A little March drizzle, clouds rolling over the mountains and the sunshine making an appearance at the perfect moment just before the ceremony. Jacqueline and Brandon’s wedding at Collits’ Inn in the Blue Mountains came with a beautiful backdrop, but it was the relaxed pace of the day that made it truly special. Fiona and Bobby and the team from Scout’s Honour Films captured it all, and we’re excited to dive right in!

At a high school trivia night, Jacqueline and Brandon first found themselves chatting thanks to a mutual friend sitting at Jacqueline’s table. They spent most of the night getting to know each other, and soon connected online, but life had other plans for a little while. Fast forward a few years, and Brandon was back in Jacqueline’s inbox! Asking how she was and if she wanted to grab a bite to eat. “We picked it all back up right where we left off.” Jacqueline shared.

Brandon wanted something a bit different for his wedding look, but still wanted something that he was able to re-wear time and time again. “I opted for a dark green wool suit with beige accents. It was interesting enough that it made me stand out as the Groom but also fit the rustic theme of our wedding,” he shared.

When Jacqueline started searching for her wedding dress, she knew she wanted something simple and romantic that still felt like herself. “I also wanted something that would still look timeless when I looked back at these photos decades from our wedding. I went to Grace Loves Lace in Alexandria as I knew they would have something that I would love, and I needed to be able to try it on in person rather than buying it immediately online,” she explained.

“I wasn’t too sure what would look good on me, so the first fitting was really just to try every style and material, which helped me rule out what I did and didn’t want. I eventually narrowed it down to a dress, but something didn’t feel quite right; it didn’t fit properly on my shoulders, but it looked lovely and seemed “good enough”. But I knew that a second fitting would really help me decide if this was or wasn’t the one. At the second fitting, I tried on two dresses: the one from the previous fitting and another similar one, just to be sure I had exhausted all the available options. To my dismay, that same first dress still didn’t feel perfect. Then, I tried on the second dress. It just clicked: it was beautiful, fit like a glove, and made me feel like myself!”

Collits’ Inn in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales was the setting for this rustic wedding. Not only did it have the space for their alfresco ceremony but also plenty of room for their barn reception! “They were incredible. They also had a contingency plan if it rained, and given we had a March wedding, it was quite possible. We also wanted it to be a bit more away from the city and embedded in nature, as we wanted it to be somewhere special,” they explained.

Brandon and Jacqueline didn’t want random flowers throughout the day; they wanted something that felt like them. Jacqueline’s favourites are roses, and Brandon’s are ferns, so they asked their florist, Tasha from The Flower Cottage, to create exactly that. “Tasha was incredible – we gave her a really simple brief, and she ran with it. No surprises that on the day, the flowers completely blew us away!”

Jacqueline walked down the aisle with her mum and dad on either side, as “Stan” by 6lack filled the air. “I didn’t want to have a song that was commonly used at weddings, and in our early relationship days, we bonded over our similar taste in music. This song was perfect: beyond being a little different from the traditional choices, its message of always supporting, encouraging and being each other’s biggest fan felt like a beautiful reflection of our relationship.”

Their ceremony was intimate and relaxed, led by their celebrant and MC, Oliver Thomson. “We wanted the feeling to be inclusive and family style whilst maintaining the spotlight on us. We didn’t want it to be too structured or too long either, as folks tend to get fidgety. We each did a reading to each other as part of the vows,” they shared.

A wedding really boils down to celebrating the couple, and for Jacqueline and Brandon, they want to remind other couples planning their big days to focus on that. “When your partner is your best friend, nothing ever feels hard. The one that you want to do life with is how you get through it. And life isn’t just the fun stuff like going on dates or watching a movie. It’s also the day-to-day things like going to buy groceries, paying bills and the mortgage,” they explained.

“But more importantly, it’s the hard stuff – who is holding you when you are going through a mental hurdle, or when tragedy strikes, or when you just don’t feel like yourself today. When you find that someone, don’t stop reminding them how much you love them and appreciate them.”

Not huge fans of staged photos, it was really important to Brandon and Jacqueline to find a photographer who specialised in candid, more casual styles of photography. Fiona and Bobby filled that role perfectly! “They took our engagement photos a while back, and we knew that they were going to be the ones we would be coming back to for our wedding day. They brought warmth, energy, and talent to our day, and it shows! They are also incredibly beautiful and kind-hearted souls – we honestly just enjoyed spending time with them!”

For Brandon and Jacqueline, there was no one vendor that stood out. Instead, they can’t help but be thankful for their entire vendor dream team, and how well they all worked to bring this wedding to life. “All of them contributed in their own way to make our wedding day as perfect as it was. If anything, it made us realise how important it was to not only be surrounded by your loved ones on your wedding day, but the people that really helped make it our day were our vendors. Please check out the list at the bottom of this feature – they deserve the spotlight!”

The five things that made this rustic wedding so romantic and special for Jacqueline and Brandon included:

“1. Brief moments of solace to recollect ourselves and enjoy the day. The importance of having quiet moments should be talked about more. We enjoyed not having to rush and being able to sit with just us in our beautiful love bubble.

2. Knowing that all of our efforts of planning had paid off. We felt relaxed on the day as our past selves had done all of the liaising, printing, purchasing, building, etc. A big contributor to this was also our vendors, as they ensured we didn’t need to worry about anything on the day. If anything did come up, they were on it before we even knew of it (or they didn’t tell us because they didn’t want us to worry!).

3. March weather was quite unpredictable, and we knew that, but we were really hoping that Mother Nature was on our side. There was a light drizzle on the morning of our wedding, which was quite stressful when you’re in the middle of getting ready. Luckily, by the time the ceremony came around, the sun started peeking through, and the clouds began to disperse. It really felt like one of those magical movie moments. Even better, we got some amazing shots of the moody clouds with the mountains in the back!

4. The intimacy of the entire wedding. We opted for a smaller guest list as we wanted to know everyone in the room and get a chance to sit down and talk to them.

5. The general comfort and vibe. It felt like a big dinner with our loved ones. Since our wedding party was staying with us at the venue, it also felt like a really big sleepover with our best friends!”

Although the main event of the day was the ceremony, for the reception Jacqueline and Brandon wanted the celebrations to feel more like a big family dinner where everyone was dressed up. “Coming from the same culture, we both understood how important family is, so it was really meaningful to create a day where everyone could sit together, eat, talk and enjoy each other’s company. Rather than having a heavily structured or traditional agenda, we wanted the day to feel relaxed, warm and genuinely like a celebration with our family,” they explained.

“Aside from the atmosphere we wanted to create, we also loved having Polaroid cameras throughout the day because they captured little moments as they happened. There’s something special about only having one shot – the photos don’t need to be perfect; they’re about capturing a genuine moment and the memories that come with it. It really shows, too, because when we look back at the photos in our guestbook, we recall the moments when they were captured.”

Neither Brandon nor Jacqueline would call themselves dancers (” we are both fist-pumping, head-bobbing, jumping-on-the-spot people at best.”), but they were dedicated to bringing the energy for their first dance. “It also took a lot of motivation to practice, mainly because it’s just not something we would naturally gravitate towards. We chose to dance to “Would You Still Love Me?” by Brian Nhira. It was a song we had on our shared Spotify playlist back in high school and something we continued to carry forward with us,” they shared.

One of their favourite shots captured by Fiona and Bobby is these couple moments with the moody mountains in the background. “Completely candid and totally unplanned – we’re pretty sure we were just having a conversation between us as we took it all in,” they shared.

Congratulations to Jacqueline and Brandon on this beautiful celebration. Huge thanks to Fiona and Bobby for capturing all of these moments, and to Oliver Thomson for sharing it with us!