Rustic Wedding At The Rocks at Yandina

Cassi & Hamish

I have to say, the casual, rustic vibe of Cassi and Hamish’s wedding in country Queensland really floats my boat. I’m not sure if it’s the laid back, the vibe of its stunning waterside location or the focus these two shared for their family and friends right down to asking a friend to become a legal officiant so he could perform their ceremony. Regardless, I am pretty sure that thanks to today’s beautiful images caught by Adriana Watson, you’re going to want to grab a drink and join in this celebration as much as I do!

In a meeting, Cassi describes as “not quite fairytale” the couple first found their feet at work back in 2013. Sometime later and plenty of stories in between, Hamish decided to pop the question in true Sottish style. “This was a special one. I had been waiting for Hamish to propose for a while and many special occasions had gone by without “the question” being asked. Hamish and I had travelled back to the UK to visit family/friends and had a day free to roam around Edinburgh before meeting our friends in the evening. In true Scottish style, it was a miserable rainy day, however, Hamish decided to drag me out on a walk to Arthurs Seat. He set up a picnic and then got down on one knee – it was fair to say that I was caught off guard! We both got a little drenched but it was such a happy moment!”

The bride found her elegant lace gown at a boutique in England, sharing ” I wanted a lace dress and this dress had the most beautiful lace pattern with cap sleeves, a sheer open back and a long train.”

Cassi and Hamish chose The Rocks Yandina for their wedding, particularly falling in love with this waterside setting, Cassi explaining “We chose to have our wedding ceremony and reception at The Rocks in Yandina on the Sunshine Coast. The venue and setting were perfect – set by the Maroochy River and surrounded by lush green fields with Mount Ninderry nearby. The staff however really make this place – their attention to detail was awesome and they helped us to create our perfect day.”

Hamish and Cassi had a particular vision in mind for their day. “We wanted to keep things simple and laid back – I guess you could call our theme Rustic. Essentially our dream was to have a big party with all of our family and friends, with good food and drink and plenty of dancing to old school tunes!”

Cassi chose “I’m gonna be (500 miles)” by Sleeping At Last for her walk down the aisle, explaining “Don’t worry – it’s nothing like the original Proclaimers version, but the original song by the Scottish band does have a special meaning for both of us.”

Cassi and Hamish chose a friend to officiate proceedings for the day, telling “Our ceremony was extra special because we were married by a close friend of ours! Gray is a friend who we managed to convince to become a celebrant and he embarked on a 6-month course to make it official! Our ceremony was wonderful – we wanted to avoid a formal and rigid feeling ceremony and instead, have a few personal stories and plenty of laughter. We wrote our vows and tried to make them quite jovial, after all, we wanted to have a fun day!”

As guests enjoyed canapes, they also enjoy the live music of Ollie Murk, tells Cassi “We loved our musician, Ollie Murk, who played an acoustic set for a few hours during the post-ceremony drinks/canapes. He created a laid back vibe with his guitar, harmonica and didgeridoo.”

Beautiful king proteas featured in the bouquets carried by the bride and bridesmaids styled by Meg Ker. “I was set on having a rustic bouquet with mainly Australian natives” says Cassi .”My florist put together a beautiful bouquet of King Proteas with eucalyptus leaves and gum nuts. To honour his Scottish heritage, Hamish and the groomsmen had buttonholes with Sea Holly flowers – quite similar to a thistle!”

Cassi and Hamish adored their photographer Adriana, Cassi sharing “Adriana is such a special soul – she met us before the wedding and allowed us to talk through our ideas for the day. She made us feel so at ease on our engagement shoot that we just knew the big day would be a piece of cake. She was such a pleasure to work with!”

“Our favourite detail of the day was the fact that so many of our family and friends from the UK had made a huge effort to come halfway across the world to share our day with us. We were so overwhelmed by the atmosphere that this created and we couldn’t have asked for a better day.”

Once the suns set, one long table adorned with greenery welcomed guests for dinner.

An old party-starting favourite was the pick for these two to take to the dance floor, remembers Cassi. “We chose to dance to “Say A Little Prayer” by Arethra Franklin. Neither of us is particularly good dancers and knew that doing something too choreographed would not be our style, so instead we did some swaying with a few fancy intermittent swirls – it seemed to do the trick!”