With beautiful accents of blue and white and a Brisbane city backdrop, the small garden wedding that Caroline & Dan wanted to create to celebrate their love was anything but small in romance and sentiment. The two wanted to steer clear of traditions that didn’t work for them and do things their way to make their wedding truly reflect their love story. Captured by Lara Furst and styled by the With Love – Brisbane Wedding Decorators, Caroline & Dan’s blue-hued Brisbane city celebration truly is a sweet testament to the fact that sometimes less is so much more. The couple tell us how they came to be and about their stunning day…

We met one June evening in 2018. Dan was in Australia to follow Strung Out, a southern California punk band, around Queensland. Dan was catching up with his friend, and on arrival, he was introduced to one of Nev’s Australian friends who was also attending all Queensland shows, Caroline. Caroline knew she wanted to be Dan’s best friend when he casually mentioned his fondness for tea whilst driving to the Gold Coast show. After the tour, Caroline and Dan stayed in contact. At first sending the occasional message, which moved to daily messages and evening talking, despite the time difference. It started with music, occasional NRL commentary, to deep spiritual conversations. Dan said he liked how he felt he could just be himself with Caroline.

Countless hours, dollars and carbon credits were spent travelling to see each other every other month. However, 2019 saw a turning point when Caroline stayed with Dan for a week in New Zealand when we discussed our determination to live together. In September, upon returning from a holiday to the USA, we described the sadness of having to say goodbye yet again as the incentive for making the move happen. Happily, in early 2020, we moved to Brisbane to be together.

About our proposal, we talked about it and just decided it was something we both wanted to do. We didn’t want the unnecessary stress, hype or expense that goes around proposals. We both find it crazy the pressure that can be put on engagements and didn’t want that for us.

Caroline: It was quite an involved process to find a dress. There is a lot of pressure to find the perfect dress, and I found there were lots of assumptions you knew what style would suit you- but I don’t dress in formal wear much. I did find a dress I loved from JJ’s House, but a month out, I found I’d lost so much weight that it would be a very involved process for a seamstress to take in successfully. I decided to repurchase the dress in a smaller size, and two weeks out, with the seamstress in the wings ready to do last-minute alterations, the dress arrived. It was amazing – no alterations ended up being needed! It fit off the rack. The seamstress and I couldn’t believe it!

We didn’t have a wedding party. We got ready together which bucked tradition but helped with keeping each other grounded on the day. Our wedding was small (under 40 guests) and made up of our closest friends and family.

Dan: My favourite colour is blue and I liked the idea of having a feature vest. We found an electric blue jacquard patterned three-piece suit from JJ’s House which was perfect. As the jacket was tuxedo style, I thought it would set the look off if it was paired with black pants, instead of the original blue.

My favourite band, Pennywise, had released limited edition blue Vans sneakers the year prior and we decided the wedding was the perfect occasion to wear them. To tie in this Pennywise band theme, we had Pennywise cufflinks custom-made.

Ekka Showday (public holiday) 2023 will always be memorable as this was the day we made Caroline’s bouquet. We purchased a selection of dried flowers online, and together we assembled a pretty spectacular arrangement. We had lace matching the the dress which we wrapped around the flower stalks which brought the look together.

Cara from With Love – Brisbane Wedding Decorators was amazing. From the beginning, she was super helpful, it made the whole thing really easy. The scene on the day was just outstanding – it was so special, and Cara was able to position the site to how we wanted it (facing the city- which wow, that looked amazing in the photos). We went with dried flowers from Florals Wholesale as we like that they last. It’s also a great way to reduce stress on the day by not having to deal with deliveries and wilting flowers in the Australian heat.

Executive Transfers were amazing and we would highly recommend them. Adrian was really helpful during the booking process, and Annie, our driver on the day, was so lovely. We didn’t ask for a wedding car, we just wanted transport, but when they turned up they had the ribbon on the front and flowers in the back – a lovely touch.

We walked down the aisle together to “Town of Corazon” by Strung Out. This song was released in 2018 when we met- it’s about finding home, and love.

We wanted our ceremony to be simple, and meaningful but short. We wanted to write our own vows and share plenty of laughter too. We were able to achieve this with the help of Jamie Eastgate from Brisbane City Celebrants.

Ceremony Sounds did our music at the ceremony. Mike Cox and his team were great to work with – super prompt with communication and really helpful. On the day, everything ran smoothly.

    

There are so many photos to choose from! We agree that there is a wonderful photo taken in the gardens after of us both against the red wall – with our silhouettes on the wall. Caroline would say the photo taken during the ceremony which showed all the guests with the Brisbane skyline, or the photo of her and Dan holding hands laughing. Dan would say the photos of us holding each other laughing and the photo of us laughing at the from of the ceremony.

Our photographer Lara Furst was amazing. We wanted a photographer who favours candid shots of people in moments rather than staged ones. Lara was amazing at putting people at ease, getting hundreds of amazing shots. Most guests just assumed she was a friend of ours because she engaged with people and made people feel relaxed and smile.

The reception was held in The Garden Room at Roma Street Parklands.

We made the table signs and decorations, bridal hair clips, and the music playlists.

                

“Deathless” by Jason Cruz and Howl was our first dance song. We didn’t want a classic announced first dance, so when creating the playlist for our wedding we planned this song to come up a few songs after cake cutting. We knew which song was before, and so could find each other. Although unannounced, our guest cottoned on pretty quickly!

Don’t envision the day in minute detail as it may not live up to your imagination. We went into our wedding with this thought in mind and it served us well. Plan well but on the day, you just let things unfold, no stress, just let it play out. Make a rule – if anything doesn’t go to plan, the couple don’t fix it. Let others around you help. And advice from others that we were given that held up so true- – just enjoy the day! It goes so quickly!

Thank you to Caroline & Dan for sharing this heartwarming & stunning wedding day! And to Brisbane City Celebrants and With Love – Brisbane Wedding Decorators for sharing it with us, and to Lara Furst for their beautiful images.