Kudzi and Tom’s charming backyard wedding has its all-amazing music (thanks to an incredible band we’re sure the guests are still talking about), a beautiful garden setting (on the very property where Tom grew up) and luckily for them plenty of sparkling sunshine. It’s handmade, and it’s full of moments where everyone pitched in, and pulled together to create a stunner of a day. Kudzi explained, “We wanted the atmosphere to be relaxed, facilitate the connection between all of our guests and for people to feel free to dance and have a good time under the stars.”

With Dan Brannan behind the camera, join us, and this merry crew for a celebration on the most perfect spring day.

Kudzi and Tom’s story begins moons ago while the couple were in their early twenties at a university boarding college. “We’d started as good friends, with me even playing wing woman for Tom on one occasion” laughs Kudzi, “After a discussion about our respective university chemistry exams, we realised that we shared some chemistry and the rest is history.”

The proposal plans were thwarted by bad weather, but we think the ultimate story is even more romantic. “Tom had originally planned for us to go on a walk on the beach on the Mornington Peninsula where we lived at the time. The weather had other plans so we ended up having a beautiful picnic in our backyard. The moment of the proposal saw me getting up to loosen my jeans after eating too much cheese and turning around to Tom on one knee with a gorgeous Natalie Marie Jewellery ring. One of our favourite love songs was playing in the background and the sun ended up lighting up our backyard in the moment. It was special, very us and we were able to enjoy it on our own for some time before telling friends and family.”

Build your day around what matters most to you and what you value and the rest will fall into place.

Lunar Red Films filmed this beautiful wedding film of the day unfolding.

Kudzi and Tom were honoured to be able to marry on the very same property that Tom grew up on, and that they’d spent many happy times together. “Tom’s parents were very generous in offering for us to get married at their home” explains Kudzi, “This is the home where Tom lived since he was a few months old and where we’d celebrated so many things before the wedding which made it so special and unique to our story as a couple. They worked incredibly hard to turn what was an already stunning garden into an incredible venue where we were able to feel we were having a big family event. Our reception was held in the garden by the verandah whilst a tennis court accommodated a marquee for the reception.”

Kudzi chose a beautiful high-neck, sleek gown from designer Theia Couture, a piece she found at The Bridal Atelier. She tells “The team at The Bridal Atelier in Melbourne helped me choose a beautiful Theia Couture dress which I discovered shortly before the wedding was one first dress I’d pinned on Pinterest.

I wanted a timeless dress that I would be able to look back on years from the wedding and be happy with my choice. I chose a simple boat neckline dress with a slightly low back. I’d decided early on about the look I was going for but it was still fun trying on various styles and it helped to validate that I’d made the right choice for the look I was going for.”

The couple spent the night before the wedding together, the festivities of the morning kicking off with an emotional first look, explains the bride,  “We had decided to stay together the night before the wedding and it was just so nice to spend the morning together reflecting on the life we’d built together and what the wedding day meant for us. Our first look was also pretty special because we’d been around each other all day up until that point, but seeing each other in our wedding getup was a beautiful moment.”

Tom chose a classic black suit for the day from Suit Shop. “Tom had the same thought process as I did and wanted to go with a classic and timeless look” remembers Kudzi, “The team at The Suit Shop helped him to pick out his tuxedo which he looked very handsome in.”

The couple were lucky enough to have family and friends pitch in to bring their ideas to life – including the flowers. “We were lucky to have our flowers done by our mums and aunties, our wedding stationery designed by a close friend, my mother in law put together our ‘cheese cake’ and the best man designed a signature cocktail.

I ordered and purchased a variety of my favourite flowers from Azalea Flowers and had my mum, mother-in-law and aunties put them together for the day with a little inspiration from some images I’d collected during the lead-up to the wedding. They all love flowers and it gave them a beautiful space and opportunity to spend time together the day before the wedding.”

Kudzi walked down the aisle on the arm of her father to the sounds of “Loving You” by Charles Bradley. “My dad had always wanted to walk me down the aisle so it felt really special to do that with him. We walked down the aisle to the song that was playing when Tom proposed. I was so overcome by emotion I could hardly keep it together and it was special to have my dad help me be present in the moment and comfort me as I rode the big emotional waves.”

The wedding ceremony was officiated by Dear Henri. “Our amazing celebrant Kim McClelland facilitated the most special ceremony” raves Kudzi “Starting with an Acknowledgment of Country, she curated a ceremony that saw our friend Erin read us a poem she had written especially for us and our friend Rob help us relive our story before we exchanged vows. We had so many of our guests tell us about how special the ceremony was and how it allowed them to have a deeper understanding of us as individuals, as a couple and our love.”

The stress of wedding planning was eased by one thing – support! “I found wedding planning to be more involved and overwhelming than what I had first thought” admits Kudzi, “My favourite part would have been curating a day for our loved ones to have a fun day. It was so special for our families, our friends, the venue being a family home, and the vendors who worked so hard to make sure we had a great day and each other. We loved all our vendors and made sure we were intentional in selecting vendors that aligned with our values and made us feel heard.”

The couple filled their wedding party with their dearest of friends. “We chose friends and family that had supported us during various times of our lives and who we wanted to enjoy the day with. We had a loose colour theme for the wedding party and asked them to choose what they loved and felt comfortable in for the day.”

Kudzi and Tom were over the moon with their choice of photographer .”I found our amazing photographer, Dan Brannan, on Instagram and fell in love with his talent and the way he captured all the beautiful emotions that come about during a wedding day” explains Kudzi, “From the moment we made first contact he made us feel at ease. On the day we felt like we were spending time with a friend and he made us and all our guests feel comfortable. I was amazed by all the moments he was able to capture and we couldn’t have asked for a better photographer and person to capture these memories.”

Shares Kudzi “My favourite photograph would have to be one of the photos of us during golden hour. We couldn’t believe this day was ours and how loved we felt. It was also a time for us to connect during all the buzz and be present with each other as the sun went down.”

The couple made their dance floor debut to “Our Love” by Gary Clarke Jr. “We hadn’t prepared anything and just let the moment be about us singing to each other and dancing to one of our favourite love songs. We ended up seeing Gary about 6 months later and it was incredible to re-live our first dance when he played it live.”

Kudzi’s favourite detail for the day? The band – Laminar Sonko and The African Intelligence! “We had a 9-piece African band play at our wedding which made for the best dancefloor. We wanted guests to hear some new music and songs they’d never heard before and it was like having our private concert.”

A big congratulations to Kudzi and Tom, thank you for sharing your beautiful wedding day with us. Thank you also to Dan Brannan for sharing today’s stunning images.