Cosy Country Wedding - Polka Dot Wedding

We adore a beautiful country wedding, so Sarah-Jane & Samuel’s Cosy Country Wedding is a total delight for us, made all the more moody & wonderful with an overcast wedding day, captured by Tilly Roberts Photo. With sentimental touches, and an elegant, country vibe, their day was completely romantic. Sarah-Jane tells us how the pair got engaged, and about their stunning wedding day…

It was my 30th birthday and Sam had arranged to take me to one of my favourite places, Mayfield Garden, for breakfast and a walk through the garden afterwards. We were at the Stone Bridge water garden and Samuel said my name so I turned around and there he was on one knee with a blue box from Tiffany’s with the perfect ring. Of course, I said yes. After this, we finished walking the garden and Sam took me onto my next surprise which was 2 nights at Tumbling Waters retreat at Stanwell Tops which was amazing.

Samuel wore a Ferrari Formal black tux, black vest, and a cotton white shirt, with a jacket having silk edges, a belt and glossy black dress shoes with initials on his cuff links. He had a bow tie and a pocket square, and a buttonhole made out of natives. Samuel wanted this outlay as it’s a traditional and smart setup.

I actually picked out my wedding shoes before we were even engaged. The glitter and crystal white wedding boot from Corral. It didn’t matter what dress I ended up getting, these were the shoes I was wearing. When I started looking at dresses online I liked the soft ivory tulle boho look with a train. I figured, how often do you get to wear a big dress? I might as well take the opportunity. I made an appointment with a couple of stores and took my mum and Samuel’s mum with me. Fashionably Yours at Wahroonga stocked the brand Moonlight Couture which had many dresses I liked and their customer service was impeccable. The sales assistants knew exactly what I was after and were so helpful. They did not rush me and ensured I had a long enough appointment to be able to take my time. I ended up getting a very different dress from what I thought I would get. I was convinced I wanted spaghetti straps but ended up with off-the-shoulder sleeves. It was ivory and soft lightly sparkly tulle with soft pink/peach undertones. It felt the most comfortable out of all the dresses and wouldn’t even need taking in too much.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to wear a veil or not but the sales assistant picked out a veil that matched the dress perfectly and I couldn’t not get it. For someone like me who does not like shopping under pressure, Fashionably Yours made everything easy and enjoyable. I had a denim jacket in case it was cold (which it was). I wanted my hair out and curled with braids. I thought I would need hair extensions until I found the amazing Jody from Jody’s Hair and Makeup. I have never seen braids as perfect as Jody’s. She did an amazing job and Ash my make-up artist who worked with Jody on the day did my make-up perfectly. They were the best team you could ask for. I wore an opal necklace and matching earrings which is my birthstone, but also just because I really liked the look of opal.

I carried the horseshoe my mum and my sister also carried down the aisle at their weddings and Samuel’s grandmother’s handkerchief.

My dad walked me down the aisle to ‘Bless the Broken Road’ by Rascal Flatts.

We had a religious ceremony in the local Anglican Church at Oberon. We wanted an intermate ceremony. My dad, Samuel’s mum and my sister-in-law all did a reading as well as our minister doing a reading. We had an amazing minister marry us who made the whole experience enjoyable.

My sister, Emily, was my maid of honour, my friend, Mikaela, was a bridesmaid and Samuel’s niece, Lilly, was a junior bridesmaid. They all wore a burnt orange mid-length dress from Esther & Co with lightly tanned ankle boots and denim jackets to match me. My nephew, Owen, was our page boy and wore jeans with a white shirt, burnt orange bow tie and brown suspenders with his western boots. He also had a little briefcase to carry the rings in that read “Ring Security”.

The best man was James and the groomsman was Dave, two of Samuel’s very good friends. The groom chose their outfits to reflect his own suit but in a slightly different getup than his.

My amazing friend Courtney, who is the best florist, did all the flowers for our wedding. I knew I wanted a couple of natives to match the bridesmaids’ burnt orange dresses but I wasn’t too sure what else. I knew Courtney would do an amazing job.

When Courtney delivered my bouquets on the day they were perfect. Courtney and I both have a love for flower bulbs and gardening and often discuss our flowers. Not only had she put some beautiful natives in there but she had made it extra special by finding the same types of flowers I grow in my garden for my bouquets, such as fringed tulips, anemones, hellebores as well as peony roses. We had a floral piece at the church as well as on the wedding table and everyone commented on how beautiful they all looked. I really liked our flowers, they were so personalised and special.

Tilly Roberts was our photographer for the day along with her partner Ryan. They both did a fantastic job of capturing our photos, especially since it was raining so we only had small breaks in the rain to get out wedding party photos after the ceremony.

Our advice would be don’t stress if it rains. It makes nice photos and on the day you realise there’s nothing you can do about it so you might as well not stress.

We chose to have our ceremony in our local church, Saint Barnabas Anglican Church, Oberon and our ceremony at Bindo Creek which was 15 minutes up the road from the ceremony. This meant our ceremony and reception were indoors so if it rained we wouldn’t have to find backup options. We live at Mozart, just out of Oberon so it was close to home in case we forgot anything.

One thing that attracted us to Bindo Creek was that the package gave you exclusive access to the whole property including four cabins near the reception barn plus a cottage for us, the couple, at the bottom of the hill. This meant our immediate family could all stay onsite in the cabins and not worry about finding accommodation or transport after the reception. The package also included check-in on Friday and check-out on the following Monday which meant we had all of Friday to set up and all of Sunday to take everything down without rushing. The reception barn was one of a kind with a big open fireplace and a silo bar just outside. The venue has an amazing view of the surrounding pine forests and Mount Bindo.

We did quite a bit of DIY for our wedding. We did all the decorations on the guests’ tables. We used green pine branches from our property along with tiny pinecones to go up the center of the tables and added some lanterns and fairy lights. We made our own place cards. Samuel also used our laser cutter to make the table numbers as well as the ‘Marshmallow Roasting Station’. He also cut out the images and made our board for our guests to sign. We ordered a bunch of signs from Vistaprint for the day so people wouldn’t get lost.

Samuel and I both take a lot of pf pride in our garden so as a wedding favour we ordered personalised packets of sweet pea seeds. We also had personalised napkins to add an extra touch.

We chose ‘Anyone’ by Justin Beiber to do our first dance too. During our first dance as Samuel went to twirl me I couldn’t lift my arm high enough due to my off-the-shoulder sleeves which caused Samuel’s cufflink to get caught in my braid and almost pull it out. That was an entertaining moment. At the end of our first dance, Serge, our DJ & MC had suggested Samuel twirl me in and get down on one knee so I could sit down and give him a kiss. It was a nice touch.

I loved the photo of Samuel and me with the cake – that was my favourite photo from the day.

Samuel’s favourite detail of the day was the garter toss. As Samuel is a mechanic, he had arranged to bring a mechanic inspection board (the rolly thing mechanics roll under cars on), a rattle gun and some spanners. The idea was Samuel would roll under my dress and ‘use the tools’ to remove my garter. The DJ played some rattling gun sounds while his groomsmen handed him tools. It was a good laugh for everyone.

Our DJ & MC, Serge from DJ:Plus! Entertainment, our florist Courtney Kirwan, my make-up and hair artists, Jody & Ash, our photographers Tilly & Ryan, our cake decorator, Jamie’s Cake Decorating and our venue, Bindo Creek Cabins where the whole team did such an amazing job of ensuring everything went smoothly.