Phoebe and Aaron were so set on their family and friends having a good time at their wedding, that they turned a long weekend into a multi-day celebration, complete with glamping tents! “Our friends are incredibly special to us” notes Phoebe. “We wanted them to feel as if this day was also a celebration of them too. Because Az and I wouldn’t have made it there without them.  Our favourite part of the whole weekend was the night before, preparing for the day with our nearest and dearest.”

And let me tell you, from Phoebe’s incredible sparkly wedding gown, the black tie dress code “we wanted to give everyone an excuse to feel fancy and get extra dressed up for the evening,” and the endless moments that were beautifully supported by the aforementioned friends, no wonder we could barely choose our favourite images from the beauties captured by photographer Claire Davie. A glam country wedding to start your day? Yes, please!

It was many years ago, through a mutual friend, one day at the beach in Inverloch, that these two first met. Remembers Phoebe “This mutual friend then brought Aaron over to my house afterwards, to invite me to a party he was having that night at his place. This was in 2011. We ended up bringing in the new year together and haven’t been apart since.”

The proposal, was something carefully considered by Aaron, who knew exactly what Phoebe would want. “Aaron knew that I would want my nearest and dearest all there to celebrate this special moment with us. So he had organised it so our entire immediate families and our closest group of friends were all in town that day. He had told me (along with the help of his mum) that we were going to have her side of her family’s Christmas Party early this year and gave us all plenty of notice so we could all attend. She had mentioned in her message that if the weather was nice we would move the party across to the beach for a BBQ (this beach also happened to be the beach that Azza and I met at 10 years earlier). It was also the first time the entire extended family would be together since the covid restrictions had lifted – so Azza’s mum, Ann-Maree, had organised a photographer to come to take some updated family photos.

Upon arriving at the beach via boat, I barely took any notice of the fact that no one had arrived at the ‘Christmas Party’ yet. We hopped off the boat and Azz was down on one knee. After a big yes and a couple of beers later, I wanted to call my family. I got my mum on the phone and as soon as I could hear her screaming on the phone, I also heard her screaming just over the top of the dunes. Both of our immediate families were with us in seconds to celebrate with beers and lunch.

After this, I called my two best friends to tell them the exciting news and both had been dragged to Inverloch by their partners and were only a quick boat ride away and were able to join the party.”

Phoebe and Aaron chose Tango Films to capture this stunning film of the day.

“Aaron and his Groomsmen were all dressed by Sam & Ko Menswear” tells Phoebe.  “They all wore black suits, white shirts and black bow ties. Sam was a legend to work with and made sure all the boys were looking their best.”

Phoebe wore a stunning gown from designer Berta. “I loved the sparkle and the little bit of extra-ness. I was lucky enough to wear both my Nanny’s & Aaron’s Oma’s engagement rings on the day.”

The couple worked with floral designer Basia Puchalski Floral Design to create their stunning floral arrangements for the day. Says Phoebe “I was loving a pastel colour palette in the lead-up to our wedding and then in the month beforehand, I saw someone else get married with primarily pastel colours but then with a big pop of blue! I just loved it. And felt that the splash of colour came up nicely beside the black tie colour scheme for the guests.

The flowers were so outstanding and so much more than we expected. Basia was so reasonably priced, so easy going and so accommodating throughout the whole process!”

The couple chose to marry on Phoebe’s family farm, hiring Swell Shelter Glamping to ensure each guest had a soft place to rest their head. “We chose to get married at my family home in Yinnar, Gippsland.

We were very keen on being able to extend our party and not have to leave the venue at a set time. We were fortunate enough to have access to private property and that enabled us to carry on for as long as we wanted! I was also conscious of putting so much time and energy into planning a really special occasion and not being able to relax and enjoy it. This is why we chose to get married over the long weekend in March. Our guests then camped or Glamped on our property on both Saturday and Sunday nights as we had a public holiday on Monday. We loved everyone staying the night on the property so that we could carry on all night and all Sunday in a never-ending party.”

Phoebe chose to walk down the aisle with both her father and her father-in-law. “It was a really special moment for the three of us. And I felt very lucky to have had two wonderful men by my side. We walked down the aisle to ‘”You’re Still the One” by Eddie Tom. A beautiful cover of Shania Twain.”

“One of my cousins, who is genuinely one of my favourite people, wasn’t able to make the wedding because he was starting a new job in another state on the Monday following the wedding. He ended up surprising us on the day. The first time I saw him was during our ceremony and I was an instant mess. One of my fave parts of the whole day.”

The couple were married by Phoebe’s dad! “Even though we had a large guest list, we wanted our ceremony to feel intimate. We had Azza’s older brother, Jamin, run our ceremony as the unofficial celebrant. And my Dad, Peter Linton was our official celebrant. So it felt really special and personal to have those officiating, so close to us.”

The afternoon was spent in the sunshine with photographer Claire, a vendor Phoebe and Aaron are so happy they chose. “Claire’s snaps for our wedding were incredible” raves Phoebe. “She didn’t miss a thing. Claire Davie was an absolute dream to have to capture our day.  Dys & Kate – Azza’s brother and Fiancée – organised for her to photograph our engagement, and she was so awesome, we just loved those photos so we were really lucky that she was available for our wedding date. It was lovely for her to be there for the full circle.

She is just a vibe to be around and made us all feel very relaxed in a not-very-relaxing circumstance. She was also incredibly generous with her time and the turnaround of the photos was incredible. I had over 50 photos in my emails the very next day!! and the full album within three weeks! Claire and Lochie (Videographer) also worked so awesome together as a team on the day and were just so fun!!”

Says Phoebe “Something that we both wanted was to feel present on the day and not feel too rushed. We also didn’t want to miss any of the party. So we wanted an early ceremony, a quick duck out for photos (45 minutes) and straight back to the marquee so we could make the most of the day/ night with all of our guests.”

Aaron’s favourite memories of the day? “The day flew, but the amount of love I felt from our friends and family will be what I remember the most, along with having a bucketload of fun. Having had the speeches and formalities done early allowed us to have maximum time to enjoy ourselves and each other’s company. It was also nice to finally marry the love of my life.”

This was a wedding that was not just about the day, but every celebration around it, says Phoebe. “We loved our fave people being there for the entire thing!! They were present for our engagement, threw us the most epic hens/bucks do’s, were so incredibly supportive and involved in the wedding and then joined us on our buddy moon in the Whitsundays! (That’s the nice thing about knowing each other 11 years before getting married, our friends are all besties).”

Like the rest of the night, the first dance was full of glittering magic. “Our first dance song was to our song. Which is a slowed-down, acoustic version of Paramore’s “Still Into You”. And we had Laura Shea & Oakley Kerr, from our wedding party, perform it for us. We were incredibly lucky to have such talented friends.”

Congratulations to you both Phoebe & Aaron! What a stunner of a sparkly, beautiful wedding day. Thank you for sharing the stories and for Claire Davie for sharing today’s beautiful images.