Sweet And Smile Filled Wedding

Tyla & Ben

The look of love and pure happiness is something that always tugs on the heart strings! This gorgeous couple emanated both of those things as they smiled and laughed through their glamorous Gabbinbar Homestead wedding. Filled with DIY elements and an overall simplicity, Grace Wriggles captured the beauty of the day perfectly. Their day centred around the two of them as a couple and finished with a bit of fun on the dance floor! The gorgeous Bride Tyla shares everything from how they met to the planning of their special day!

Ben and I both have a huge passion for helping the next generation. We were both volunteering alongside each other at our local youth program. When we first met here, it wasn’t exactly ‘love at first sight’. We were extremely different people and would often engage in heated discussions about topics we were passionate about. Years went by, our characters softened, and we found our hearts beating a little faster than usual when the other would walk into the room. The rest is history!

Ben initially went on the hunt for a white textured suit jacket with black slim fit pants. As the process went on, a classic black, slim fit suit was his choice.

I walked arm in arm with my best friend, and Mum, into the Luv Bridal store in Brisbane, confident that a strapless, embroidered, tighter dress would be the decision. I walked out with a completely different dress in hand! My Mum knows me better than I know myself. As I was trying on the dresses, she helped me choose a dress with flowery straps, with tulle netting, and a-line shaped! A big reason behind the choice was comfort – the dress I chose was literally SO comfortable.

We had our wedding at the gorgeous Gabbinbar Homestead on the 18th February this year! The style, theme and atmosphere of our wedding reflected Ben and I so accurately: fun, chilled out, and simple!

My Dad, my role model, and absolute light of my life was able to walk me down the aisle – this was a miracle as only 30 days before our wedding he was admitted into the ICU with a detrimental health concern. We walked down the aisle to John Meyer’s version of ‘XO’.

We wanted our ceremony to completely reflect who Ben and I are as people. It was short, cheeky, fun, and hilarious! Our long-time friend and Pastor, Doug Cameron, married us and was the only person who talked. He shared some embarrassing stories from our pasts as individuals and as a couple, gave invaluable life advice, and spoke life-giving words over our future. It was everything I wanted it to be, and more!

Our Bridal Party included my best friend Emily as my maid of honour, Ben’s sister Fran was my bridesmaid. Ben’s best mate since preschool, Andre was his best man, and my brother Jordy was his groomsman.

I went into my meeting with my florist, Ruby Lane Flower Co., completely blind. I had no idea what I wanted, other than the predominant colour of white. Amongst the coffee, laughter, and heart-to-hearts, she pulled up a to-die-for mood board with shades of white textured florals. From that moment, I literally gave her complete control over the flowers. I genuinely had no idea what flowers were going to be included in the final bouquet – but fell in love when I saw the orchid, roses, carnations, disbud, gum and olive leaves and dried element combo.

Gabbinbar Homestead is like a magical land, elegant garden party, and historical architectural heaven all in one! We had our ceremony in the gorgeous all white Pavilion, and our reception under the glass-roofed Conservatory. All the heart eyes!

Grace Wriggles was our photographer and OH MY GOSH she’s amazing! We loved her creativity and how relaxed she made us feel!

The truly stand out vendors were our videographer, Mitch Birchall and his wife Chelsea. They were unbelievable! We could not recommend him enough. My makeup artist Kate from Classic Beauty Therapy was incredible.

Gabbinbar Homestead had a full wedding planning team that helped plan the wedding, which meant the entire process was stress free! Our planning meetings were my favourite part of the wedding planning process – and of course, Ruby Lane Flower Co. Best florists ever!

Our ring bearer was Doug’s 2 year old son, and we had him carry a white little basket down the aisle with our rings in it. I got the basket from a thrift store all brown, with spider webs through it. I cleaned it up and spray painted it white. I also designed the invites myself!

On Facebook Marketplace, I also found a girl who hand letters acrylic signs in her spare time! She did all of our signage by hand – it was incredible!

To spin off the old song “Forever Young” by YOUTH GROUP, we also had a custom neon sign made by Beyond Neon Signs (Josh, you’re amazing!), with the words Forever Yong (Ben’s last name is Yong!). Which is now hung up in our house.

A funny story from the day was that I forgot to bring the cord which attached to the neon sign (oops!), so last minute, my brother had to race back home to get it – totally a not-so-glamorous side to what you see on Instagram!

Ben is from The Philippines, and they celebrate with a lechon. Lechon is a spit roasted, whole suckling pig. It was amazing! Bernhard, the Head Chef at Gabbinbar, cooked it himself and he said he’s never seen wedding guests line up for the pork the way ours did!

‘Why I Love You’ by MAJOR was the song we had our first dance to. In classic Ben and Tyla fashion, we didn’t rehearse the dance at all and had no clue what we were doing! We whispered jokes to each other, laughed, and cherished the moment nonetheless. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Our advice to any couples about to embark on this journey, please be yourselves. If you don’t want a wedding cake, don’t have one! If you want a black wedding cake, have one! Don’t let your fear of what other people think limit or stop you from enjoying your wedding day, the way you like it.