With a wedding that almost didn’t happen, Kayley & Trent managed to reimagine a wedding that was both heartfelt and so unique to them, surrounded by their loved ones (although this too was down to the last minute!) despite hectic rainfall & flooding. Captured beautifully by Lauren Olivia, Kayley tells us about their gorgeous nuptials, and how they got by with a lot of help from their nearest & dearest, and their incredible wedding vendors. Enjoy Kayley & Trent’s Close Call Rainy Day Wedding Celebration!

Trent and I are both fairly low-key, down-to-earth people who value a good time with our family and friends, and this is exactly what we wanted to achieve at our wedding. We wanted our ceremony to feel relaxed, yet intimate, and have a party vibe to our reception. We ended up achieving exactly this but in a totally different wedding to what we had originally planned, thanks to one of the worst floods South East Queensland has experienced.

Back to the start – once Trent finally proposed, 10 years after our first date, we busily got planning, and securing a date at Kooroomba Lavender Farm was the first item on our list. We wanted a short engagement as we were keen to start our own family (we are actually expecting our first child in December!) so we booked a date 6 months ahead – Saturday 26 February 2022. I love planning and organisation and really enjoyed the whole wedding planning process. Creating to-do lists, schedules and budgets on Excel spreadsheets, and perusing plenty of wedding websites and blogs (including yours) were a couple of things I did to ensure I was keeping on top of things and not missing any important detail.

It was raining a bit in the days leading up to our wedding but we all thought it would pass. We had a rehearsal at Kooroomba Lavender Farm on the Friday before the wedding and we put a wet weather plan in place and felt pretty confident the rain would stop in time for our 3 pm Saturday ceremony (spoiler alert: it did not).

My pre-wedding night accommodation was with my family at a place in Boonah called Old Church B&B. It was originally built in 1874 and was a Methodist Church and then Uniting Church, before being renovated and converted into accommodation by current owners, Harry and Christelle. I woke up on our wedding day to the drizzle of rain but still felt hopeful that everything would go to plan. That all changed at 10.00 am when we got the call from Kooroomba to advise that the roads to the venue had flooded. We either had to cancel or postpone to a date in May. After a quick consult with each other and our families, Trent and I decided that we would be getting married on this day as planned, even if it wasn’t going to be the wedding that we had originally planned. Luckily, there was a road from Brisbane to Boonah still open that weekend so the majority of our guests and vendors could make it to us.

The next crisis was a big one. My dad was travelling with my grandparents from Kingaroy and all the roads were flooded out that way. We really didn’t know if he would make it, although he assured me he would find a way, and this really had me questioning whether we could go ahead. Praying for a miracle, the show carried on: the wedding party got beautified, and drank champagne, Trent informed our guests of our new plans, and our family ensured that everything else was in order. Thankfully, dad walked through the doors at 2.00 pm! We were good to go!

In 3 hours, we replanned our entire wedding. The new ceremony venue was our accommodation, the Old Church B&B. My family was amazing, rallying together to set up the living area as our makeshift ceremony space. Multiple trips were made to the local Mitre 10 to buy fairy lights, candles, and anything else to help transform the space, my friends were in the rain picking flowers from the gardens to fill little vases, and my stepdad drove an hour to collect flowers from the florist who couldn’t deliver them. With only 8 dining chairs to seat some family, our 85 guests managed to squeeze into the transformed living area of the B&Band to witness our beautiful, intimate ceremony.

Our celebrant was one vendor who couldn’t make it and for a moment we were wondering if we could actually pull this off. That was until we discovered that the owner of the B&B, Christelle, is a marriage celebrant and she very kindly offered to officiate our wedding! One crisis averted. Christelle also ended up being our bus driver, transporting family and the wedding party to and from the reception. We are so grateful to her for her help!

We also had to organise a new reception. My mum walked down the main street of Boonah at lunchtime, checking in with the pubs and restaurants to find one that could hold, feed, and provide alcohol for a wedding party of 85. Simon’s Tavern pulled through with the goods. Our canapes went from smoked salmon, calamari fritti and lamb tartlets to party pies, wedges and mini sandwiches. Our main meal was now an alternate drop of roast chicken, veg & gravy or pizza that we had to order from down the road. But we had food, we had a stocked bar, we had a designated dancefloor with a banging playlist, and we had our nearest and dearest. It was the best night ever!
The next day, with the rain still coming down, guests and family left Boonah and thankfully made it back to their homes either that day or the day after.

We would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to all of our vendors who went above and beyond to be there with us. Our make-up and hair artists were locals who were such a great support during the craziness of our morning. Our photographer Lauren Olivia travelled from Brisbane to be with us and she captured our special day so beautifully. Our cake was delivered to our new reception venue with no dramas and our musician adapted to the change of plans so easily. We are truly grateful to you all.

Our first dance sone was to “XO” by John Mayer. We choreographed a short 1-2 minute dance in our kitchen in the weeks leading up the wedding.

Our advice for future marrieds to be would be to have 5 plans ready to go! No, just kidding! Our wedding highlighted to us that the important components of a wedding are having your family and friends around you and being there for each other. The rest is just a bonus. Enjoy the day and don’t stress the small stuff.

Thank you to Kayley & Trent for sharing this beautiful day with us. We’re so glad everything went so wonderfully, despite all the setbacks, and to Lauren Olivia for their gorgeous images.