Amy & Sam

It was a day the bride herself describes as “Relaxed, casual, fun and romantic” and from the ice cream cart (built by the bride’s father!) to the breathtaking blooms, the wedding of Amy and Sam is one for the history books. Captured by Smokey Oscar in the ever stunning Yarra Valley, this was a day, utterly romantic, and utterly beautiful.

A day of decadence was just the setting Sam needed to propose, Amy, reminiscing  “Sam proposed in December 2017. We had spent the entire day at the beach and had had a delicious dinner at Rare Hare. I had a sneaky suspicion something was happening as he seemed jittery all day and kept insisting that he needed to bring his backpack everywhere we went! He popped the question at sunset on the beach. It was a very magical moment.
A few days later we celebrated with a hot air balloon ride in the Yarra Valley. It was another very special day where we could celebrate together and both have fun without Sam having to be so preoccupied and nervous!”

Sam, wanting to keep his look bright and summery, opted for a blue suit from Politix.

Amy and Sam worked with vendors who were kind and supportive – the day beginning with two of them Moore Beauty & Styled by Nicole Whitty. She tells  “I wanted to spend my wedding day surrounded by lovely, kind people. I was so fortunate to absolutely love all the vendors that were involved in making the day happen.
I was especially grateful for Cat from Moore Beauty and Nicky from Styled by Nicole Whitty who, when beginning to get nervous, made me feel so beautiful, relaxed and calm.”

The bride wore a gown, with matching veil from Grace Loves Lace. She shares “I wanted to find a wedding dress that I was comfortable in and that expressed my free-spirited style. I loved the lace detail and the statement low back of the gown. To feel like an extra special bride, for the ceremony I paired my gown with GLL Henri veil.”

Although Amy opted for no bridesmaids, she still made sure her favourite women were beside her on the day. “We decided not to have a wedding party as we wanted to keep the day as relaxed and casual as possible. I invited a few close girlfriends over to help me get ready and take some photos in the morning, and Sam had his brothers keep him calm before heading to the ceremony!”

On the way to the wedding, Amy took some sage advice from her aunt. “On the way to the ceremony my Auntie reminded me that the day was for us to enjoy, have fun and celebrate. She reminded me that I didn’t need to be nervous and that all the people who were there were important to us, loved us, and were excited to share in the day!
She suggested that on the drive in I should stand up through the sunroof, wave to the guests and have a little fun! I was so grateful for this idea as it set the tone for the day – an insanely fun, joyous day to celebrate love!”

Amy and Sam chose The Farm Yarra Valley for their big day, noting “One of my close friends had just attended a wedding there and raved about how amazing the food was, and how beautiful and convenient location was. I fell in love with its charm and after meeting Anthea and Carissa, the two wedding co-ordinators, I felt at ease and confident that they would create the perfect wedding day.”

Amy and Sam custom-designed their wedding day logo and made most of the decor and stationery themselves. Amy says “We had a lot of DIY elements in our wedding. This was a way we could make the day, and venue, unique to us! I spent a lot of time creating my wedding stationery. I love design and have an eye for detail so wanted all the smaller elements to be perfect! I had a lot of help printing, folding, cutting, foiling and embossing from my Mum and Dad. I also had my Grandma creating and bottling all the raspberry jam wedding favours. My Dad was extremely busy and built large S+A letters for the front grass, a custom ice-cream cart and an S+A sign to sit behind us on the bridal table.”

Amy remembers “We walked down the aisle to ‘I Will Spend My Whole Life Loving You’ by Imaginary Future covered by Ernest Aines. I had both my Mum and Dad walk me down the aisle.”

Recognising their ceremony as the most special part of the day, Amy and Sam made their ceremony truly personal, noting “We wanted our ceremony to be a special moment where we could share the love we have for each other with our closest friends and family. We wrote our vows and were fortunate to have our good friend marry us and my cousins pray over us. It was a wonderful occasion involving those who knew us intimately.”

   Advice for couples yet to marry? Amy says “My advice for anyone planning their wedding would be to try and make the day reflect you. Don’t get hung up on what is on-trend, what other people will think, or how it will compare to others. Think about what you want, and how you want to look back on it in the years to come.”

“We hired Jenna from Smokey Oscar to capture our special day” notes Amy. “Jenna is such as a sweet person with an angelic heart. Sam and I felt very calm and relaxed around Jenna which enabled her to capture some amazing natural photos. Jenna’s photographs perfectly portrayed the emotion and atmosphere of the day. She captured our love and happiness perfectly. I continue to spend hours pouring over all the photos, reminiscing about our wedding.”

“Flowers are my favourite element of any wedding! On the recommendation of The Farm I contacted Dayne from Pinkie Promise to do my flowers for the day” explains Amy. “Dayne went above and beyond my wildest dreams creating a stunning floral arbour for the ceremony, an exquisite floral ring for the barn doors and the most beautiful bouquet that I carried around with me for the entire day! She has incredible talent!
I also had my Nanna compose all the gorgeous table flowers from the beautiful flowers she grows on her property in Yarragon. It all came together perfectly.”

“I loved how relaxed and easy the day felt” remembers Amy. “This had a lot to do with how organised Carissa, The Farm’s co-ordinator, and Jenna, the photographer, were, which allowed Sam and I to enjoy the day, enjoy the company of our guests and have fun.”

One of Amy’s favourite memories is the first dance, she shares “One night in the city we heard Ernest Aines busking. We stopped and listened for a while and I remember thinking – ‘I would love to have him sing at my wedding.’ Once home I scoured the internet trying to find him (I was silly enough to not have taken note of his name at the time). After hours of searching, I found his details and sent him an email asking if he would be interested in singing at our wedding. To our delight he was available! He is a very kind, talented musician and contributed to the relaxed, romantic atmosphere of our wedding day.”

And there was a very special sweet treat in store for guests – icecream! Amy reveals “In the afternoon after cutting the cake we migrated outside onto the deck and grass. While everyone was enjoying the warm afternoon we pulled out our ice-cream cart and served up some Pidapipo ice-cream!”

A big congratulations Amy & Sam! Thank you for taking the time to share your day with us. Thank you also to Smokey Oscar for sharing today’s beautiful photographs!