In a day that Bianca and Matty describe as “Elegant, Rustic, Relaxed, Fun, Loving, ONE BIG ABOUT TIME PARTY” there was plenty to love. The couple dancing the night away in the quintessential country barn (adorned in greenery, glittering neon and all the decadence you could dream of; did we mention the dessert table?) and the mood, after three date reschedules, one of utter celebration.

White Shutter Photography joined the merry band, for a day that was every bit the overdue celebration these two deserved!

Mutual friends knew that Bianca and Matty were meant to be, setting the couple up in 2014, says Bianca “Our story began in July of 2014 after a couple of hairdresser friends were determined that Matt and I should meet. Matt heeded their advice, stalked me via Facebook and by month-end, a dinner date, at Rococo Italian restaurant in St Kilda was a done deal. I will say by the night’s end, I felt butterflies in my stomach, yet I still managed to impress Matt with my sharp wit lol… and let’s not forget the size of the steak I ordered and ate without issue. A girls gotta eat right! A memorable kiss outside my place followed, as did the feeling that something rather special had just begun. I knew then and there, he was it!”

Matty popped the question on the dawn of Bianca’s birthday, in a very memorable way! In Bianca’s words “As the sun rose on the morning of the 19th of May 2018, the morning of my 29th birthday, Matt crept out of bed around 6am, quietly got dressed and then… turned on the bedroom lights! WHAT! I wasn’t overly thrilled about this haha but managed to open my eyes enough to see Matt on bended knee with a ring in his hand. Matt whispered four wonderful words, grinning from ear to ear I said ‘Yes’, followed closely by, “Can you please turn off the light?’ Matt kindly obliged and left to spend the day motorbike riding with one of his best mates Joel…

Rest assured everyone, Matt had arranged a day of beauty treatments for myself and my future Bridesmaid Eliese, together with a celebratory evening at Crinitis in Carlton.”

The groom wore a suit from Men’s Suit Warehouse. “Matty actually knew exactly what he wanted and it was just right!” remarks the bride. “Not a big lover of suits, very laid back when it comes to his style but he got this spot on! Thanks to the boys at Men’s Suit Warehouse, he opted for a cream fitted jacket, white shirt, and navy chinos. Relaxed and classy but definitely caught my eye when I saw it all come together.”

The bride chose a strapless lace Madi Lane gown from Luv Bridal & Formal called “Romana”. She recalls “I knew for as long as I could remember that my dress would be fitted and it had to have lace. It was very me. Classic but detailed, fitted silhouette but loosely traces the line of the body, the dress was strapless and finished with a grand train. It was just PERFECT!”

Bianca and Matty were married at the country venue of Warrawong Estate. The bride raving “Where can I begin about our venue! We were lucky enough to be part of a competition that Warrawong Estate was running back in 2019. You honestly see these types of comps and wonder if they are actually real, but let me tell you IT WAS DEFINITELY REAL. It all happened so fast.

What can I say about the year 2019, a lot of things happened that left us quite flat, to say the least. We had discussed potential time lines in which we’re thinking of having the wedding, nothing too in-depth at the time, but this one evening I remember just casually looking into wedding venues. I stumbled across Warrawong Estate’s Instagram page. It was exactly the style we were after. I then saw they were running their competition, “Warrawong 50K Giveaway” – was this a sign I thought to myself.

I told Matt about it and we entered, not once but well let’s just say we lost count. It came to the day the winner was going to be announced. I was glued to my phone. Waiting for the post. There it was, out of so many names in the draw, there was my name. NO WAY!! I didn’t believe my eyes. I even said out loud “are you sure that’s me”.

Let’s just say after that I had a Tom Cruise couch moment. Note to self: Don’t tan right before finding out you’ve just won your dream wedding.”

Bianca walked down the aisle hand in hand with her dad to “A cover of “I get to love to you” by Ruelle. I remember hearing the song over YouTube and I had all the feels and goosebumps” she remembers. “Everything I felt about Matt was in that song. My amazing Dad walked me down the aisle. Such a special moment.”

The couple were married by celebrant Sally Hughes. “Our celebrant really gave us the ceremony we asked for. We asked for a relaxed and light-hearted and a few laughs. Nothing too long and nothing too short. It was perfect for us so Thank you so much, Sally! You’re the best!”

“It was ring time in the ceremony. Andrew, Matt’s best man, his time to shine, and did he ever. Up he comes, opens the box so Matt can take my ring, and out goes many rings. The gasp from the whole wedding was to die for, I’m laughing at writing this. Best moment ever. Can confirm it landed halfway between a crack on the floor of the ceremony arch and was easily picked up. I’ve watched the video a few times just to have a laugh.”

Guests enjoyed an epic grazing table and dessert table groaning with treats by Im Plattered under the sunny sky with celebratory cocktails by Boutique Event Co.

Bianca’s bridesmaids wore navy gowns from Bridesmaids Only. “The girls, we brought their dresses from Bridesmaids Only online, we chose the Zara Bridesmaids Dress by Talia Sarah in Navy. They all looked gorgeous.”

The flowers on the day were styled by Bacchus Marsh Florist. “I like to think I was a pretty chilled bride” explains Bianca. “I had sent a couple of photos of whites and greenery and said something that compliments ivory and navy so surprise me. They were STUNNING! They got it to spot on. All our styles and colours together looked stunning. Exactly what we had hoped.”

“This is more a moment than a detail but I feel I need to share” remembers Bianca. “The whole day was a dream but if I explain a certain moment in the ceremony, I was standing there holding Matt’s hand, and right at that moment, time stood still. It was only Matt and me, it was like an out of body experience. It’s super hard to explain. At that moment, nothing mattered, life made sense, our love brought us here, we can conquer anything together. We did it!”

Wait until you hear how much Bianca adores the couple’s chosen wedding photographer. “I LOVE HER” she laughs. “She was dealing with a pretty loud wedding party but she worked us well. Our photos were so true, real and stunning. Nothing was forced, we didn’t want many photos to feel too staged. Every photo is like you can feel the energy of that moment, whether it’s party time, laughter, love, a special moment between friends and family.

Anne really made us feel comfortable and did so well at us not even knowing she was snapping us which was great for Matty as he is a little camera shy. Anne THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. We get to live our day over and over with your work!”

The vendor dream team for these two? Every single pro pulled out all the stops and receives rave reviews from the couple. “Everyone involved in our wedding day was amazing to work with and super understanding due to the pandemic. We had a total of three wedding dates. Third time lucky we guess. Every single one was so kind and supportive to work with and was such a pleasure to have them be a part of our day.

We were lucky enough that all the stress of planning had been taken care of because of our amazing prize. Special mention to Angelica from Warrawong Estate, you are an absolute superstar. Your attention to detail is second to none, you brought our dream wedding to life. We pinch ourselves still to this day.”

Matty’s favourite part of the day? “The venue. How they set everything up was above and beyond anything we could’ve expected. It was insane. You can’t top it. I would have every function there from now on.
And let’s not forget: The moment I saw Bee ;)”

For their first dance, Bianca and Matty chose an acoustic version of James Arthur’s “Say you Won’t Let Go”. Bianca noting “We heard the song and so many of the words were relevant to us, it seemed so fitting. Matt and I have never slow danced together lol, we didn’t take lessons, we just winged it. Can confirm we didn’t step on each other’s toes and no dress was torn.”

Bianca gives this advice. “Don’t stress the small stuff, like we said, if anything went wrong we weren’t even aware of it. It is the best day of your life and absolutely flies by on the day. Before you know it, it’s the following day and you’re already begging to do it all over again. Do what makes you happy not what makes everyone else happy. Dance like nobody is watching, oh and if you have doughnuts at your wedding, sneak in more than one lol.”

And then it was on! The newlyweds and guests dancing the night away to live music thanks to Melbourne Entertainment Company.

Bianca and Matty hired Four by Four Films to capture the magic of their day unfolding on film.

A big congratulations to the newlyweds! Thank you for sharing your day with us. Thank you also to White Shutter Photography for every incredible image. What a delight!