The brief for today’s wedding was colourful, laidback and full of meaningful details – and that’s a style we can absolutely get behind! Ellen and Bryce tied the knot at The Rock Yandina, a stunning Sunshine Coast venue, surrounded by emerald green, splashes of jewel tones and hidden personal details in everything from the music choices to the candy bar! And to make things even more special, the bride Ellen (who loves a crafternoon) DIY’ed signs, favours, and even some song lyrics on to her veil! Capturing all the beautiful moments and details was Little Love Lane Photography and Phoebe Galloway Films.

Let’s rewind for a moment and find out where this love story began. The couple were originally set up by Bryce’s roommates, Rhys and Dot, who were sick of Bryce third wheeling (or so they always said!). One weekend, Dot invited Ellen (her workmate) down the coast under the pretence to go out for her birthday. The real reason? For Ellen and Bryce to finally meet. “After a night of hanging out with friends and dancing, we were already slightly obsessed with each other, and it just grew naturally from there,” says Ellen.

The couple had been dating for six years when Bryce popped the question. “One Saturday morning, I was getting ready to go down to Golden Beach on the Sunshine Coast, to take some photos of my best friend, Tess, and her family,” shares Ellen. “Little did I know, Bryce had asked Tess to organise this a few weeks prior as a way of getting me down to the beach at a set time and day.”

Ellen and Bryce got to the beach first and found a quiet section to set up a picnic. “I was down walking by the water waiting, when next thing Bryce gets a phone call from my brother who said he had brought the dogs down for a walk and was asking where we were. So Bryce went up to get him, and next minute he came back down but only with our dog Eevee, who had a red scarf around her neck. I called Eevee over, unfolded the scarf and it read ,’Will you marry my Dad?'”

Bryce was kneeling across from Ellen, said “Will you marry me?” and pulled out a ring. Ellen looked over to the trees surrounding them and saw their loved ones smiling and taking photos.

On the morning of their wedding, the couple exchanged gifts.  “Instead of doing something big and expensive, we decided to do something small and heartfelt,” says Ellen. Bryce wrote Ellen a letter, which made her cry! He also created a canvas with locations of key dates in their relationship – where they met, where Bryce proposed and where they were set to be married.

Ellen had two wedding outfits as she was torn between two styles for her ceremony (a classic A-line gown) and reception (something sparkly that would catch all the lights). “My mum has sewn a lot of my outfits for me in the past, and she said she wanted to do something for my wedding,” explains Ellen. “She ended up saying she could sew something similar to what I was wanting for the night time.”

For her ceremony dress, Ellen designed a dress with Bridal Melody, and for the night she changed into a tight, off-the-shoulder sequinned silver number. Her shoes were emerald green heels by Loeffler Randall, and her earrings were a green and pearl drop by Christie Nicolaides. “Because my heels and earrings were such a statement, I wanted my bouquet to compliment them,” says Ellen. “I chose jewel tones in pinks, reds and oranges as their own statement that would tie in nicely with the emerald green base colour.”

Flowers were by Rachel from Lilac Green, who the bride describes as a flower genius! “I didn’t want anything too structured and wanted those eye-catching jewel tones,” says Ellen. Rachel ended up creating Ellen’s dream bouquet.

Bryce also wanted to incorporate green into his attire. He wore a tweed hunter green jacket by Abitto and cream pants from Uniqlo. He wanted his tie and pocket square to be the feature point and Peggy & Fin had just the thing. His tie colour matched Ellen’s bouquet colour, creating the perfect pop of colour to his outfit.

Ellen created a book for Bryce that included hundreds of photos of the couple together over the years, as well as poems/cartoon strips/song lyrics that reminded her of Bryce and their relationship. “It took me months to create and I just wanted something he could look back on in years to come to remind him how special he is to me,” she says.

Ellen and Bryce’s ceremony and reception was held at The Rocks, Yandina on the Sunshine Coast, which is set on 80 acres alongside the Maroochy River. They chose to use the outdoor space, which was under festoon lighting and spaced between the function room and the river.

“We chose The Rocks because it was the perfect mix of what we wanted; Bryce wanting something rustic whereas I was hoping something more fairy rainforest,” says Ellen. “We went to view the venue and apart from it being a stunning location, the manager John was so easy going, and it was like nothing was too hard!”

Ellen walked down the aisle to ‘I Only Want to be With You’, sung by Jared Bullock live on the day. “He was our singer and DJ for the whole day and night and was fantastic.”

And for Bryce? One of the happiest moments of the day was seeing Ellen’s face as she walked down the aisle.

For their ceremony, the couple didn’t want anything too sappy, but still something to show how much they love each other. Bryce’s sister read one of their favourite poems by Beau Taplin (‘You Grew Me in a Garden and There Life Bloomed Like Spring’). Their mums brought up the rings and stood with them while they exchanged them.

Bryce’s best friend Baden was his best man. The groomsmen were his brother Wade, and mates Scott and Heath. The boys matched Bryce, and had the same pattern tie and pocket square but in a different colour – a muted green to tie in with their colour palette. Ellen’s maid of honour was her best friend, Tess. Her bridesmaids were her friends Amelia and Anastasia, and Bryce’s sister Caitlin. The girls wore dresses from Sheike that had the same material and colour as Ellen’s shoes.

Their wedding photographer was Ebony from Little Love Lane Photography. “I actually met her through my work, so I was familiar with her style of photography, and while that was a big reason why we chose her, the biggest thing was I knew her personality and that she would make sure Bryce and I comfortable during all the posed photos after the ceremony,” explains Ellen. “Neither of us love having our photo taken, so having someone who could put us at ease was very important to us. Ebony met up with us prior to the wedding to make sure she knew what style we wanted, and to make sure she captured everything important to us on the day. Not only were our photos stunning, but we remember taking them as a fun time with our bridal party and also alone together.”

Ellen had a message at the end of my veil – ‘You Make My Dreams Come True 10.09.2021’. That song has always been close to the couple’s hearts. The bride popped this on her veil herself using a Cricut machine.

Ellen says she was obsessed with their colour scheme! “The bright flowers with all our green and gold highlights just make me so happy to look at.”

The couple’s wedding cake was made by Cake Centric.

This wedding had plenty of DIY touches! Ellen made a welcome sign, an ‘unplugged’ sign, their bar selection, and two little signs encouraging our guests to dance. She also arranged photos of their loved ones who had passed with a sign honouring them. Ellen created the table numbers, and each sign had one of the couple’s favourite poems on it. But that’s not all! She crafted gifts for guests too – little gold acrylic luggage tags with their names on it.

Ellen and Bryce had a candy buffet set up for their guests that included all their favourite lollies. Each lolly had a story behind it.

A special detail the bride and groom included was their ‘Better Together’ neon sign. Bryce built the arbour it sat on.

For their first dance, Ellen and Bryce mixed two songs together because they just couldn’t decide! “Our musician on the day, Jared Bullock , sung both songs live and even though we gave him two COMPLETELY different styles, he mixed them in flawlessly.”

The first song was ‘I Don’t Dance’ by Lee Brice, a slow country song that Bryce was always set on being included in their wedding because it sums up how he feels about Ellen. After the first verse and chorus, Jared switched it up and went straight into ‘You Make My Dreams Come True’ by Hall & Oates. “This quickly became one of our songs when we were driving one night in separate cars, pulled up at a set of traffic lights next to each other where we both wound down the window and were both listening to it and started singing it together and dancing like idiots. It quickly became one of our jokes and whenever we played it we’d dance around like fools together, so I was always set on it being our first dance!” says Ellen.

On their venue, the couple say nothing was too hard for them, the food was amazing (their vegan guests said it was the best wedding food they’d ever had!) and the service was beyond impeccable.

Phoebe Galloway Films was the videographer on the day. Ellen says she cries every time she watches their wedding film and that Phoebe worked so well with photographer Ebony, and made sure she knew the vibe they wanted.

The newlyweds’ advice for those planning a wedding? Don’t stress the small stuff! “At the end of the day, you’re marrying your best friend and that’s all that matters. Take moments throughout the day to just be present and take in everything! The day will fly by, and if you sit there worrying about everything going according to plan, you’ll miss out on enjoying a day you’ve looked forward to for years.”

Congratulations to Ellen and Bryce on their marriage and for creating such a gorgeous day, filled with sentimental touches, incredible DIY and all those lush emerald and jewel tones. Thank you for sharing your story with us! We’d also love to thank Little Love Lane Photography and Phoebe Galloway Films for the amazing images and video.