Sometimes, things don’t go to plan, and that’s okay. Especially when you have the laidback, fun attitudes that Laura and Grant had when their outdoor wedding got rained out multiple times in one day. The typical Queensland summer rain came down on this couple hard, but their chill vibes and incredible vendor dream team came to the rescue to create their perfectly imperfect summer wedding. The dreamiest of the dream team was their photographers, Todd and Alyda McGaw, who used to rain to their advantage and captured these beautiful dewey shots.

Soon after Laura and Grant matched on Tinder, Laura cut to the chase and asked Grant on a date to Casa Mexicana. “The margi’s were delicious and the conversation flowed easily. Grant was funny, a tad silly, caring, genuinely interested, and very good-looking, which is definitely why I jumped at the chance to kiss him on our first date!”

It was during their first international holiday together in 2023 that Grant knew it was time to take the next step in their relationship. With most of Laura’s family living in the UK and across Europe, it was a great chance for Grant to meet the rest of her family. And Laura, of course, thrived planning a month-long trip across the continent. While staying with her uncle in southern France, they stumbled upon a little alleyway full of local artists, with one stall Laura swooned over. Trying his best not to be suspicious, Grant slipped away to return to the alleyway and attempted to pick out one of the rings. “They started pulling out wedding bands, and he exclaimed, “fiancé, engagement”, and they pulled out several rings, and Grant chose the sapphire, my birthstone. He did this all in 20 minutes!”

After that, they flew to Florence and drove to the tiny village of Villa A Sesta in the Chianti region. On their last night in the village, they decided to enjoy local cuisine and a bottle of Chianti reserve red wine while watching the sunset. At the end of the meal, Grant suggested they wander down to the olive groves and take some sunset photos. “It was truly a magical sunset. Grant set up his phone on a fence so we could take self-timer photos; after several snaps, he said we should do a photo where I kissed him with my eyes closed. I thought, ‘Awww, cute’. He then told me to check the photos to see if they were okay. I looked through the photos, and in the last photo where I kissed him, Grant was holding a ring to the camera,” Laura explained. “I was gobsmacked and turned to Grant “WHAT?” Then Grant dropped to one knee, holding the ring. I can’t even remember what he said; I put the ring on quick smart. I was completely surprised and amazed. It is the most stunning ring and couldn’t be more me.”

Laura knew she wanted something modern and fun for her wedding outfit (without breaking the bank), so she ordered eight pieces from Shona Joy’s bridal edit and a few other online brands to pull together an outfit she loved. “I loved the look and feel of the Shona Joy options; the creamy champagne colour was stunning, and the silky texture felt amazing on. I knew our wedding day would likely be very hot, so I wanted something cool and airy. It was a very hard decision; there were photos going back and forth between my mum and close girlfriends. I even ended up going to a couple of bridal shops to try on other options, but nothing felt right. I decided on a two-piece – the Shona Joy La Lune Ruched Bralette and the La Lune Ruched Maxi Shirt, which I loved wearing.”

To pair with her two piece, she wore gold heels for the ceremony and a pair of gold boots for the reception (oh how lucky she felt the rain hit later on).

All the flowers for the day were created by Laura, something she knew she wanted to do for her own wedding. Her goal? To create beautiful handpicked, whimsical pieces that matched the summer wedding vibes, full of vibrant fun colours. She headed down to the Gold Coast Flower Market the Thursday before the wedding and picked out all of these beautiful seasonal blooms. “I made two large floor arrangements for the end of the aisle for either side of Grant and me, then two others for the start of the aisle. By the time I walked down the aisle, the arrangements were a little misshapen and windswept with the wild weather, but ‘c’est la vie’,” she detailed. “I created a front-facing wild bouquet for myself and wrapped it with a green silk ribbon from The Whole Bride, which matched Grant’s suit. I selected some small matching flowers to make Grant’s buttonhole. I felt so inspired creating my arrangements for my wedding that I decided to start my Certificate 3 in floristry this year at The Flower School in Brisbane, which I’m loving!”

In late 2023, the actor’s strike was in full swing, so Laura had plenty of free time while her current work on the Mortal Kombat film was put on hold. She started using that time to contact vendors for their wedding, and within a week, had locked in most of her dream team – including their venue, Gold Coast Farm House. “As soon as I came across Gold Coast Farm House, I knew it was the one. The property was stunning, and I loved the idea of a big tipi party. I also loved that they had their own furniture options and set up based on our preferences. Grant took a little convincing, but as soon as we saw the venue, he was just as excited as I was. We chose the majestic old tree to have our ceremony under and then our reception in the tipi,” she described. “My parents and I stayed at the venue in the beautiful, quaint old Queenslander the night before the wedding. I got ready in the house on our wedding day, and then Grant and I stayed there the night of the wedding.”

In typical Queensland summer weather, it was 35 degrees on the day, and just as Laura was about to leave for their outdoor ceremony, a staff member ran over to inform her there was a storm incoming. Not only did the ceremony get delayed by an hour from the torrential downpour and wild winds, but there was no service, so Laura couldn’t even contact Grant, who was waiting it out with the guests. “All I could do was laugh. We waited for a break in the weather. By this point, I just wanted to hurry up and get married! We managed to get a window of good weather, had our ceremony under the tree (with a few added rugs to cover the mud) and managed to say ‘I do’ before it started raining again. The venue staff did an amazing job navigating the weather, getting our guests in and out of the tipi, battling the wind blowing all our decorations and flowers around the place, and keeping us calm and informed. The upshot is the humidity disappeared, and it cooled right down.”

Grant chose this green Uberstone suit from David Jones for something more fun than a neutral and still lightweight enough for the Aussie summer. “Grant loves green and thought it would be a great colour to tie in with the natural environment. It took a while to find a shirt; we were looking for an ivory option that would complement my outfit and his suit. He bought an ivory bow tie and tie option to decide what he felt like wearing on the day.”

The idea for Laura’s entrance song was Grants. Very early in their engagement, Grant would play the Crazy Rich Asians version of “Can’t Help Falling In Love” and pretend she was walking down the aisle. “When Grant and I were visiting the venue for our final meeting, we paced it out so we could get the timing spot on. My dad walked me down the aisle. It was a very special moment and I was just so excited to be getting married surrounded by our loved ones.”

Their ceremony was perfectly imperfect. After the storm delay, their celebrant, Leisa, led the couple and their guests through the ceremony proceedings. “Choosing Leisa to be our celebrant was the easiest decision of them all. She was the first celebrant I called, and I knew straight away that she was the right fit. Grant and I were after a non-traditional, lighthearted, but sincere ceremony, and Leisa did a wonderful job. Grant and I wrote our own vows separately, which ended up being very similar, obviously both mentioning our fur babies Missy, Fanta and Pepsi.”

Laura’s mum had a gold locket that was given to her by her father, who passed away before Laura was born, and she chose to give it to Grant and Laura to make their wedding bands out of it. “Nerang Jewellers did a lovely job creating two simple gold bands for Grant and I out of the locket, which was a very special, sentimental touch.”

While guests enjoyed the cocktail hour and the cover of the tipi, Laura and Grant took off with their photographers, Todd and Alyda McGaw, to take their wedding portraits. “I found choosing a photographer the hardest decision to make. I had a Pinterest mood board for the vibe of photos I was after, and it was important to me that the photos weren’t heavily edited and were natural and candid in style. I wanted to include film photos as well as digital. When I came across the Todd Hunter McGaw page, I was really taken with the dramatic wides and beautiful intimate shots,” she explained. “I spoke with Alyda on the phone and then Skyped with Todd. After speaking to both of them, I felt they were completely on the same page. Alyda and Todd made us feel so at ease on our wedding day. They were really fun to hang out with, and we loved running around in the mud and up and down hills with them. Grant and I were up for anything despite the weather, so Todd and Alyda found some really beautiful spots with stunning light! We were obsessed with how our wedding photos turned out. Todd and Alyda are truly artists and such a power couple! Highly recommend!”

As the couple were off getting their photos, their guests were being entertained by Rene Le Feuvre, their live musician. “He was our awesome acoustic musician, and when our ceremony was delayed by an hour, he played for our guests while they waited. Rene is a total vibe!”

Their best advice for future married couples is this:

“You have to let things go on the day; you will enjoy it much more. Invite people who you want to be there; don’t invite people out of guilt or responsibility. Have a game plan and delegate on the day! Most importantly, honeymoon straight away, even if it’s a short getaway. We spent four nights at Elements of Byron, and we loved lapping up all the happy post-wedding vibes, relaxing by the pool, and eating all the yummy food.”

A week before the wedding, Grant had seen this TikTok of a couple’s reception entrance with a spraying bottle of champagne and an upbeat hip-hop song. Laura loved the idea and the two of them ran with it, even adding their own flair with a lift and flip, choosing the DMX song “Party Up”. However, keeping the theme of their perfectly imperfect wedding, not everything went according to plan. “We practised a couple of times to nail the timing. On the day when we did our big entrance, we were given the wrong cue, so we had less time to run in. We didn’t factor in the wet grass, and as Grant was hitting the champagne bottles on the ground to spray them, he slipped over in the mud, and champagne sprayed straight into his face. I was laughing hysterically and our audience thought it was all part of it. The sequence of photos are brilliant. Definitely one way to make an entrance!”

Fire ‘N’ Dough took care of the catering for this summer wedding and offered various dietary options for the guests. “They made the most spectacular grazing platter, delicious canapés, and all-you-can-eat wood-fired pizza, making sure everyone was well fed!”

For the reception, Laura and Grant had asked their parents and best friends to each give a three-minute speech. What Laura didn’t expect was for her dad to steal the show, with his ad-libbed speech running through his perspective of the day. “Dad’s comedic timing was on point. Everyone was in hysterics. I had guests still talking about Dad’s speech months later. It was brilliant.”

Laura DIY’d many of the smaller items from their wedding, including all of the invitations, menus, blackboard signs, business card QR codes for their gallery, and little bathroom care packages full of mozzie repellent, sunscreen, Panadol, Neurofean, bandaids, tampons, mints, etc. for her guests to indulge in.

Instead of a traditional cake, Laura and Grant took advantage of their summer wedding vibe and opted for a gelato bike from ScoopsClub. Serving up the most delicious gelato that paired perfectly with their pizza dinner.

Their first dance was an ode to Laura’s childhood. Her parents would listen to the soundtrack for Strictly Ballroom for every road trip and watch the film countless times growing up. The Strictly Ballroom version of “Love Is In The Air” was an easy pick for Laura and Grant.

One of their favourite things they did in the lead-up to the wedding was their dance lessons with Emma from Danceland. “Emma was wonderful, bubbly and made us feel so comfortable. We looked forward to each class and doing something completely different together. In between our classes, Grant and I practised in our garage and living room, which was really romantic, laughing at each other and taking our mind off everything else in the lead-up to the wedding.”

To wrap up the night, they included some glow-in-the-dark gold. “Grant grew up playing golf and was really keen to set up a glow-in-the-dark chipping competition once it got dark. It was a fierce competition; many balls ended up in the lake, but it was a fun alternative activity for our guests, quite a few who are avid golfers.”

Congratulations on your fun summer wedding, Laura and Grant! And thanks to Todd and Alyda McGaw for capturing and submitting this beautiful wedding for us to share.