On day seven of The South Australia Issue, we’re headed to the stunning country region of McLaren Vale. Known for amazing wine, epic views and as it turns out, beautiful weddings. Today, we share the story of how Heidi and Julie tied the knot and did so in a beautifully personal way.

With Travis & Benny behind the camera, the couple planned a day that honoured the Australian landscape setting. They (known for their love of good food and wine) made sure the day was filled with amazing food and wine, plenty of local suppliers and honoured their dream of something casual, rustic, small and intimate.

The pair met through friends while living in Sydney. “Julz was living in Sydney and Heidi was housemates with her friend Narelle. Narelle’s partner is Kimmie. Kimmie and Julz were friends and one-day Julz decided to come to Adelaide to visit and decided to stay with Kimmie and Narelle for the week. In the morning Julz was in the kitchen eating breakfast and Heidi walked into the kitchen to get ready for work and waved hello. Julz was hooked at the first wave. Julz then found excuses to come and visit Adelaide a lot after.”

Julie popped the question over one of Heidi’s favourite treats (for guaranteed happiness!). They tell “We were visiting Sydney, walking through the Sydney Botanic Gardens and enjoying the beautiful scenery, we found a park bench in the Herb Garden in the Botanic Gardens so Heidi could eat the pear danish that she bought earlier in the day. Once Heidi finished her danish, Julz then thought she would be pretty happy (it’s one of her favourite treats) and asked if she would like to get married and be her wife? Heidi was surprised and said ‘of course.”

The brides and bridesmaids started their morning off in floral print robes from Bride Tribe.

Julie was gifted something very special on the morning of the wedding. “Julz didn’t have any family attend our wedding – this had weighed heavy on her leading to the wedding, her closest friends who were her bridesmaids had surprised her early that morning with a beautifully written letter and generous gift that made her feel loved and supported” explain the brides. “The following morning her newly wedded wife surprised her with a diamond pendant to complete her necklace that was passed down from her grandmother (which she always wears and rarely takes off). This gift was incredibly special to her as when she was a child she had lost the diamond that accompanied the necklace and never had the opportunity to replace it. This was more than just a new pendant to her; this was to complete a missing piece.”

Julie wore earthy tones to keep to the theme of the day. She tells “My blazer and blouse from Ralph Lauren, chinos from RM Williams, shoes from EOS Footwear. Simply put, it was very me and I felt great wearing it. I wanted to wear what suited me and my style but also complimented the overall vibe we had set for our day. It was very important for me to feel comfortable and relaxed in what I was wearing but was still special enough for our wedding day that we’ve waited so long for.”

The brides both involved their favourite people wherever they could. “Our hair was done by our beautiful friend Jackie (London Hair), and our makeup was done by our friend Lola (Lola Hairstylist and Makeup). They were so wonderful and it was really lovely to share the ‘getting ready’ part of the day with them.”

Heidi decided on her gown just two weeks before the big day, opting for a backup number she had purchased from Asos. The story goes like this. “At the start, she and her friend (who lives in Sydney) were collaborating to design and then make her wedding dress. Unfortunately, two weeks before the wedding it seemed that the dress was not going to be ready in time and she purchased a backup dress from ASOS, hoping that she wouldn’t need to use it.

The next two weeks were incredibly stressful with not knowing if the original dress was going to be ready or if the delivery of the backup dress was going to arrive in time. The day before the wedding, the backup dress was delivered just before her friend arrived from Sydney, but the original dress was still not ready. The friend and Heidi worked hard all day to get the dress ready, but towards the end of the day, when we realised that an essential piece of material was left behind in Sydney and the dress couldn’t be finished. At approx. 11 pm, Heidi, and her two bridesmaids drove back to our house to collect the backup dress and try it on for the first time. It ended up fitting almost perfectly.

We raced back to the venue and asked our friend to amend the dress slightly to fit properly. In the morning the friend had amended so much of the dress that was not requested and made it look terrible (totally different straps, different material on the bottom). With four hours to the ceremony, the friend changed the dress back to its original state and had it ready for the wedding. There was also a patch created for the back of the dress to honour Heidi’s Father and Brother who have passed away.”

Heidi and Julz booked White Hill Estate for the entire weekend of their wedding, sharing  “We had the whole estate of White Hill Estate from the Friday to Monday morning as it has a house on the property that sleeps 16. This allowed us to have all our bridesmaids and interstate family stay with us the whole weekend. This also helped with setting up the reception area.

Everyone was able to pitch in on the Friday so we didn’t have to rush around in the morning before the ceremony. This also allowed us all to get ready all at one location and not have to worry about travel and any car breakdowns on the day. We also chose this place as it’s directly opposite to our favourite winery Oliver’s Taranga Winery, which also supplied the wines.”

Let’s talk about those beautiful blooms. They’re the work of Harvest Studio. Says Heidi “Our flowers were from Harvest Studio in McLaren Vale. I didn’t want a cookie-cutter florist who would just ask to have a picture of what I wanted them to create. I wanted the florist to be an artist and I wanted someone local and Hope was a perfect choice.

What also drew me to Hope was that she created floral arbours for the ceremony which I thought was so unique and she also harvested and scavenged flowers and foliage from around the local properties. We gave her the style, theme and colour choices and she did the rest. What she produced was even better than what my expectations were.”

Heidi walked down the aisle by herself to the sounds of an acoustic version of Above & Beyond “Good For Me”. Says Julz “The aisle song was most important to me as it reminds me of Heidi when I listen to it.”

Heidi and Julie wanted the ceremony to be simple, they chose Rosie Sugars to make it happen. “Heidi is quite shy and not great at public speaking and naturally Julz would be an emotional teary wreck so we wanted our celebrant to do most of the work. We didn’t incorporate any readings or extra activities like hand wrapping or filling a bottle with sand. We have seen them at our friend’s ceremonies and thought they were a bit cheesy. We wanted it to be as relaxed as possible, intimate, but still beautiful.”

“I think we picked the ‘A’ Team for our wedding. The venue and the caterer and the winery all had worked with each other extensively and were great local friends. The Photographer and the Celebrant had also worked with each other for a lot of ceremonies so they could bounce off each other and instinctively knew what each other needed for the perfect ceremony. We loved working with all the different local suppliers and producers.

We didn’t find it stressful throughout the planning, well – except for Heidi’s dress dramas. I think because we didn’t let it consume our whole lives. We were willing to let the suppliers use their knowledge, experience, and skills to create the perfect day for us, instead of trying to micromanage every little minute detail. This freed us up to not stress over these things.”

Both Julie and Heidi chose bridesmaids and had them wear the same gown from Oleg Cassini. Heidi’s bridesmaids carried bouquets of blooms, while Julz’s wore floral corsages. “Having everyone important to us there enjoying themselves and having fun was one of our favourite parts of the day. Heidi and her sister Rickee don’t get to see either other very often so spending the day with her was extra special. We were very blessed with the COVID border and gathering restrictions and we didn’t have to reschedule our date which so many people have had to do lately.”

The couple wanted their choice of photographer to be as easygoing as their wedding itself.  “As with the ceremony, we wanted a photographer that was easy going but still professional, and also someone who had already photographed at our venue, so they would already know all the great spots for shots. Travis was excellent, we could not have asked for a better person to take our shots. He really put us at ease and we didn’t feel posed at all during the day and he helped us directing the day and keeping to timelines.”

Heidi and Julie give this advice to couples yet to tie the knot. “Everyone always says that the day goes by so fast, and it does. There is no reason to sweat the small stuff, nothing can run perfectly. Don’t rely on your friends or family to deliver major parts of your day. Just outsource it to professionals. If it rains on the day, it rains.. you can’t change the weather. Rain was threatening all day, but we were very lucky that it held off for almost all of the day.”

Dinner was catered by Todd Steele Catering with drinks by Oliver’s Taranga Vineyards. Heidi and Julz sharing “We picked the caterer because we had been to several special events at Oliver’s Taranga Winery which Todd was the caterer. They were always outstanding so no questions who we wanted for our wedding. When we were finalising all the food, we asked for the same format (local, shared plates, delicious) and quality as Oliver’s events. He even asked if we wanted him to come out and talk through the food (with guests) like he would at the events. We thought about it as it connects guests with the food that they are eating, but in the end, we decided not to. It was also no question as to the wine pairings as well, all supplied by Oliver’s Taranga, and for the brews, we chose Mismatch and Sidewood – great local brews and just some of our favourites. Julz is known to ‘be in the know’ of all the good places to eat so it was essential that excellent food and drinks were served, which they were.”

This was a wedding so full of handmade, personal details,  but the couple balanced them beautifully with plenty of help from pros. “I scavenged the leaves for the ceremony and the welcome sign. We set up the reception area and did our table settings, including purchasing and folding napkins and the place settings that doubled as the wedding gifts (a box of biscuits from our favourite cafe Muratti’s Cakes & Gateaux). We wanted to support a lot of local suppliers and producers for our wedding as they all would have lost a lot of business during COVID so we didn’t DIY too much.”

Heidi and Julie served both cheese “cake” and a croquembouche for dessert. “Our wedding cake ‘cheese wheels’ were three tiers of our favourite cheeses and supplied by our caterer and the Croquembouche was from Muratti Cakes & Gateaux. We had a Croquembouche for our engagement party and everyone loved it. When we were handing everyone their invites, they all asked if it was coming back for the wedding. Safe to say it was a massive hit again.”

The newlyweds took to the dance floor in what was a rather impromptu first dance, they tell “We didn’t want to do the first dance and weren’t planning on it, but about a week before the wedding, when we were planning the timeline of events, it seemed it was needed to get people on the dance floor. We picked an acoustic version of Dash Berlin “Better Half of Me” as we enjoy the original version of the track.”

The biggest of congratulations to you both Heidi and Julie. What a ball it was to be able to share your wedding story. Thank you both and thank you to Travis & Benny for sharing today’s celebration with us.