Their relaxed and colourful day was held at Donnelly River Village in South West Australia. Erin chose a mustard wedding dress and Glen, a smart casual combo of brown trousers and a matching mustard bow tie. The August wedding (which is winter down under remember!) played homage to the season with a colour palette of burnt orange, mustard and burgundy, particularly in the flowers. As a florist, having lots of beautiful arrangements was a must for this bride!
The wedding was a weekend-long celebration with an early morning ceremony on the second day followed by a brunch time reception. Afterwards their guests had a chance to explore the village. Then then hosted a dinner and wedding games in the evening.
“Our ceremony was meant to begin at 9:30am (it was 5°c but sunny), but due to a wardrobe malfunction (my zipper broke and I had to be sewn into my dress) I was 45 minutes late. This is where we realised that having an amazing celebrant is crucial as he was able to keep the guests entertained, along with our musicians. We had a lighthearted and fun ceremony, with tossing a coin as our way to decided who said their vows first. Our musicians (family friends) played a song they wrote specifically about us while we signed the registry. Everyone had doily cones filled with dried rose petals to throw as confetti.”
The DIY projects included the stationery (invites and welcome packs), the guest book globe, the cakes, ALL the catering, the furniture, lighting and even the bar! The bride was able to buy all the blooms at wholesale prices and had one of her colleagues put them together. “I spent the night before the wedding in the kitchen of the venue decorating the three wedding cakes with my best friends stealing the unused cake layer and poorly decorating it with the leftover decorations”, she said. “I also spent weeks painting and creating a globe guest book that got put in a corner of the reception and completely forgotten about! I made 45 metres of bunting and the mantelpiece props.”
Doing the catering themselves saved them a ton of cash, but in retrospect they do wish they’d hired people in to help. “The food was fantastic, but unfortunately some people spent a lot of time in the kitchen instead of enjoying themselves.”
Their favourite thing about the wedding was that they made it a weekend event, meaning they could spend two days with their loved ones. This gave the wedding a really relaxed vibe, and nothing felt rushed or crammed into just one day. “There was almost a festival feel to it”, she said, “and it meant we got to spent time with every single person and not worry that we’d missed anyone.”
“Don’t be afraid to break traditions,” Erin advises. “I was so worried about the reaction to the colour of my wedding dress for absolutely no reason at all! Everyone loved it! Don’t sweat the small stuff, my zip split 10 minutes before our ceremony was due to start but I kept my cool and everything worked out perfectly. Finally, everything happens for a reason; I believe that our original celebrant was meant to pull out so we could find Mark Kenny. He was amazing!”
