As we get closer to the start of Winter (only days away now!) and round out the Mindful Issue, it’s the perfect time to share some charming winter wedding inspo. And today’s feature is exactly that! The best part? Each and every detail was tailored to Jesse and Michelle’s wants. With Kandi Lane Photography capturing the day, their relaxed wedding had everything they needed – and we’re so excited to share all the little details!

All it took was a compliment on his tattoos for Jesse and Michelle to kickstart their story! “We chatted via messages for a while and then progressed to daily phone calls when Jesse was driving to and from work…. then we finally met up after about six weeks! I went for dinner at his house and basically didn’t leave, so technically we are still on our first date,” Michelle shared.

While they were holidaying in Singapore, enjoying a beautiful dinner at Marina Bay Sands, Jesse was slowly slipping further and further into a panic about the perfect time to propose. “He got nervous as there were so many people. So we wandered around to a few other places that he thought might be quieter, but there were people everywhere as it was Chinese New Year! So we headed back to our hotel, and Jesse said, “Oh, let’s go look at the view from the pool deck…” Then he got down on one knee while we were there and asked me to spend forever with him, to which I said ‘1000 times YES!'” Michelle explained.

“Funniest thing is I thought he was having issues with his pants all night cause he had his hands in his pockets all night. Turns out he was holding the ring box and was so scared he was going to lose it!”

Michelle wore a Maggie Sottero strapless princess gown, complete with delicate ivory lace and a mocha satin underlay. It was actually a dress she had never ever thought to try on – and all it took was a little coaxing for her to fall in (and rightfully so!). “I went to a sample sale at Fairytales Bridal in Nunawading with my younger sister. I went just to see what was available and did not expect to walk out with a dress. I was adamant when I went in that I did not want a strapless gown, and I wanted something with sleeves. I tried on three dresses, and none were quite right… and the assistant manager brought in a strapless gown and asked me to just try it and trust her. I thought I’d humour her, and lo and behold, that was the one! The moment I tried it on all of my insecurities about certain body parts melted away, and I just knew that was it!”

Jesse’s focus was fully on comfort, so a suit was out of the question. Instead, he worked with the owner of O’Henry in Camberwell to pick out his dress shirt and black vest. “He wore a suit to his sister’s wedding earlier in the year and hated being in it. Comfort was key for him!”

Myrtle Creek Flower Farm helped bring Michelle and Jesse’s floral ideas to life. Instead of giving an exact brief, Michelle showed the team the colour scheme and let them work their magic. “I wanted my bridal bouquet to be large but not tightly packed. I wanted a more whimsical look with some grasses and draping florals. We then had two large barrel arrangements at the end of the aisle. She also did all of our reception florals in the same colour scheme,” she shared.

“There was also a very special bouquet that she created; this was the only one with specific flowers. My mother passed away in 2015, and I asked our florist to recreate her bouquet from her and my father’s wedding. So heading into the wedding was hard, not having her there. This was placed on a chair beside my dad. I then walked out at the end of the night with this bouquet. This one consisted of gorgeous green cymbidium orchids with white ginestra.”

Both the ceremony and reception were held at the historic Ravenswood Homestead, just outside of Bendigo in Victoria. “Our ceremony was held outside with the historic stables as the backdrop, and our reception was in the stables.”

The other sentimental detail of the day was the inclusion of this beautiful ’53 Chevy Belair! “Whilst we didn’t need a car given that our ceremony and reception were all at the same place, Jesse is a big car fanatic. He loves classic cars, so I wanted to surprise him! For me, keeping a secret is really hard, so this was a big feat for me to pull off! Jesse didn’t know about it until it pulled up, and I hopped out!”

Once she was out of the car, Michelle walked down the aisle with her father Phil to “Biblical” by Calum Scott. He looked dashing in the family Tartan, both in his vest and his driver’s hat.

As super laid-back people, Michelle and Jesse wanted the ceremony to be relaxed, full of laughter and just a hint of happy tears. “We love having a friendly jab at each other and stirring each other up! Thankfully, our celebrant (Celebrant Sorted) is a close friend, and he made sure that our ceremony reflected us as a couple!”

“We included ninja vows as a part of our ceremony, which were hilarious! We wrote little promises for each other to read, and not knowing what the other wrote was fun; it certainly had our guests and us in stitches!”

This winter wedding truly could not have happened without the hard work and energy of their incredible vendor dream team, and Michelle wanted to shout them out! “Honestly, we cannot speak highly enough of all of our vendors. We were blessed with the most amazing vendors, who all helped the day run smoothly and helped us create the most magical day filled with amazing memories. We cannot single out one specific one as they were all elite and went above and beyond! We really enjoyed talking to different vendors and finding those who we vibed with! There’s so many vendors out there but for us finding those who we felt comfy with and who we just got along with was super important!”

Speaking of incredibly talented vendors: Emma from Kandi Lane Photography captured everything from Michelle and Jesse’s wedding! “From the moment we enquired with her, we were blown away. We reached out to her shortly after getting engaged. From that initial enquiry, all the way up to our wedding, she had fantastic communication, she was always so warm and caring. It honestly felt like you were chatting to a mate. We loved her candid photography style, and that was the vibe we wanted. Neither of us loves being in photos; we both prefer taking them. So it was important that we found someone who wasn’t going to force us to awkwardly pose. We wanted that natural, candid, behind-the-scenes style, and that is exactly what Emma brought to our day! She seamlessly fit in with all our vendors, she was professional yet relaxed and the full album she has delivered to us beautifully captured our day.”

With so many guests travelling in for the wedding, on-site accommodation was super important when Michelle and Jesse were considering venues. So not only did Ravenwood have wonderful owners and romantic, rustic grounds, but it also had the perfect amount of accommodation for them. “We loved Ravenwood from the moment we toured! Nadine, one of the owners, showed us around their gorgeous grounds. She was so warm and welcoming. We liked that they only held one wedding each weekend, too, which meant we could make a whole weekend with our nearest and dearest,” Michelle explained.

“We also fell in love with the rustic feel of the homestead but a big draw card was their gorgeous highland cow – these are one of my favourite animals!”

The top five things that stood out to Jesse and Michelle from their winter wedding included:

“1. The surprise of the classic Chevy.

2. The fact that our venue holds one wedding per weekend, and we were able to spend the whole weekend with our family and friends.

3. The memorial we had for mum.

4. The live drawing and seeing everyone’s joy at having their portrait done.

5. Doing ninja vows. Our celebrant is a friend and thought we were the perfect couple to do this with! Our guests laughed so hard and we had a blast doing them.

6. Bonus one – Connor the highland cow!”

Their welcome sign was a beautiful DIY job from the couple, featuring the timeline of their love story! As well as that, they did their own setup the day before alongside other pieces of the day. “We also painted a LOVE letter sign to match our colour scheme. We had custom neon lights made, one reading “The Thorpe’s,” which hung behind our wedding cake stand. Then another saying “JT 🩶 Chelle” We also personalised our Converse high tops which we wore for the reception!”

As a thank-you to so many guests travelling in for the wedding, Michelle and Jesse hired a live illustrator, Halle Dott Art, to create keepsakes on the spot! “We had a lot of people travelling for the wedding, and when thinking about favours, we didn’t want common things that often get left behind… so we had an amazing live artist at the wedding who drew our guests. This was a big highlight for our guests, and everyone still talks about it!”

If there was one piece of advice Michelle wanted to share with couples planning their own special days, it would be this: “When you are planning, sit down together and chat about what each of your ‘must haves’ is for the day. Whether it’s a specific song, vendor, or tradition. Once you have them sorted, then build the rest of the day around that!”

Neither of them wanted a spotlighted first dance, so instead Jesse and Michelle did a shoe game on the dance floor! “It gave some great laughs and then had everyone join us on the dance floor straight after the game.”

Thanks to Kandi Lane Photography for capturing and sharing these winter moments with us. And congratulations to Jesse and Michelle on your beautiful celebration.