If you love a party there are few days of the year more appropriate for your wedding than New Years Eve and for Meg and Owen, there were also few places more apt for a wedding than their farm in Gippsland. The pair chose the rolling hills to say their I Do’s (in the midst of a blazing 42 degree New Year’s Eve) before they celebrated with guests at a country hall across the road.

It was an understated glam celebration for these two, who enlisted Meg’s uni friend turned wedding photographer Em Wollen Creative to capture every detail. And in this one? The golden rays over the country landscape, are truly breathtaking.

After meeting on Tinder in 2015, it was virtual chats until the pair met face to face at a bull sale! Meg remembers “I was there with my dad, and he was there with his cousin. He later told me that the only reason he went to the bull sale was to meet me!”

Owen took the opportunity of a lockdown (with a bad day for Meg) as the chance to ask her to marry him. “We were in the middle of another Victorian COVID lockdown in September 2020. It was a Friday night, and I’d had a pretty crappy day. I had bought a meat smoker for Owen for Christmas the previous year, and so it was a bit of a hobby for us to do smoked meats at weekends, so Owen had some chicken wings on the smoker.

I finished work and was about to go for a walk on our farm with the dogs, but Owen asked me to go outside with him first and check on the meat. We went out and he was pfaffing around for a while, so I was pottering away and then he asked me to lift the smoker lid for him. I went over and the next thing I know he pulled the ring out from his smoking glove and asked me to marry him! It was such a lovely moment and I was totally surprised. He had been into town that day to do some grocery shopping so he had champagne on ice, and we broke the news to our family and friends that evening.”

The pair made sure to enlist plenty of help to get their day happening, says Meg. “Make sure you have someone in charge on the day, and that any questions are directed to them. It reduces stress significantly! I had lots of help from my sister-in-law Paris, who acted as our wedding planner for most of the lead-up to the wedding. My mum, sister and bridesmaids helped out quite a bit as well, and Owen and I split up jobs to do when we needed to. The excitement and anticipation of it all was the best bit!

Our wedding coordinator did our flowers for the day! I sent her some photos of the flowers I liked, and she purchased them from the Melbourne flower markets and put the bouquets together herself. They were pinks and whites, delicate with a lot of variety.”

Meg found her beautiful gown at Karen Willis Holmes. She tells  “I wore a Karen Willis Holmes gown, which was a wrap style and quite simple, with beautiful sheer sleeves. I chose the dress because I liked the shape and cut of it, and I didn’t want anything with lace or that was too fussy. Again, it was the middle of another COVID lockdown in 2021, so I went to a local wedding shop to buy the dress. I was only able to go to that one shop as we weren’t able to go to the city at that stage (with travel restrictions we were limited with how far we could go, and many wedding shops were closed).”

Meg and Owen made the most of their day by meeting before their ceremony for photographs. “One of my favourite moments was seeing Owen before the ceremony. It was such a special moment, shared with our dogs, and just brought me so much calm for the rest of the day.”

Owen was dressed in a classic black tuxedo by Buckle Menswear. “Owen wore a black tuxedo from our local menswear shop, Buckle Menswear, in Hamilton” remembers Meg. “He chose it because it was made from wool (we are farmers and produce wool ourselves!) and because it fitted well (with a little extra tailoring). The local shop was great, they ordered in a few different styles and sizes for Owen to try, and organised the tailoring for us as well.”

The couple wanted to embrace the love of their very favourite place, home! “We got married on our farm, and we chose the farm because it represents such a big part of our lives. We live in a beautiful part of the world with rolling hills and it’s a really special place for us. The ceremony was held in the paddock under the shade of a row of gum trees, looking out across the hills toward our house”

“It was all special. It was a lovely lead-up to the wedding with many of our friends travelling long distances to be with us in the lead-up, in particular my girlfriends. We all stayed together in a big house on a farm and spent some time together which was so nice. We just had a lovely, fun time with all our friends and family, and we were chuffed that they all enjoyed themselves too.”

Meg was walked down the aisle by both her mum and her dad. “We chose to walk down the aisle because of tradition – but we had already seen each other before the ceremony, and we’d had photos and champagne with our whole wedding party before. This reduced my nerves significantly, and meant that we could go straight from the ceremony to the reception to party!”

“We wanted it to be relaxed and fun” tells Meg of the outdoor marriage ceremony, “Our celebrant Celebrations with Kim Lynn, was so fabulous. She had such a lovely and relaxed manner and was just so happy for us and so easy to work with. She wrote a fantastic script based on questions that we’d answered for her and the ceremony ended up being just the right balance of humour and love. We didn’t include any readings, but we did write our vows.”

Photographer Em Wollen almost didn’t capture the day remembers Meg. “I went to college with Em, and she is a dear friend of mine, so I was initially hesitant to ask her to photograph our wedding as I didn’t want her to miss out on all the fun as a guest! After speaking with her though, she was so thrilled to be asked and said yes immediately. She was an absolute joy to work with – casual, fun, with enough direction to make sure the shots were great, but not too much so that we looked staged! She provided us with some sneak peek photos the next day and was super quick with the rest of our photos in an online album, which we have looked through many times. We’re now trying to choose our favourites to include in a printed book!”

The sunset photos are some of Meg’s favourites, a nod to their country origins, just like their first dance! “Our first dance was to Wagon Wheel by Darius Rucker. We would always dance to this song at every wedding we’d been to previously, and over time it became a really special song for us, so it was a pretty clear winner from the start!”

As the summer sun began to set. the newlyweds and their guests ducked over the road for a marquee reception. Meg shared “The reception was held at the Konongwootong Hall which is across the road from the paddock where we held the ceremony, in a marquee. As there were already power and toilets at the hall, plus room for parking and camping, this made sense to have the marquee at the hall.

We had help from my sister-in-law, who put together a wonderful greenery wall and greenery feature for us. We also picked flowers from a family friend’s garden, which were used on the cake and also in the floral arrangement at the ceremony.

The food was really important to us, and we had a local chef who specialises in local produce cater for us. We also had a gin bar with 4 different types of gin, and a variety of wines and beers. We wanted to make sure that everyone had a great time despite the heat, and a few people from the local community helped out by providing us with some portable air conditioners that we had in the marquee! We just wanted everyone to have a fun time and everything we did, we did with that in mind.”

The biggest of congratulations to you both Meg & Owen! Thank you for sharing your day with us and thank you to Em Wollen Creative for sharing today’s beautiful images.