Even though we’re deep into the Aussie summer, today, we’re diving headfirst into winter with this whimsical wedding! Amber and Dom met on her first day of kindergarten and have been inseparable ever since. Their whimsical winter wedding was inspired by the Scottish Highlands and features greenery, custom signs, and even a couple of cheeky alpacas! Maryna from Maryna Cherednikova Photography and Honey Bear Films took care of everything lens-related for Amber and Dom, and both teams blew their expectations out of the water.

Amber and Dom met on her first day of kindergarten when her mum needed support, and Dom’s mum stepped into the role instantly! “Dom was in year one, and my mum was a mess crying at school drop-off. Dom’s mum comforted her and they became best friends. From then on, we grew up together as our mums remained friends all these years,” Amber recalled. “I fell in love with him when I was 11 and cast a love spell on him… A few decades later, it worked! We have been hopelessly in love since.”

Dom had been planning to propose for a while, even getting her mum and Amber’s mum together to pick out the perfect ring! He decided to wait for their upcoming road trip across the UK and Iceland to pop the question.

In Inverness, Dom asked Amber to take him to her favourite castle, but unfortunately, when they got there, it was closed because of the heavy snow. So, with a heavy heart and an even heavier pocket, they continued on. “We left and drove up the road a little, and he spotted a little patch of woods and stopped so we could go and explore. I had been asking him to stop so often to look at cows or trees and such so I happily got out and we wandered into this gorgeous pine forest together. We had no idea that on the other side of the patch of woods was a big open field, a creepy old cemetery and a stone circle! (I am an Outlander fan and could not have been happier). I completely forgot about the castle!” Amber shared.

“The snow was so white and so thick, you could tell no one had been there all day, but you could see little hoof prints from deer who had stopped to chew on the grass under the snow. I commented that it was “perfect” and that I would always remember it. He took that as a sign and got down on one knee in the snow! I immediately started bawling; having been in love with him my whole life, I was very overwhelmed watching all my dreams come true in the middle of this Narnia-like place. It took a few minutes before he had to calm down my blubbering to confirm if this meant I was saying yes or not. I’d forgotten the most important part! He let me cry on him, both of us knee-deep in the snow and freezing, and then he patiently made snow angels while I took as many pictures of the ring in various places (Snow, a mossy tree trunk, the sky, holding a leaf) as possible!”

From the moment they started planning this whimsical wedding, Dom knew he wanted to wear something that reflected him – a suit and tie was never going to be an option. Since it was a winter wedding, they went with a cardigan instead of a vest and a wool jacket overtop to keep the warm in and the cold out. They found the jacket and cardigan at Rodd & Gunn in these beautiful natural fibres and earthy greens, browns and sandstones perfectly suited to the day’s tone. “I didn’t want to go with a conventional suit; it’s not my style. I wanted to match the green and earthy tones of the setting. I liked the idea of the cardigan underneath. The shoes were a bargain find but did hurt my feet a lot. I threw them away the next day,” he shared.

It was really important for Amber that she got ready at home, a space they had worked hard to bring together and close to her cats. Unfortunately, a few days before the wedding, they found out that their kitty Sullivan was really sick and only had a few days to live. So, looking back on that morning, it is quite bittersweet for Amber and Dom, especially since they are some of the final photos they have together. “It was already important for both our cats to be in the pictures but Maryna, Hannah and James (our photographers & videographer) were able to capture my last day with my best friend and I really could not be more grateful to have those pictures now.”

Amber wore this whimsical Hera Couture gown from Penrith Bridal. As a plus-sized bride, she was incredibly nervous about shopping off the rack for a dress, but when she walked in and saw this Lavant gown in a sample size she could wear, it was love at first sight! “I tried on the dress I chose first, and I loved it, but I was so sure that I wanted sleeves and a split and no embellishments. I tried on a few that fit that afterwards, but I kept coming back to that first dress and comparing everything else to it. It made me feel beautiful, and my mum cried (the most important thing),” she explained.

“The one thing that I was stuck on is that I wanted it to be a colour, and I had specifically chosen several green dresses which were really hard to find. The amazing team at Penrith Bridal offered to reach out to the designer with my inspiration pictures to see if the outer fabric could be dyed to fit the colour I was after and luckily, they were happy to do it. I was so nervous to see the dress because I worried it would be too green and not look bridal, so when I first saw it, I cried, and it felt like exactly the right one. I decided to go for wings instead of a traditional veil to more encompass that fantasy woodlands vibe and I am so happy I did, I felt like a fairy queen!”

For Dom, the most memorable part of the day was waiting for Amber to arrive at their first look. “The combination of the anticipation and the beauty of our ceremony location really set the mood for the day to come. After months upon months of teasing what her dress was going to look like, I turned around to see how beautiful Amber looked as she remarked, “This…is my dress”, allowing me to see her looking so amazingly beautiful. My other favourite memories were having everyone we love all together in the one place; the amazing vendors, the incredible food, the music and the overall feeling that everyone was having as great as a day as we were. 10/10 would definitely marry Amber again.”

Their welcome sign was a DIY job that turned out perfectly for their whimsical woodland vibe, and as an avid reader of romance books – it was very true to Amber! “We also printed a custom crossword and got blankets for our guests, but we didn’t want to spend too much time doing things ourselves. We were so happy that our planner was able to source and supply most things for us.”

Dom walked down the aisle first, stealing the show as he danced to “Ain’t Nice” by The Viagra Boys. Amber followed soon after with her mum on her arm to “First Day Of My Life” by Bright Eyes. “My dad and stepdad were present and sitting in the front row, but I chose my mum because of our unique connection and how much she has supported us directly throughout our whole relationship. I walked with her into the venue, and then she sat down so Dom and I could walk to the ceremony down the aisle together.”

Foliage took centre stage in their wedding florals, really leaning into that whimsical woodland vibe of the day. Amber’s bouquet, flower crown, and Dom’s buttonhole were handmade by Dom’s mum Jan. The talented Mimi Floristry handled the ceremony styling, draping moss artfully around the space. “We went with leafy greenery down the aisle, created an arch and ivy garland for the ceremony space, and moved all of that to the reception venue afterwards. We found that choosing greenery (with some gum nuts) meant we got more for our money, but also, it really perfectly fit the vibe; you don’t tend to see bright florals when you are walking around in the snow, so it was perfect and Mimi floristry, our vendor executed it beautifully.”

Without Natalie from NH Weddings, Dom and Amber wouldn’t have been able to bring together this incredible whimsical wedding. She took on the role of a full-service wedding planner and took care of each and every detail with an impressive level of expertise. “We were very lucky to be in a position to hire a full-service wedding planner, and they were incredible and understanding our vision. We looked at several places around the Blue Mountains, which were beautiful, and each had an aspect of what we were looking for, but nothing really took our breath away until we saw Breenhold Gardens,” they explained. “The pine trees were gorgeous, there was an incredible mossy wall and beautiful arches that looked like they were out of a fantasy novel. We truly fell in love with it and knew it was the place for us right away.”

Natalie helped Amber and Dom find their dream celebrant, and after Zoom calling with a few options, they fell in love with Married By Adam! “For us, it was important to have our love story told, and the experience of being there and having Adam recount our love story to us felt like being read to from our very own romance novel. It was perfect. We opted to include things that were important to us, like an acknowledgement of country at the start; Adam made a point to speak to our modern views on marriage and what the exchange of rings meant to us. It felt like we were being taken on a journey through our lives and it couldn’t have felt more genuine and authentically us,” said Amber. “We decided to do a raffle to choose our witnesses, which was so fun and being able to laugh and cry and be ourselves rather than feeling tied to anything overly traditional while still being able to honour those traditional parts that we loved was so special.”

After the ceremony had finished, Amber and Dom took a stroll with their photographer and a pair of alpacas from Alpaca Kisses! “Maryna was everything we could possibly have wanted and more. Again, this was something I was nervous about because I am a plus size bride, and it can be really difficult to feel confident having your picture taken, but from the first time we met, we just felt like Maryna was so invested in us and our love story and the entire experience. It was so easy to communicate what we were looking for and when we had our engagement shoot with her, it was confirmed that we were so lucky to have found her and that she was available for our date.

We loved feeling like we had our best friend there taking pictures for us on our favourite day. She gave such good direction, and her style was perfect for us. We loved the more candid style rather than too much posing, and she had fun with us as well! We loved having her and Hannah at the wedding in general just because they were so fun and built the vibe up with us, but we also got better pictures than I think we ever could have hoped for.”

Their incredible vendor dream team made it hard for Amber and Dom to pick just one as their favourite – so they picked four! “We really loved all of our vendors, and it is so hard to choose a favourite. Our planner, Natalie, and coordinators were godsends, and we couldn’t have had the day we did without them. Adam, our Celebrant, will forever be in our minds as the best celebrant we could have hoped for. Our wedding video from Honey Bear has probably been watched 1000 times because I love it so much. Maryna has immortalised our day and love for each other so perfectly; I truly cannot wait to be 80 years old and still look through the photos from our wedding day.”

One of their favourite photos from this whimsical winter wedding was this shot of Dom leaning against a tree and Amber leaning into him. “I think it perfectly captures how in love I feel, and while he likes the black and white one and I like the colour, it looks like how we feel.”

The top five things that made their winter wedding so special were:

“1) My Husband – I really mean it when I say he is a dream come true to me. I could not have been happier on that day to have him by my side. He was so involved and so supportive, and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

2) The cat heads – seeing them in the background of so many photos and videos is so wonderful. They really are so special to us, and I love that they could be present there with us.

3) Winter – Both Dom and I love cooler weather and were so relieved to be able to have a winter wedding. We were so happy to get heaters and blankets for everyone.

4) Our family – we had a really small wedding and we got to spend time with everyone which was so wonderful but having our families there together was extra special. They have watched us grow up together and have truly been on this journey with us.

5) The music – Dom was so passionate about the music and made such an amazing playlist for the night that suited us perfectly. Our DJ was so on board with whatever we wanted and it made the vibes just immaculate.”

For the reception, Dom and Amber moved their guests over to the nearby Dennarque Estate. “It had the most incredible conservatory, which was exactly what we wanted, but the cold, rugged Scottish highland vibes of Breenhold Gardens had us in a chokehold, so, as they were really close together, we decided to do the ceremony at Breenhold and the reception and wedding night at Dennarque. Both venues were perfect, and everyone involved was so accommodating. They let us come back to look around as often as we liked.”

One of Dom and Amber’s favourite details from the day was the matching tattoos they’d gotten a few weeks before. Amber’s was an explosion of colour and Dom’s was the exact same in a black and white tone. They included a temporary tattoo station so guests could join in on the matching art!

Their first dance was sweet and simple. They danced to “Love Story” by Taylor Swift, and since neither of them are dancers, they twirled around the dance floor as guests watched on.

As a final surprise to wrap up this whimsical wedding, Amber’s mum, sister and best friend had colluded with Planner Natalie and MC Adam to recreate the famous Mamma Mia performance from Donna & The Dynamos! “They surprised us at the reception by performing “Dancing Queen” by ABBA for us in full costume. Dom and I do drunken sing-alongs to that movie pretty regularly, and it was a blast!”

Congratulations, Amber and Dom, on this whimsical winter wedding! And a special thanks to Maryna Cherednikova for capturing and sharing it with us – we’re honoured!