If you want a prime example of a couple who celebrated their love for all things offbeat and whimsical, then the wedding of Trudy and Matt is going to fit the bill. Ditching their first kiss for a first beer skull as newlyweds,  and the handmade details? Abundant! “I DIY’ed way too much” laughs Trudy. “It was a lot of work, but I think worth it for the personal touch and money saved.” It was just the ticket for a day Trudy describes as “Cheap and cheerful, eco friendly and homemade. We were going for an “artful scatter”.”

Captured beautifully by Shoshana Kruger Photography, the bride donned a golden yellow gown, and barefoot, walked down the aisle herself. Just the way she wanted it. It was the perfect way for this day to unfold after the pair almost didn’t meet thanks to a dodgy phone!

Trudy explains how they managed to allow fate to bring them together. “We met on Tinder but came so close to never meeting in real life. My phone was super dodgy, so sometimes it just wouldn’t notify me when I had a message. I asked Matt multiple times if he would like to meet up, and after no reply for a while, I was about to give up. Until I happened to restart my phone and had a flood of confused, but lovely messages from him. We ended up cycling our bikes to the city, going to the art gallery and buying fancy marshmallows from the Sunday markets for our first date.

The proposal, also a little troublesome, Trudy beginning to think it would never happen. “I had been quietly wondering about marrying Matt for about a year but was overcompensating by just freaking out when the topic of marriage came up in conversation. So he thought I wasn’t interested. Fortunately one night (after a few jugs of beer with our mates) we were stumbling home and I told him I wanted to marry him. We had a lovely teary conversation sitting on the curb.

Once we sobered up, we checked in again, and still, both felt the same. But I wasn’t gonna let him have all the fun, I wanted to propose too! So we took turns. I took us to the riverside to look over the city lights at night and share some wine. He recreated our first date at the art gallery.”

Matt donned a beautiful wool suit for the day, Trudy noting “Matt had bought himself a gorgeous tailored wool suit the previous year, for his best friend’s wedding and he was keen to re-use that. One of his groomsmen sourced a lovely boutonniere from his ballroom dancing connections. I asked the lady who altered my wedding dress to put aside any offcuts for me. I made Matt’s bowtie from remnants of my dress fabric so it matched perfectly.”

Trudy walked down the aisle part of the way with her father, before continuing alone. She explains “I walked down the aisle with my Dad. I don’t like the symbolism of being “given away”, so when I got about 3/4 down the aisle, I hugged him and walked the rest of the way myself. We were both trying very hard not to burst into happy tears”.

Matt adding “What I remember most about the day was the moment that I saw my beautiful wife-to-be taking her first steps down the aisle. She turned the corner of the hall and time stood still. The hush from the crowd and our chosen music playing made it an unforgettable moment.”

The couple ditched the first kiss. “During the ceremony, we planted a tree (a Wedding Bush, which is native to WA). We also skulled a pint of home brew with linked arms, instead of having a first kiss.” The ceremony was officiated by Annette Carone. “Our photographer and celebrant were stand out vendors. . They were both very warm, comforting, professional people. Good to have a chat with, and made me feel like I was in safe hands.”

We know you’re going to agree that Trudy’s golden wedding gown is truly the star of the show here. She found it at Cupids Bridal and Evening, telling  “I never wanted to wear a white dress. Ideally, I wanted to find one in an op shop, but that was a bit too hard. I ended up getting a lovely satin ballgown in a colour I call Golden Mustard. I paid the seamstress extra to add pockets.
I go barefoot as much as I can in life, and wanted my wedding day to be no different (much to the horror of my mother in law). I found myself some backup shoes, for the inevitable prickles in the grass. Dancing barefoot on the wooden floors of the town hall, in my swooshy golden dress was so much fun.” Trudy finished her look with “My Nanna’s necklace, and a bracelet that Mum bought me when I was little.”

Yet to tie the knot? Trudy gives you this advice. “Things WILL go wrong. Hopefully, other things will go better than planned. In the end, it evens out and guests will likely not remember the things that went wrong anyway.
You will never be able to spend as much time with each of your guests as you want. I found it easiest to connect to my guests on the dancefloor.”

Each member of Trudy and Matt’s wedding party was important to them, so they were encouraged to make their looks their own. “Matt’s groomsmen wore navy suits to echo the blue stripes in his suit.” explains Trudy. “I’m normally not a fan of navy coloured suits, but it really worked on them. I made all of their bowties too, from offcuts of the corresponding bridesmaid’s dresses.

My bridesmaids are all very different people, so I could never imagine them in the same dress. I just wanted them to look good and complement each other. We were very lucky to find the dresses all in the discount section of the same shop in just one afternoon of shopping. While we shared coffee after shopping, one of them quietly asked if it would be ok for them to wear boots underneath the dress since they don’t much like high heels. ABSOLUTELY! All three of them loved the idea, so I found the laces to match the dresses and my bridesmaids wore Doc Martens to my wedding!”

The flowers were styled by the couple themselves. “Matt’s best man was so stressed about the flowers” laughs Trudy. “I left it very much to the last minute. I ended up just going to the florist down the road for the bouquets and they did an excellent job.

For the centrepieces on tables, I collected and dried flowers over the previous few months. Matt brought some of his bonsai trees for decoration, and my Mum raided her garden for a few more decoration pieces.”

Of the couple’s chosen photographer, Trudy raves “Shosh was a delight. Because it’s Perth (and everyone knows everyone) she was already friends with our celebrant and event manager.
I feel very lucky to have found her. I was just about to book with a bigger company, whose photos looked fine, but not at the level of Shosh’s. Then I came across her on Instagram and she happened to be available thank goodness!”

“I do really enjoy the shot of Matt and I walking down a street with linked elbows. You can see that we both have bare feet, and we’re laughing about something. It’s right before we had to go back into the hall and do our first dance, so we were feeling a bit jittery.”

Trudy and Matt held both their ceremony and reception at North Perth Town Hall. Trudy sharing “We held it all at the town hall and adjacent garden. The wedding party went down the road to a park for photos.
I partly chose the hall because Matt and I used to live nearby, so it was a nice nostalgic moment. But also because it’s a beautiful venue, with cooking facilities and furniture on site.”

“Our first dance was to “Waltz” by Kittel & Co” explains Trudy. “We saw them play at a folk music festival years ago. One of Matt’s groomsmen choreographed the dance for us. It was such a lovely gift from him.

We spent so long practising and strengthened our friendship with Riley, who was teaching us. I was so nervous we would mess it up, but we performed (almost) perfectly. In the end, there was a big swell of the music where I had to jump and get Matt to catch me and spin me around. Everyone clapped and cheered, it felt incredible!  When I got down though, I was on the wrong side, so I did some creative twirling to get back to where I should be for the final dip.”

This truly was a day of handmade details says Trudy. “I hand-painted and wrote the invitations/RSVPs, made the table centrepieces, bought all tablecloths, plates, cups etc from op shops (then kept my favourites afterwards). Matt brewed most of the beers, a friend of mine gifted us wine from her vineyard, my best friend’s mum did the catering, Matt’s great auntie Lesley made the cake, and one of my good friends managed the event.
I made the bowties and the hairpieces. The best man requested a scrunchie to match his bowtie, which I was only too happy to make. I propagated a heap of succulents for decorations, made bunting from old curtains, had craft nights with my friends to make fake flowers and confetti.”

The dance floor remains one of Trudy’s favourite memories of the night. “Oh, and our choreographer/groomsman ended up dancing a lot with my 70-year-old auntie. They were the talk of the dancefloor, dancing the jive like they’d known each other for years.
My Dad also accidentally started a barn dance situation that he didn’t know how to stop. Good times.”

A big congratulations to you both Trudy and Matt! It was certainly the best way to spend a day, sharing your wedding! Thank you both and thank you to Shoshana Kruger Photography for sharing today’s celebration with us.