The icicles are blooming in the mornings, the trees have almost completely lost their leaves, winter is here and we’re all in celebration of the season, especially when it brings to life weddings like Ella and Dane’s tale of modern romance. A romance that began with a random follow on Instagram! “We had followed each other on Instagram for a while but never met” explains Ella.

“One night I was catching a train with my friend and looked across the platform and Dane was there. We saw each other, he messaged me on Instagram saying he thought that it was me. The next night I had been invited to another friend’s 18th birthday and I wasn’t sure if I was going to go so I checked the friend’s list and saw that he was going (I didn’t know that they knew each other). So I went and we met properly and have been together since.”

With a deeply rich and moody colour palette, lit with candlelight, and beautiful imagery (and a film, scroll on for that one) captured by And Ever Collective there is no reason for you not to slip into your snuggliest attire, grab a cup of your favourite hot brew and settle right on in for the story.

The day begins with a proposal some months before, on a trip to Japan, says Ella “We had gone back to Japan and Dane had planned to go to a waterfall in Osaka and I was not sold because we had only just arrived and I was worried about spending too much money too fast. Eventually, he said “well I’m going to go to this waterfall today” and I was like ah okay, yes fine we’ll go.

We got to the little town that the waterfall was in and had this super long, beautiful walk through a gorge with the biggest trees I’ve ever seen and we got to the end and Dane called me over to a little bridge because he said it had a great view of the waterfall, so I was taking some pictures and he started saying that he had had a hard couple of months keeping a big secret from his best friend and when I turned around he was on his knee. I had noticed that he had the sweatiest hands in the lead-up, for a long time and as soon as he proposed they had stopped sweating!”

The entire day of celebrations, right down to the couple getting ready for the day at Gabbinbar Homestead. “We decided on Gabbinbar Homestead after our very first visit” remembers Ella. “The staff were incredible right from the beginning and we knew we had found a winner.”

Dane went for velvet, opting for a deep marsala velvet jacket from Tony Barlow. Ella sharing “Dane never wanted to have a regular suit, he went with a deep red velvet blazer that went with the overall mood and colour scheme of the wedding. He looked so handsome.”

Ella fell in love with her gown well before she even tried it on choosing a Pronovias gown from White Lily Couture.  “I wore a huge puffy dress,  I had seen a photoshoot that White Lily Couture did at Gabbinbar and the model was wearing THE dress. I just fell in love with it. The sleeves are really what sold me but it gave off such a romantic vibe, as soon as I tried it on I knew it was the one for me.”

With her dad stuck due to Victoria’s border closures, Ella walked down the aisle with her brother, and the song she choose was? “Sea Of Love” by Cat Power.  Ella did plenty to ensure her dad could still be a part of the day. “Because my Dad wasn’t able to make it we felt it was really important to make sure he was included as much as possible. I called him throughout the entire day, walked him around the grounds on FaceTime to show him the set-up, we live-streamed to everyone that wasn’t able to make it and also face timed him so he could give a speech at the reception.”

The couple wed under the dappled shade of the trees, festoon lights glowing overhead. “We wanted it to be fun, light, full of love and romance” explains Ella, who with Dane, chose Moore Celebrations to officiate. “Our celebrant was incredible in getting our guests involved and setting the mood.”

“One of my favourite parts was after we had all of our photos taken through the grounds and we got to spend some time just sitting together outside having some time to absorb the ceremony, having something to eat and just a quiet moment together”.

The newlywed’s reviews for their photographer and cinematographer? “They were just incredible” raves Ella. “So personable, so lovely and just made sure that we got every shot we asked for. Honestly, they were just amazing, I would recommend them to anyone.”

The couple handed the styling of their day over to Til Death Events who worked with floral designer Oh Snapdragon Floristry to bring their “romantic moody vibe” to life. Says Ella “I couldn’t pick just one. Every person that we worked with was incredible. Our celebrant is such an angel, our photographer/videographer, my makeup artist, hairstylists (although my hairstylists were my mum and brother hehe), jewellery designer, florist, and wedding stylist – all truly incredible people.
I will say when I first got in touch with Danielle from Til Death I felt so at ease, it had been stressful planning up until I met her (through FT), not knowing what I needed to do, where to source certain things and she just sorted it so quickly, so easily, she was amazing.”

The blooms kept with the deep and moody styling of the day. “We chose a huge range of different flowers, we had a ground arbour for the ceremony so we had some tall, short, and an array of colours all sticking with the moody/romantic theme that we went with. The bouquets matched this theme with some orchids.”

The first dance was just as romantic and emotive as the rest of the day, Ella and Dane choosing “This year Love” by Dave Gray. “It was just a slow little sway dance taking in everything from the day so far” remembers Ella.

Advice from Ella if you’re yet to walk down the aisle? “Plan if you can, find a wedding stylist (Til Death is 1000% who I would recommend) and make it fun. It’s such a fun day that you’ll remember forever so try not to stress yourself out too much ”

The biggest of congratulations to you both Ella and Dane! What a treat to be able to share your beautiful wedding story. Thank you to the team at And Ever Collective for sharing this one  (including the above, beautiful film!) with us!