Belinda & Darren's Timeless Autumn Wedding at Terindah Estate

As Darren and Belinda first visited Terindah Estate, they could already picture their timeless wedding unfolding across the grounds, with the ocean stretching out behind their ceremony and the vineyards providing a beautiful backdrop for the day. From there, the details came together in their own time: Belinda found her dream gown, Darren went all-in on the classic black tuxedo, and pastel dahlias, orchids and hydrangeas brought plenty of colour to the celebration. With Laura from Perla Photography and For The Future Films behind the camera, the day was filled with beautiful portraits and a reception that ended with a very popular surprise: cheeseburgers!

Like any 21st-century love story, a dating app played a role when Belinda and Darren found each other. “I had a photo with a fish in my profile, and Darren, being the mad fisherman that he is, was reeled in by that one photo. I was sitting on the couch on a Friday night and decided to open Hinge and see what prospects were out there!! I didn’t like the apps much and was more of a window shopper. Darren’s profile came up; he had swiped yes to me and had sent me a message replying to one of my photos of me with a fish in Darwin, saying “nice fish”. After looking at his profile, I decided to go out on a limb for once, and I accepted his match request and replied to his message!” Belinda shared.

“I was at a party, and after a few drinks I thought I’d have a look at what was happening on Hinge. After a few swipes left, Bel’s profile appeared, and one of her photos was holding a big fish. Usually it’s the guys with fish photos on dating apps, so of course I was very intrigued to see what this good-looking ‘fisherwoman’ was all about, so I swiped right, and it was a match! The next day, I was with Thomas (groomsman) and jokingly said, “I think I’ve found the woman of my dreams” (as she had the fish photo), and he said, “No way… I know her!” and went on to tell me they were friends in primary school and that I should go on a date with her,” Darren explained.

With the last tendrils of a winter sunset on the water, Darren dropped onto one knee and said: “I’ve spent a lot of time fishing on this lake bank over the last 5 years, but if you say yes, you’ll be my best catch ever”. Exactly five years after they’d matched on Hinge, Darren and Belinda took a weekend away up to Bonnie Doon. “He hid the ring in his fishing tackle bag (as he knew Bel would never look in there) and even smuggled a bottle of Verve in the car and got it into the fridge at the house before Bel noticed. His plan was to film the proposal on his drone on the jetty, which usually sits in the lake at sunset, and Bel had booked a dinner for 7 pm (which, unbeknownst to her, was to celebrate); however, nothing went to plan. It had been about 6 months since we’d last been to the lake, and the water had dropped by about 40 metres, so the jetty was nowhere near the water anymore. The backup plan was to do it on the deck, but when Daz tried to test the angles on the drone, he realised it was drifting too much and would probably crash into the back door when he got down on one knee to propose. He also was hoping we’d be all dressed up ready for dinner so he could do the proposal at sunset, but didn’t take into consideration that it was the middle of winter and sunset was at 5 pm. He had no way of convincing Belinda to get ready an hour and a half early,” they shared.

“The weather had been shocking all weekend, and it had rained non-stop, but finally at about 4:30 pm the rain stopped, and the sun came out, which treated them to some pink skies, so Darren said to Belinda, “Let’s go down to the water for a walk, and I’ll take some nice pictures with the drone”. Bel’s response was, “Go play with your drone by yourself; I think I’m going to paint my nails”. Darren couldn’t believe it; Bel hardly ever paints her nails, and she’s picked now of all times to do it! She’d bought two cheap Aldi nail polishes (dark green or coral pink) and asked Darren to choose a colour. He said both aren’t great, and Bel said, “Why can’t you just be nice and support me for once?”. So Bel painted her nails and dried them by the fire, all while Darren sat on the couch, a nervous wreck, watching his ‘sunset proposal’ plans slip away. After about 25 minutes of painting and drying her nails (which felt like an eternity to Darren), she finally agreed to go down for a walk. With the last of the sunset, Darren got the drone up, and while Bel was facing the water, he dropped to one knee and told Bel to turn around. After a jump backwards and a look of shock, Bel realised what was happening!”

As a die-hard Carlton supporter, the moment Darren saw a photo of Patrick Cripps in a YSG Tailors suit in the showroom, he was sold. “Darren wore a custom tuxedo from YSG Tailors. He’s not one to shop around and look at multiple options. He liked the classic black tux look – although we did entertain the idea of a white suit jacket, but ultimately ended up with the all-black look – and he looked amazing! It was nice to customise the whole suit, including choosing his own lining and adding special embroidery on the inside.”

Darren had his three best mates and his younger brother in his wedding party, all dressed in black tuxedos from Black Tie Classic. In Belinda’s wedding party, she had her three best friends and her younger cousin supporting her. Each wearing a beautiful Bec + Bridge dress in a stunning arctic blue tone.

Belinda herself wore an incredible Milla Nova gown she found with the help of the Luv Bridal team. “Going wedding dress shopping with my mum & best friends was one of the most special experiences, something you always dream of as a little girl. I felt so beautiful trying on all the different gowns, and was really surprised by the dress I ended up wearing; it was, of course, nothing like I thought I would choose. I was very close to picking the first dress I tried on; thankfully, I had booked in other appointments with other stores, so I told them I would let them know as I had to go to the other appointments. Looking back, the first dress (which we thought was “the one”) was miles below what I ended up wearing. I loved that it wasn’t like what so many brides wear; it was elegant & timeless (and within budget!!),” she shared.

All of these soft florals were done by the amazing Rachelle from The Posie Place. Belinda didn’t have a specific vision for the flowers, so Rachelle helped her narrow down the exact types she liked most and used those to create these beautiful pieces. “We used dahlias, orchids, and hydrangeas and a colour palette of various pastels and gave her the freedom to do what she does best – and she absolutely nailed it! The flowers were vibrant and perfectly matched the vibe of our day – they were just so beautiful,” she gushed.

Both the ceremony and the reception took place at the timeless Terindah Estate in the Bellarine Peninsula. “Darren, being a lover of the ocean, only had one criterion for the wedding: he wanted to be able to see the ocean as we got married. That helped narrow down our search for a venue, and we ultimately chose the Bellarine Peninsula after spending time there whenever we went to the beach or went fishing. We visited a few venues, but we both knew instantly that Terindah was the perfect venue,” Belinda explained.

“Deb from Truffleduck welcomed us and took us around the venue; she was amazing, and we could so clearly envisage our big day playing out as we walked around – the choice ended up being a no-brainer. We lucked out on the day with the weather and were able to have our ceremony outdoors, with an amazing view of the ocean and the You Yangs in the background. We have seriously gorgeous photos from there, as well as in the lush vineyards and the private beach that you get access to.”

With her dad on her arm, Belinda walked down the aisle to “I Get To Love You” by Ruelle.

Celebrant Sally Hughes helped to bring Darren and Belinda’s dream ceremony to life. “We wanted the ceremony to be really personal, a display of our love for one another shared with the people we love the most, but also fun – not like other ceremonies. Our celebrant, Sally Hughes, is so perfect for doing just that. Something all our guests loved, and is unique to Sally, is the way she introduces the bridal party to everyone. She gives a little snippet of who they are to everyone, and a few funny remarks and inside jokes along the way: we caught our bridal party by surprise with this, and it was some of the biggest laughs of the ceremony,” Belinda explained. “We didn’t include any readings in our ceremony. Instead, Sally took the time to tell our story, and we exchanged personally written vows to each other.”

For Belinda, the best part of their wedding planning was slowly watching all of their visions become reality! “The most special moments are when you are planning, and you can actually see things coming together, and you can envisage your day. So when we first visited the venue, picking our wedding music, having rehearsals with our celebrant, etc. – all the things that make you go “ooh, this feels real now!!” The moments that build the excitement. That’s the best part!”

Laura from Perla Photography captured every moment of Darren and Belinda’s timeless wedding. Belinda actually had the chance to see Laura in action, as she had shot her brother’s wedding previously. “My brother told me how great she was, how she made you feel so comfortable in front of the camera, and I could tell you were going to get great photos. Darren and I don’t love being in front of the camera, and so to have a photographer who was going to make that part of the day feel really comfortable was really important.”

In terms of advice, Belinda had this nugget of gold to share: “Focus on the truly important parts of the wedding; don’t stress over the small stuff that the guests won’t remember afterwards and you won’t even notice on the day. Make the wedding uniquely you – after all, it is your day!” she explained. “Take vendor recommendations from friends of weddings you’ve attended – you’ve already seen the vendor in action, so that’s the best way to create a short list. Also get recommendations from the vendors you already have booked – they know who they work well with, so have good recommendations.”

The teams at Truffleduck and Terindah truly made Darren and Belinda’s wedding feel even more timeless. “The teams genuinely care about everything they do, and Darren & I really felt that. Their planning in the lead-up was excellent, and they helped keep me calm throughout. On the day, whenever I turned around needing something, they just magically appeared. Nothing was ever too difficult an ask,” Belinda shared.

“I tried to pick as many vendors local to the peninsula area, and ended up with many that had previously worked with the Truffleduck team before. This made a huge difference; having vendors that worked so well together just made everything on the day go so seamlessly.”

Instead of DIYing anything, Darren and Belinda put their full faith in their vendor dream team to bring everything together, and kept things pretty simple overall. “We bought a custom guestbook on Etsy and a Polaroid camera for guests to snap photos throughout the night and write notes in – which turned out really great. So much fun looking at all the photos & messages afterwards. I also bought the bridesmaid PJ’s and slippers from Etsy to get ready in on the morning of. I’m lucky enough to work with a graphic designer at my job, and she was so kind to create all the signage and menus for us. Without her help, that would have been a DIY situation, and I’m glad it wasn’t!! She did an amazing job.”

As they came into the reception, Darren and Belinda played a game where they had to run around and get a quick photo with all of their guests. It was just one way they made sure to engage their guests throughout the celebration! “It was our way of making sure we had a photo with every single guest on the night. The photos turned out so great!! Everyone really gets into the fun spirit of it – we had people photo bombing groups, some guests on the shoulders of others – surprises we had no idea about at the time, and only noticed when we first got the photos,” Belinda explained.

“The other fun thing we did was play the ‘shoe game’ at our reception. Darren and I sat back-to-back in front of everyone, each holding one of our shoes in each hand, and the MC (my brother) asked a series of questions; we responded by holding up the shoe of the person who was our answer. These brought out our competitive side, gave everyone a little more insight into our relationship, and brought a lot of laughs!! Questions like: Who is the better cook? Who has caught the biggest fish? Who is most likely to be the first to fall asleep tonight? etc. It was lots of fun.”

Their first dance was to Chris Stapleton’s “Millionaire”, twirling around the dance floor as guests looked on with starry eyes. “We are both lovers of country music, and Chris Stapleton is one of our favourite country artists. We wanted to pick a song with special meaning for us, not just another typical wedding song! My sister-in-law is a trained ballroom dancer (luckily enough for us), and she helped choreograph our dance. We wanted a dance that was very natural-looking and not overly choreographed – I wanted us to look like we weren’t thinking about all the steps, but instead just dancing together and enjoying being in the moment. I think we pulled it off!!”

One of their favourite additions to their reception was actually the after-dinner bites! Who doesn’t love late-night burgers?? “I think it’s fair to say I planned 99% of the wedding and this was Darren’s 1% contribution, and he nailed it. Our late-night bites were a surprise for everyone, and this was all Darren’s idea. We had McDonald’s cheeseburgers delivered at around 10 pm. The Truffleduck staff even made sure they were perfectly warm as they served them to the guests. It was an absolute hit, and the only downfall was that we didn’t order enough cheeseburgers!!”