If Georgie and Ben had to sum up their wedding, it would be described as “rustic confetti disco” which basically means it’s full of colour, full of sparkle and disco balls, and full of everything they adore in life. “We were aiming for a fun and laid-back atmosphere where guests could move around as they please, and eat, drink, and dance to their heart’s content.” And this? Means it’s a wedding we can’t wait to share.

The dynamic duo, who invited Mary of Smile Darling Photography along for the night of celebration,  first met over a love of cheese (told you you’d want to see this wedding!) and that very same cheese? It featured heavily throughout their wedding day. Georgie remembering  “We met on a dating app when we both swiped the right way! Ben’s opening line was, ‘Hi, I like your smile. I want to buy you lots of cake’, which worked nicely. We eventually met in person at a bar we both liked for beer and tacos.

We connected really hard when we both got a kick out of a pile of Kraft cheese slices found in the gutter, and cheese has remained a recurring theme in our relationship. We also heard Daryl Braithwaite’s Horses about 3 times while walking around.

The proposal, of course, also involved cheese. “It was our second anniversary, and Ben woke Georgie up with a homemade breakfast. He made a slideshow of every single photo we took in the past two years (including ones of random dogs). As a throwback to our first date, he laid down a heart of Kraft cheese singles and placed the ring in the centre. He then proposed, and of course, the instant response was yes!”

Ben embraced the colour of the day with his look, complete with a custom pocket square! He remembers “I knew that Georgie was going to be wearing something unique and colourful so I wanted to wear something simple that would hopefully complement that. I wore a forest green coloured, textured blazer with a burgundy dress shirt that had a nice rustic pattern, along with black jeans and shoes.
Georgie’s friend made a design of our dog Hank that I got printed onto a pocket square and we decided to go with cotton for the boutonniere that was pinned on with an XXXX pin that we got at a brewery tour that we went to a few years ago.”

There were so many handmade touches at Georgie and Ben’s wedding, and as it turns out, minimal flowers! “We love arts and crafts, so we DIY’d a great deal of the wedding. Georgie did all of the flower arrangements including Ben’s boutonniere and arbour arrangement. We made all of the signs, to the point where Georgie was painting a pretzel sign the morning of the wedding. Instead of confetti, Georgie’s mum made pom-poms for guests to throw as we walked back down the aisle after the ceremony. We also made our own save the dates and invitations.

We went quite minimal with the flowers, as we placed the budget into other areas of decoration. Georgie carried a single baby-blue orchid stem down the aisle to not distract from the dress. We placed live plants around the venue to compliment areas such as the whisky bar, and on wine barrels, we had vases with cotton and preserved flowers.”

Our niece and nephews did get to walk down the aisle, though. Our niece Peggy-Jean walked down blasting a bubble gun. While our nephews Lachlan, Hamish and Finley linked arms and went down before the bride.” Georgia did walk down the aisle with her dad to the sound of Augie March’s “One Crowded Hour”.

Short, sweet and completely fun. That’s the feeling these two wanted their ceremony to have, choosing I Kidd, You Knot to make it happen. They remember  “Our ceremony was casual and funny, and we received plenty of compliments for the celebrant following it! She started by pumping the crowd up with some games and encouraging them to be vocal. When Georgie arrived, we realised the rings were left back at the accommodation, and the celebrant put us at ease by improvising an exchange of, no surprise, Kraft cheese slices (are you noticing a theme, here?).

Our friend Jess did a gorgeous acoustic rendition of ‘Grow Old With You’, from The Wedding Singer. We kept the ceremony short and filled with personal stories and experiences to show the guests exactly who we are as a couple. It was perfect for us.”

 

“Running with the relationship theme of Kraft cheese slices, a group of our friends turned up with cheese slices as pocket squares. When we were distracted signing the paperwork at the end of the ceremony, they placed a heart made out of cheese slices at the end of the aisle, which was delightful.”

ALL the colour was the brief for Georgie’s fun attire. She combined pieces from Carla Zampatti, Django and Juliette and Tiff Manuell into one, explaining “I wanted to be bright and colourful, but also very comfortable! I knew that if I wore something which made me happy, I would get into an instant party mode. I chose a white dress with sequin sleeves and cutouts on the front and back and popped a custom made hand painted tulle skirt over the top.

The skirt was a joy to swish around, and was perfect for dancing! I paired this with rhinestoned metallic ankle boots with a chunky heel to stay comfortable. As the outfit had quite a bit going on, I kept the accessories simple with celestial hair clips (from Tutti Knitty) rather than a veil, clear resin earrings, and my Nanna’s peridot ring. I chose to not go to a wedding store for the outfit, but rather researched the individual elements and ordered online. I was lucky to have a close friend provide styling advice and she was also able to make alterations to the dress. It was so much fun to plan!”

No wedding party, but one special VIP guest! “We didn’t have a traditional wedding party, but our dog Hank made the most incredibly handsome best man and maid of honour! Our friend made him a dapper bowtie which matched Ben’s suit jacket. We wanted to keep the ceremony to just us, and knew that we had a strong support network of friends and family to help us along the way, so the wedding party seemed unnecessary.”

These two cannot speak highly enough of their chosen wedding photographer Mary. “Our photographer was Mary from Smile Darling Photography, and she was INCREDIBLE!!!! In our conversations leading up to the wedding, we established that we were after candid style photos that capture the colour and fun of the day. She was absolutely perfect, and the photos we received exceeded our expectations. Plus, she is a wonderful human who made us feel like we had hired a life-long friend.”

If we’re talking about goals? It’s the way Georgie and Ben approached planning their day. “We decided early on that we would do the wedding planning together. Once a week or so, we set aside an evening to go plan where we would crack open a bottle of wine and put on the wedding playlist we started curating before we were even officially engaged. Keeping it as a joint effort made it fun, and we knew that at times where one of us was too busy or lacking motivation, the other was there to keep it going. We strongly believe that wedding planning should be a mutual experience.”

“Our main focuses for the day were food, booze, and music. We are lucky to be surrounded by incredible artists and musicians, so in addition to friends playing the ceremony and reception, Ben’s brother-in-law and former bandmate did a duet to some of our favourite songs.

In addition to the main bar we hired (which was a converted Chevy), we had an indoor whisky bar and big-batch cocktails. Our friend makes incredible home-brew, and we were grateful that he made us beer for the day.”

Georgie and Ben’s entire day was held at a sweet country hall Obi Obi Hall. They explain “We chose Obi Obi Hall for its stunning location, accessible hall, and community atmosphere. It is situated in farmland in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland and was a treat to decorate. As the majority of the wedding was DIY, we were keen to find somewhere which provided a blank canvas. We were able to make the hall look exactly how we wanted, and loved the added perk of a bonfire – especially as it was a cold winter night!”

“For the hall, we had the idea early on to decorate with coloured paper lanterns, and we spent the day before hanging it all up. We also took a large amount of our furniture (including a whisky bar, armchairs, plants, and the desk for the signing table) to create a venue that was our house but better.” Says Georgie “My favourite detail was the look of the hall with the glowing paper lanterns and whisky bar. A guest commented that it looked like a dream, and the kids could not stop staring. My sister made cupcakes for dessert and we DIY’d the boxes and labels. Ben also made the guest favours, which were oils infused with either chilli or garlic/rosemary and included a label with a link to our wedding playlist.”

The sprinkle adorned wedding cake created by Pippa’s Pantry  and was topped with dinosaurs. “To match Georgie’s dinosaur tattoo, we had a cake topper of two dinosaurs making a heart with their necks made to sit on our cake covered in sprinkles.”

So much food on the menu for these lucky guests! The couple hiring food trucks to make sure everyone was catered for, they explain “For food, we hired a barbecue food truck (Low n Slow Meat Co)  as Ben is an avid barbecuer. Georgie is a vegetarian and was keen to have vegetarian tacos which are her fav. The food truck gave us everything we wanted. To assist in keeping guests full, we also provided giant soft pretzels from Banneton Bakery to walk around with and eat right after the ceremony.”

And as dark settled in, Georgia added extra sparkle. “For the reception, I changed the hair accessory to a teal lightning bolt from Clips and Crystals Co, and prepared to party with a custom-made jacket by Rachel Burke made of tinsel.”

Georgie and Ben have this solid advice for you. “Let things not go to plan. Sometimes plans or situations are going to change, and that’s ok. Aim to go with the flow, and remember that guests are only going to remember if they had an overall good time or not. Use it as an opportunity to plan the most fun party you have ever thrown, and you will love the day.”

“All of our vendors on the day were brilliant. We had no hiccups with any of them. We left ourselves two years to research and plan the wedding, and that led us to hire great people.”

You know we can’t resist a first dance story when it results in photographs as epic as these. “Our first song is the first one that we had a sing-a-long in the car to, which is “Peaches” by the Presidents of the USA. We hired a neo-gypsy/klezmer band that our friend is in to play the reception, and when they offered to play our first dance song we were unsure about how it would turn out. It was SO MUCH FUN! They did an incredible version of it! We didn’t rehearse the dance and opted to wing it with silly dance moves, and when the time was right we each made our way into the crowd to collect people to dance with us. We loved it so much, and choosing a fun song that we loved taking the edge of feeling like we needed to perform.”

“Hands down, our favourite photograph is Georgie licking Ben’s face. We were sitting by the fire, and our wonderful photographer suddenly called out for her to lick his face. Ben didn’t hear what she said, so the look of surprise on his face is genuine.”

Drinks in hand and good chats? One of Ben’s favourites “My favourite detail was that the hall had a fire pit. Sitting around the fire and sharing some quiet moments, sipping whisky and posing for some very silly photos was a highlight of the night.”

A big congratulations to you both Georgia and Ben! Thank you for sharing so much of your special day with us. Thanks also to mary of Smile Darling Photography for sharing today’s beautiful photos with us!