When Zach and Julian tied the knot, in landscape of the oh so beautiful Margaret River. They had one mission in mind – make it theirs. “We really wanted our wedding to be relaxed and to place importance on the parts that were meaningful to us. We decided from the beginning that we only wanted people there who were involved in both of our lives and would be down the track, so there was a lot of love on the day (i.e. no obligatory invites!)” tell the grooms, who enlisted the help of In The Wilds Of Someplace to capture the moments of their day.

And what a day it was, a gorgeous garden ceremony, the crystal clear blues of Margaret River, plenty of cheese and even a bouquet toss. It was all about what was important to them, and it showed. “We focused on making sure there were good food, drinks and music – those were the 3 key things to us. The day was just like a big party – we didn’t go OTT with decorations, floristry etc as those things weren’t that important to us.”

Zach was just 18 when these two first laid eyes on another, at Julian’s 22nd birthday party where Zach, as it turns out, was a reluctant attendee. The grooms tell their story. “The first time we met was at Julian’s 22nd birthday party. Zach was 18 years old and was dragged along by his housemate who worked with Julian. Even though Julian was well into his birthday celebrations (at least a bottle of wine deep) there was an instant attraction and we could not keep our eyes off each other all night. For the following few months, we were inseparable. Zach being so young decided everything was getting a bit serious, so we went our seperate ways for a while. Fast forward three years, we met up again and it was like no time had passed at all – and the rest is history!”

The grooms dressed in neutral tones, their respective bridesmaids in dresses of soft, dusky pink, while they wore coordinating suits themselves, sharing “Once again we knew we were going for a relaxed vibe. We wanted to celebrate the amazing scenery at our venue so our outfits complimented this – earthy tones was the vibe we were going for. We both wore linen blazers, Zach opting for a lighter tan and white colour scheme while Julian wore white with charcoal. We didn’t feel the need to spend a bomb on our outfits or be overly dressed up as that’s just not us – so our outfits were smart casual and that was the dress attire for our guests too.”

The couple headed to the sea for pre-ceremony photographs, the result of which they could not have been more thrilled with, raving “Our photographers were such a standout and we were blown away by their work. Holii & Ashleigh from In The Wilds of Someplace are based in Denmark in W.A. and our friend Ella came across them while helping us research. We loved their work and knew that they would capture our day perfectly. They were so easy to be around on the day and it was just like having two extra friends with us all day. When we saw the photos after the wedding we were just so happy with everything about them, it was exactly what we wanted and we were so grateful that Holii & Ashleigh photographed the day. We’re excited for them to come down to Melbourne so we can catch up – they are absolute legends!”

The aforementioned bridesmaids? An integral part of the day for these two. “We each had two of our closest girlfriends in our wedding party. Zach’s two closest friends Sophie and Maddie – Maddie also being the MC for the night (who was amazing!), and Julian had his closest friends Ella and Chantelle. All of the girls were an amazing help and support on the day and we were so lucky to have them by our sides.”

Julian and Zach flew from Victoria for their wedding, marrying at Flutes Restaurant. They share “We had our ceremony and reception at Flutes Restaurant in Margaret River on the 9th of February 2019. With Julian being from W.A and Zach from Victoria, we figured that half of our guests would be travelling to either state regardless. We’ve had quite a few holidays in Margaret River and absolutely love it down there! The wineries, beaches and bushland are amazing and we couldn’t think of a more beautiful spot to get married.”

Zach and Julian chose to walk down the aisle together to John Legend’s “All Of Me”. The grooms telling “We both love Lana del Rey so we were set on walking down the aisle to the song ‘Young & Beautiful’. On the plane trip over to Perth from Victoria we were finalising our wedding playlists and happened to come across the song ‘All Of Me’ by John Legend. While listening to the song we looked at each other and agreed that was the song we had to walk down the aisle too – the lyrics really resonated with us and we knew it was the perfect song to walk down the aisle too. Julian wanted our aisle walk to be nice and long (so extra!) which meant our wedding party could walk down the aisle to Young & Beautiful, before we walked down to All Of Me. Whenever we hear either of those songs now we tear up as it brings us back to the most amazing day of our lives!”

Love Your Way Celebrations flew from Victoria to marry these two, the grooms explaining “We wanted our ceremony to be personal and relaxed. Julian is a hairdresser and one of his amazing clients Carolyn (Love Your Way Celebrations) offered to be our celebrant and fly over to Perth for the wedding. She was fantastic and it was great to have somebody that we knew as the celebrant. Everyone had a few laughs during the ceremony which is what we wanted and tears were abundant – everywhere we looked people were crying!”

“Probably the best story from the day was during the ceremony when we had our Mum’s bring our rings up for us” tell Zach and Julian. “We both had the same wedding band (just different sizes) so we’d briefed our Mum’s before the wedding about how it would work. Zach’s Mum Amanda would bring up the bigger band for Zach to put on Julian’s finger, and Julian’s Mum Jacqui would bring up the smaller band for Julian to put on Zach’s finger. Well, the time came when Amanda gave Zach the ring to put on Julian, but of course, the ring didn’t fit as it was the wrong one. In such a beautiful part of the ceremony, Zach blurted out “Well trust our Mum’s to f**k it up” unknowingly right into the microphone which definitely made everyone have a laugh! We didn’t care at all about the stuff up as it was just a funny moment and now we have a great story to tell.”

It was really important to Zach and Julian that every part of their day reflected what they wanted- right down to the “just married” bouquet toss! They explain We spent a lot of time prior to the wedding discussing how we wanted it to run – we really wanted to make the rules up ourselves as such and not follow traditions that weren’t important to us. We walked down the aisle together following our wedding party, we had a cheese tower wedding cake (which we ate for a week afterwards as there was so much leftover), we threw the bouquets and so on. The small details like these made the day so personal to us and we think are what made our guests enjoy the wedding so much.”

And then it was time to celebrate! Zach and Julian hosting their guests for dinner inside at Flutes Restaurant. “We felt as though the surroundings of Flutes Restaurant spoke for themselves which is part of the reason we fell in love with the venue. With that being said we didn’t think we needed to do too much in terms of floristry, so we used a local supplier for native foliage as our table centrepieces, buttonholes and bouquets for our wedding party.”

“We can’t recommend Flutes Restaurant enough to anyone who is looking to get married in the Margaret River region. Not only is it in one of the most beautiful wineries in the region but they were able to host the perfect ceremony and reception all in on place. Penny, the events organiser at Flutes, was a big part of why we chose the venue. Her nothing-is-an-issue approach and sheer passion and love for her job made the planning process a breeze (which was a great help since we were planning the whole wedding from Victoria). Our guests were blown away by the amazing food, and Penny did ensure that our day was perfect and went off without a hitch!”

“The speeches on the night were a big highlight for us” remember Zach and Julian. “Julian’s father Tony and brother Anthony, and Zach’s mother Amanda and best friend Sophie all made speeches and had everyone laughing and crying at the same time. It’s not often that you have everybody that you love all in one place celebrating you as a couple, and it was so humbling and special to have the most important people in our lives say such beautiful words.”

And then? There was so much celebration and dancing of course!

A big congratulations to you both Zach and Julian1 We so loved sharing your beautiful day. Thank you also to In The Wilds Of Someplace for today’s beautiful wedding!