A winter wedding is something truly special. The light hits differently, the day is cosier, and it unfolds in a way that contrasts against the bitter cold. And for Emily and Daniel, their August day (also their fifth anniversary!)  unfolded just as they dreamt. “Wedding planning for us was quite easy! We had talked about getting married for a long time before we got engaged so it was really easy to choose what we wanted, we also like the same style which makes it easy!”

With a beautiful gown by designer Jennifer Gifford, the pair chose a venue with a stunning view, filling every corner with masses of pink-hued blooms. Talitha Crawford was on hand to make sure every moment of beauty was well and truly captured.

Their story begins of all places – Tinder! Emily remembers “I just moved out of home with my sister so we downloaded Tinder for fun, I wasn’t looking for any sort of relationship or anything, but he was too damn handsome not to swipe!

We talked for about a month before we met, back and forth texting all hours of the day. Our first date was at Southbank! Dan was studying in Brisbane so we caught up after his class. It was supposed to just be afternoon tea but the date finished at 11 pm, thankfully we checked the time because the last train was in about 15 minutes back to the Gold Coast where Daniel was living. From that moment on, we were inseparable and I knew he was the one.”

The proposal was not entirely a surprise to Emily, but Daniel still managed to catch her off guard. “We started looking at rings last year but had talked about getting married for a lot longer than that. We were at Chermside one day when we walked past a shop called “Molten Store”, we just went in to have a look and I fell in love with this beautiful 1920-inspired Australian teal sapphire ring. Unfortunately, it was gone a month later….guess who got it? Yep, Daniel did.

Daniel booked us in for a lovely stay at Secrets On The Lake in Montville for my birthday in January this year. He was acting really weird the day before the proposal but I didn’t know why. Where we were staying there was a beautiful little wooden jetty over the lake where he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, I thought he was joking until he pulled out the ring. Obviously started crying and said yes.”

Emily’s utterly dreamy gown was designed (a little last minute!) by Jennifer Gifford. She tells  “I always dreamt about my wedding day, ever since I was little. When the time came to plan our wedding we already knew what we wanted. I knew what sort of dress I wanted too but I was struggling to find that particular style anywhere in Australia. I was feeling quite overwhelmed and sad I couldn’t find anything.

My Mum sent me a dressmaker’s Instagram, and I instantly fell in love with her designs. I loved loose-fitting dresses, overlays, vintage and unique and Jennifer Gifford ticked all those boxes. The whole experience was incredible. I felt so happy to have someone who understood me and the style I liked. It was also really awesome because she got really excited too!” The sweet pearl details on her dress matched the pearls added to Emily’s hair.

The first look Emily chose to do with her brother and father was one of her favourite memories of the day. “I had a first look with my bridesmaids as well as my father and brother. None of them had seen the dress prior so it was a nice surprise on the day for them.”

Stunning Sunshine Coast venue Flaxton Gardens was picture perfect. “We looked at the venue earlier in the year and absolutely fell in love with it. The Ceremony was held outside in the arbour with the beautiful views behind us and the reception was held inside the winery. They had the exact date we wanted which was brilliant too, it was the exact date we met 5 years ago.”

Daniel went for classic glam with a two-tone look crafted with pieces from Politix. “Daniel’s suit was awesome! Because our wedding party were all wearing black we really wanted to stand out (bride & groom). So Daniel wore an off-white suit jacket! and of course a black bowtie.”

The vision for the day, clear from the start for these two. “We really wanted the wedding to have a natural feel. Nothing too perfect and something that was uniquely us. We wanted very colourful flowers and our wedding party to be all in black so the colours really popped with each other. The atmosphere at the wedding was very relaxed! We had our vendors even comment on how relaxed everyone was which was what we wanted. We had a very small and intimate wedding.”

 

Emily chose “La Vie En Rose” to play as she walked down the aisle in the arm of her father.

“Our ceremony went very quickly! (about 10 minutes if that)” explains Emily. “We said our vows in private the morning of the wedding. We wanted it to feel intimate, our celebrant was a family friend who had known the bride her entire life, which was lovely having her there on our big day. She got quite emotional when she announced us as Mr and Mrs Kenafake!”

“Don’t stress too much about the little things, you really don’t notice those things on the day. No matter what, it can’t go wrong when you are marrying your best friend.”

The beautiful pink-on-pink floral details were the work of Fiesta Flora. “Fiesta Flora (Courtney) was our florist and boy she did a great job. We wanted colourful with a lot of pinks, something that looked like spring. We gave her full freedom with what she wanted to do, we knew her work was amazing so we had full trust in her! We had beautiful arrangements everywhere.  The flowers were our favourite detail of the day. It brought so much colour to a winter wedding, everywhere you looked there were pops of colour.”

Emily and Daniel have zero regrets when it comes to their wedding photographer. “We were recommended Talitha Crawford by our wedding planner at Flaxton Gardens. When we looked through her website we knew immediately that we wanted to have her for our wedding, it was the exact style we wanted. The whole process of planning with Talitha was incredible, she was extremely accommodating and friendly.

On the day she was awesome. Daniel and I had never had professional photos done so we were a bit worried we would feel silly and awkward, but we didn’t at all. Talitha was so lovely to work with and made us feel super comfortable, it was like hanging out with your friend. The pictures we have received so far are all amazing and we can’t stop looking at them. She captured the feel of our wedding very well.”

“We designed the invitations, menu cards and place cards ourselves. There wasn’t much that needed to be DIY’d as Flaxton had most of it covered in our amazing package.”

Memorable moments, hands down include the speeches! Tell Emily & Daniel “After the parents & wedding party had finished up their speeches, one of Daniel’s work colleagues had prepared a surprise speech – we had no idea what to expect. It was so funny even though only Daniel would’ve understood half of the references, it was delivered so well the whole room was in stitches – especially when he started talking in Klingon!”

In keeping with the old-school romance vibe, Daniel and Emily chose Nat King Cole’s “I love you (for sentimental reasons)”. “We didn’t practice much so there was a lot of stepping on toes but it was perfect. Everyone loved it and everyone was crying, even Emily’s 12-year-old brother!”

The biggest congratulations to you both Daniel & Emily! Thank you for sharing the beautiful stories of your day with us and thank you to Talitha Crawford and Jennifer Gifford for sharing today’s beauty with us!