Soft Country Wedding in Rural Queensland

Following in his parents’ gumboot-filled footsteps, Lindsay and Danica planned their country wedding with soft tones and even softer sentimentals. Filled to the brim with DIY elements, family pitching in to make the family farm wedding ready and custom outfits, their day was nothing short of perfect. With About Time Photography on their vendor dream team, they knew they’d be able to look back on this special day with absolute gratitude and love.

“You’re both blonde… you should date!” is all it took for Danica and Lindsay’s lives to be forever changed. “We met through mutual friends on a rock climbing day trip to Brooyar National Park, just outside of Gympie. As we were driving back to the Sunshine Coast, our mutual friend told us that we should date because we were both blonde. And then we did!”

Their path to marriage started the same way Lindsay’s parents did: with a pair of gumboots! “Lindsay had organised a weekend camping trip away, but didn’t tell me where. Despite my many attempts to find out where we were going, he wouldn’t let it slip. We travelled a couple of hours from home (Emerald) and ended up at Blackdown Tablelands. We spent the Saturday doing the walks around the national park and exploring the gorges. We found some beautiful waterholes where we went swimming. That afternoon, we found a 4WD track and found a spot on the escarpment with a beautiful view to hang out at for the afternoon. We spent the afternoon reading our books. At sunset, Lindsay went to the car to get some warmer clothes and came back with a large parcel. Inside the parcel was a pair of gumboots. He started telling me that when his dad proposed to his mum, he got her a pair of gumboots and said: “If you’re coming with me, you’re going to need a pair of these”. I tried on one gumboot and then the ring box was tucked into the other gumboot. Lindsay got down on one knee as the sunset and said, “If you’re coming with me, you’re going to need a pair of these,” and asked me to marry him. The ring is my grandmother’s, who passed away in 2007!”

Danica had always wanted a timeless dress, something with a hint of a princess vibe with that beautiful full skirt. Growing up around a bridal designer, she always knew who would make her dress: it was just a matter of when! “Erin Clare Bridal made my dress; she has a bridal shop on the Sunshine Coast. She made the whole experience so easy and fun. Erin was great at helping me narrow down which dress style I wanted and which fabric I liked best. I ended up customising my dress and combining two different dresses. On the day, I was so comfortable and felt beautiful,” she explained.

Opting for a classic look with a slight twist, Lindsay chose a sandy jacket and navy blue pants, with a tie that tied into his family history. “He wanted to do something that was sentimental and acknowledged his family history, and build this into his outfit on the day. Lindsay found a patterned floral material online with the Geraldton Wax flower. Lindsay’s family used to be flower farmers (including Geraldton wax) and sold their flowers internationally. His mum (Wendy) made ties for Lindsay, his groomsmen, his father, and his brother-in-law. And even a special bow tie for Lindsay’s dog, Bailey.”

The wedding was set at Lindsay’s family farm, Koomorang, as they wanted to honour their connection to the space and indulge in the most beautiful mountain views around the property. “Having the wedding at the farm also meant we got to build the day that we wanted.”

Following her mum and niece, Danica and her dad walked down the aisle, as “A Moment In The Sun” by Amistat began.

Short, sweet and sentimental would be the best three words to describe Lindsay and Danica’s ceremony, led by their best friend’s dad as the celebrant. Guests enjoyed the story of their love with breathtaking mountain views in the background. “We chose vows that resonated with us. We had a reading done by a close family friend (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). The family friend added some extra messaging to the reading that was specific to Lindsay and me.”

Wanting to keep the day sentimental, Danica and Lindsay worked with their family to DIY heaps of the styling and decor. “It was an all-family affair the week leading up to the wedding. We had my family staying with us at the farm with Lindsay’s family. We spent the whole week together making sure everything got done and getting excited for the special day. We DIY’d most of the items, including:

1. We made our arbour, we found ironbark trees from the property and spent the afternoon making it into the arbour together.

2. I (with the help of a good friend) hand-painted the seating chart and table numbers.

3. Lindsay’s mother has a Cricut, and helped us print our welcome sign onto the mirror.

4. My mum and I put together all our table decorations, flowers and candles.

5. All the decorations on the chairs

6. Lindsay and I made our reception sign (The Blinco’s)

7. Floral arrangements and bouquets (Lindsay and his mum made the floral arrangement with the deer head).”

Flowers were made by friends and family, using a mixture of white roses, snapdragons, ranunculus, disbuds, lisianthus, and other natives for the bouquet.

The arbour flowers included baby’s breath, thryp, scholtzia, blushing bride, Geraldton Wax and greenery sourced from around the farm.

Their wedding party was made up of Danica’s sister-in-law as her Maid of Honour, two of her closest friends, and Lindsay’s two best friends. The bridesmaids wore mismatched blue floral dresses, while the groomsmen wore matching navy pants and Geraldton Wax floral ties.

“One groomsmen (the one who introduced us) gave us a gift, which was a framed bit of the rock climbing rope (from when Lindsay and I first met), and he had embroidered our names on it. Our other groomsmen had bought a old fashioned stop watch and stopped it on the exact time we had our first kiss. He gave us the watch in a frame so that when we saw it we were able to see the exact date and time we had our first kiss as a married couple,” Danica shared.

Lindsay and Danica included a few family heirlooms and special acknowledgment pieces throughout their day. “My engagement ring is my grandmother’s. My mother wore a special necklace that my grandfather (her father) had given her. He passed away less than a month before the wedding, and the necklace was a special acknowledgement of him,” she explained.

“Lindsay also wore a frog tie-pin on his tie as a tribute to his grandmother, who passed away a few years ago, and her favourite animal was a frog.”

Amy from About Time Photography captured the day alongside Danica and Lindsay, and the pair couldn’t have been happier with their choice! “She brings such a fun energy to the day. Lindsay and I don’t take many photos of ourselves, so we were a bit nervous in front of a camera, but she made us feel so comfortable, and we had a good laugh. All the photos are beautiful and captured our day perfectly,” Danica explained.

“Also, Lindsay’s father and family planted a field of barley a few months prior to the wedding and timed it perfectly so that we would have a beautiful backdrop of a lush, green field of barley for our day and for photos.”

For Danica, the best advice she wanted to share was this: “It’s not about the wedding, it’s about the marriage. Pick what you value most about the day and invest your time and energy in that. Don’t let anyone else tell you what you should do; do things that reflect who you are together.”