Lockdowns and a pandemic might have led Emma and Jake’s wedding planning astray, but you wouldn’t know it. “To be honest I hated wedding planning”  admits Emma, “It was made especially trying when we had to postpone our first wedding date in October and rearrange everything, but luckily for us our vendors made it super easy.”

The couple, who chose the country town of Orange for their wedding, and invited photographer Maple and June along for the ride, honoured every bit of their love for all things vintage. “We wanted to reflect our style on the day which was a very vintage, nostalgic vibe. The overall vintage vibe of the day was perfect as it reflected us as a couple.” From Emma’s stunning vintage wedding gown (and her perfect vintage hairstyle, styled herself!) to the vintage hot rod lineup, this day embodied all the glamour, all the charm, and all the whimsy of yesteryear. And most of all, it embodied every bit of who Emma and Jake are.

The couple met in high school, aptly over the groom’s love of cars. “We met at school when I was in year seven and Jake was in year eight” explains Emma. “Car obsessed Jake approached me and asked if my Dad owned a Monaro and I just shrugged him off. Fast forward 5 years and we finally got together.

Nine years later, Jake asked Emma if she would be his wife. “We had been together for nine years before Jake proposed. We were holidaying in Japan in November 2018 and the first day of the holiday was a trip to Mt Fuji. At our last stop of the day at a beautiful lake at the foot of the mountain, Jake asked me to marry him. It was beyond perfect.”

 

One of Emma’s favourite parts of the day was getting ready at home. “I loved being surrounded by all our vintage furniture and being able to get photos with our sweet dog, Winter before we left.”

The groom wore pieces from Blowes Menswear. “Jake went for a classic yet modern look with tan pants, a white shirt, blue blazer and brown RM Williams boots. He added a vintage touch with some leather suspenders and a navy bow tie.”

“I always knew that I wanted to wear a vintage wedding dress” tells Emma who found her beautiful vintage lace wedding gown at Miranda’s Vintage Bridal. “I did try on modern dresses but they just didn’t feel right. I took a chance on my 1950s vintage dress when I saw it on Instagram and purchased it from America. I sourced my vintage veil from Etsy (The Vintage Mistress) and wore pink shoes because we need to throw a little fun in the mix! I matched with some statement earrings and my grandmother’s pearls.”

The wedding flowers, styled by Bespoke Country Weddings,  involved bright yellow sunflowers – Emma’s favourite! “Sarah our florist nailed the brief.  Sunflowers are my absolute favourite flower so I wanted to include them without having them overpower the look. They were featured in our bouquets along with some beautiful soft roses, eucalyptus and billy buttons.”

The day began with a country ceremony in the sunshine on a friend’s property. Emma explains “We were lucky enough to have our ceremony at a friend’s property which had a million-dollar view of Mt Canobolas. It was amazing having our ceremony at an unbelievable location with an incredible setup.”

Emma walked down the aisle arm in arm with her father to Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling In Love”.

The couple were married by Stacey Carthew. “Stacey, our celebrant is ultra-cool, laid back and just made us feel so comfortable. We wanted our ceremony to be short and sweet. Our celebrant created the most beautiful ceremony for us, it was short but beautiful and we wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

Emma and Jake created much of their wedding decor themselves – including the starburst wedding ceremony backdrop! Emma explaining “We did a bit of DIY for the day. I got this crazy idea for an arbour that looked like a starburst and my Dad built it for us and we then spray painted it gold. I am obsessed with how it turned out. We were married in such a vast area so it looked incredible.
We also put together table centres with doilies, vintage bottles and rainbow baby’s breath, I loved how simple they were but looked so beautiful. And I am a designer so I created our invitations and all of our other wedding stationery. Designing for yourself is HARD.”

“Jake had his grandparents’ wedding rings pinned to his lapel during our ceremony. All of his family members who have been married have worn them on their wedding days. I also wore my grandmother’s pearls which have become a tradition for the women in my family to wear on their wedding day.”

“Have your day the way you want it and don’t stress about other peoples opinions” advises Emma. “I know it has been said time and time again but the day goes so incredibly fast! Enjoy the day and take some moments to spend time together alone. There will be things that you will forget but no one will notice. If you have a great time so will your guests.”

The couple’s love of vintage extended right down to the host of vintage cars they used for their wedding. “We live and breathe vintage culture and we own hotrods and vintage cars. We wanted to include this in our day so we had an epic lineup of cars including Jake’s hotrod, his dad’s hotrod, my dad’s Monaro along with two mates’ cars.”

“Photographers Maple and June were the first vendors I booked” tells Emma. “Having a great photographer was my number one priority as it is the one takeaway you get from the day. I absolutely cannot fault Zoe. She did such an incredible job and I cannot thank her enough for the special memories she captured. She just gets us, gets our style and gets what is important to us. By the end of the day, I felt like I had been hanging out with a great friend.”

 

Orange restaurant, Zona was just the vintage vibe Emma and Jake wanted for their reception. “The building is a beautiful heritage home and the owners are incredibly down to earth and so easy to work with. They were so chilled out and made the process so easy.”

Love for family and friends were dotted throughout the day says Emma. “My best friend created our wedding cake so that was super special to us. I also really wanted to honour our family members who have passed so we placed photos of them on the mantle at the reception venue so they were there with us.

In keeping with the vintage vibe, the newlyweds took to the dance floor to “Only You” by The Platters for their first dance. “Jake isn’t one to dance often so it was very special to have that moment on the day” remembers Emma.

Emma and Jake chose The Studio Door Creative to bring their day to life on film. Emma notes “Dave our videographer just immersed himself in the day and went above and beyond!”

A big congratulations to the happy newlyweds! Thank you to sharing your beautiful wedding day with us. Thank you also to Maple and June for today’s beautiful imagery.