We adore a country wedding, and well, we can’t get enough of the beautiful details of Elise and Cameron’s rustic Yarra Valley farm wedding.

With bold and modern stationery in deep coral orange, an air hangar reception filled with greenery decorated by the couple themselves, and a setting that is beautiful enough to make you want to eat a lot of peaches, the wedding of Elise and Cameron, shot beautifully by Arianna Harry is the best treat a Tuesday could hold.

Elise and Cameron’s story began on the dance floor, with a tune they honoured again on their wedding day for their first dance, tells Elise “We met at a friend’s wedding. We were both on the dance floor when ‘Africa’ by Toto started playing. We happened to meet eyes and shared a moment talking about how much we love the song, and had a dance. It wasn’t until a few weeks later we ran into each other at another mutual friend’s event and got chatting, but Africa was our first common ground!”

As with everything of the past few years, COVID changed how Cam would have originally proposed, and turned it into something, if we may say, that sounds like actual perfection! “We had just gone into lockdown one a week before, so Cam had to get creative. He set up a picnic lunch on his parent’s rooftop, overlooking the Dandenongs. I had no idea until he told me to start climbing a ladder to get to lunch! He had bought lovely food and flowers and made a jar full of ‘things to do after lockdown’ written on pieces of paper. He somehow set it up so the last one I opened said ‘get married’. Then he proposed and we got to enjoy the picnic.”

Cameron and his groomsmen dressed in pieces from Country Road with Peggy & Finn accessories. The laidback vibes perfect says Elise. “Cam is not a suit guy, so went for a more relaxed look. It was important to us that while we wanted to dress up to mark the special day, we both felt comfortable and like ourselves in what we wore. He wore a sage green linen blazer with a shirt and chinos. Cam is known to love a colourful patterned shirt or fun socks, so we selected a fun tie and pocket square that matched the setting and theme well.”

Elise’s elegant dream of a dress was a Sarah Seven gown she found at The Bridal Atelier (where she also found her wedding veil). “I wanted something simple and elegant that would be comfortable and fit the setting. The dress ended up being a great match as it was light and comfortable, but I loved the fit and style. Because the dress was quite simple, I opted for a more detailed veil, which has petals attached gradually down its length. It was a beautiful edition for the ceremony and photos but was easy to remove to be moving freely for the reception.” And there was even some tradition! “Cam’s Dad and step-mum had given me a sixpence from the royal mint as a ‘welcome to the family’ gift, to wear in my shoe on the day. That was a special touch, that they gave us to reflect his English heritage, and be good luck as it’s the final part of the ‘something old, something new’ tradition.”

The couple chose The Farmers Daughters property, Adams Farms for their wedding. “When we were looking we wanted to find somewhere that could accommodate a large guest list and would feel relaxed. We loved the idea of a venue with some outdoor space, so the farm turned out to be a great option. The renovated air hanger was a flexible space, and we loved being able to use the big lawn with an amazing view of the Yarra Valley.

Narrelle from The Farmers Daughters was wonderful helping us plan a wedding through a lockdown and having so many backup plans.”

 

The beautiful orange and peach tones were carried through the floral arrangements for the day, styled by Gathermore Floral Events. Elise sharing “Our flowers were one of the most amazing things to see on the day! I spoke with our florist, gave them the colours and feeling we we’re looking for and they brought them to life! I wanted the flowers to pick up the colours and the setting, so using some gum and picking up the rust and terracotta notes. They did an amazing job, not only on the bouquets but an amazing installation on our ceremony arbour. Our flowers exceeded our expectations – when the bouquets arrived I was blown away.”

Cameron’s very favourite memories of the day? “The main thing I remember was how excited I was to see Elise. She was stunning! I was so happy that we were getting married, seeing her make her way down the aisle made it really sink in how lucky I was. I loved getting ready with some of my closest friends and enjoying the morning, laughing as we posed for the photographer and videographer.”

Elise walked down the aisle with her father to other sounds of  “Higher Love” by James Vincent McMorrow.

“Like the whole wedding, we wanted our ceremony to be fairly relaxed, and something would make all our guests feel welcome and included in” remarks Elise. “We included a couple of songs, a reading and a short message from our minister. Our reading was excerpts from 1 John: 17-19 from The Message translation.”

It was really important to Elise and Cameron that they honoured the family that they adore so much. “We made sure to include our siblings in the wedding party, and loved having them enter the ceremony together and stand next to us. We also wanted to include our parents, so had a space in the ceremony for them to all stand and give a blessing.”

The relaxed, easygoing mood continued through the couple’s photo session with chosen photographer Arianna Harry. Says Elise  “Ari was wonderful to work with. We loved the way she captured the day, particularly the natural shots that really bring back memories of the day. We love our photographs; it’s hard to even make a shortlist of photographs!

I think we both like the portraits taken walking down the tree-lined road. I also really love the shots of us dancing at the reception. As I said, I find it hard to make a shortlist because we have so many incredible photos of the day thanks to Ari!”

Something Elise highly recommends? Making time to be alone together. “A piece of advice we received before our big day was to make sure to take a few minutes in the middle of everything for the two of you and catch up and soak it in. The day went quickly and so I’m glad we took just five minutes before heading into the reception to just stop and take a moment together.”

Says Cameron “I loved watching everyone enjoying a great night under lights on the grass as they ate and drank; (it) made me feel incredibly thankful we were able to hold such a large event given the circumstances.”

Choosing the onsite hanger for their reception, Elise and Cameron did much of the decorating themselves. Elise explained “The biggest element that we did ourselves was the hanging gum over the reception tables. The venue had shown us photos of a previous wedding that had used the gum hanging above the tables, and we loved the way it looked and helped the hanger feel more intimate and lush. It was a huge effort to cut, collect and hang the gum. Friends of ours kindly allowed us to cut blue gum from their farm, as well as our extended family collected gum from my property. It was a big effort, with many friends and family making it possible. We brought the gum in trailers in big buckets of water and tied it in bunches. Cam’s stepfather hung every bunch! The result was amazing!

The set-up for the reception venue was also all DIY, although the venue provided the beautiful tables. After the gum was hung, we set up the tables and chairs, and the table setting all ourselves. My Mum made the table runners, the centrepiece arrangements were all put together by the women in my life at my kitchen tea. I designed and had all the menus, place cards and programs printed. It was a big effort thanks to our families and wedding party in the two days before the wedding to set up the venue for the reception, ceremony and all the detail in between.”

“I enjoyed wedding planning, but the best part for me was when all the details started coming together just before the wedding” notes Elise. “Seeing the vision in your head come together on the day is satisfying. It was also fun doing the seating plan and thinking about our friends and family all getting to meet. That got us excited for seeing them all on the day! I think the main thing was that so many people were able to be there, particularly Cam’s family from interstate when border closures were a concern. We had our 10 person plan in case of Covid restrictions, so it felt so special that so many people could be there, particularly all of our immediate family.”

 

The newlyweds paid homage to their history with a very special first dance song choice. “The first dance we knew had to be to ‘Africa’, however it wasn’t much of a traditional wedding song! ” laughs Elise. “We were so lucky in to have talented cousins, who put together a custom arrangement of Africa that they recorded themselves. We had this idea that it would be really lovely to start with a slower more traditional first dance, which was an extended intro to Africa, which would be a nice surprise for our friends who know how we met. We also thought it would be a great way to get everyone up to join in our first dance by the end of the song! This was such a loose idea, but somehow, they made it come to life. On top of that, as a surprise they got our immediate families to record the vocals for the song, so the finished song features our parents and siblings, and other close family members. It was such a special gift and had everyone up dancing by the end!”

And the last treat for you? A beautiful film of the day captured by Scott of Cyan Wolves. “There were a few of our vendors that really were amazing. Both Ari (photographer) and Scott (videographer) captured our day so beautifully and were also great to work with. The whole process was really fun.”

A big beautiful congratulations to the newlyweds! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us and thank you to Arianna Harry for sharing today’s celebration.