! Emma remembers, ”We got married on Ryan’s 27th birthday! The number 23 is very special to us and we really wanted to get married on the 23rd. It just so happened that the only day of the year where the 23rd fell on a Saturday was Ryan’s birthday! I was all ‘no you don’t want to have to share your birthday’..but Ryan was all for it. Pretty sneaky of him, he will never forget our anniversary! So our wedding was an even bigger celebration!”

Laden with foliage, the barn was set with candles, blooms and a polaroid camera for memories. The newlyweds had their first dance to Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’, sharing, ”It wasn’t until one month before our wedding that we thought about our first dance! We decided to have a couple of dance lessons and Ryan blew me away by how seriously he took it and how great a dancer he was! The lyrics in this song describe our story so well, ‘We were just kids when we fell in love…’ Putting together incredible food and a gorgeous cake, Sprout Catering come highly recommended from Emma and Ryan. They share, ”Throughout the entire planning process they were so easy going and helpful, we were never told no with any crazy ideas we threw their way!”

Remembering so many precious moments from the day, the bride says of one, ”My first glimpse of Ryan as I was walking down the aisle. His face was full of so many emotions, I am sure most brides would agree, seeing your future husband standing at the altar waiting for you, looking so incredibly handsome and ready to jump into this exciting new chapter with you, you just feel on top of the world!! As well having all of our nearest and dearest there supporting us and celebrating our love it was just so humbling, we felt so lucky to be surrounded by it all!”

Congratulations to our gorgeous newlyweds, and thank you for sharing your seriously beautiful day with us! Thank you also to James Day for your gorgeous images.