Real Wedding - Kate & Josh, Bellarine VIC

November 29, 2016 In Real Weddings By Natalie Drum

Real Wedding – Kate & Josh, Bellarine VIC

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It was a bush meets beach vibe for Kate and Josh when they celebrated their wedding day on the Bellarine Peninsula.

Their puppy pals were by their side and while not perfectly behaved, they provided some light hearted moments, helping ease any nerves the couple felt.

Arriving in a kombi by our favourites at Hire A Kombi, it set the scene for what was a relaxed and joyous wedding captured beautifully by It’s Beautiful Here.

In Kate and Josh’s words…

The meeting.

We met through Josh’s sister, Kasey. Kasey and I were friends for a couple of years before I met Josh. There was instant sparks when we finally met but I was hesitant to pursue anything because he was a friend’s brother. Josh will say he made it his mission to make sure he was “coincidentally” at the same events I was, when he knew I was going to be there too.

There was no denying our connection though, so after we met there wasn’t much time before we started dating.

The one.

Kate: Not long after we met. I knew I was onto a good thing; something very special.

Josh: I knew she was the one very early in the piece. But I made her wait seven years before I proposed.

The proposal.

Josh: We were in a street food nook in Hanoi, Vietnam on New Years Eve, 2015. I wanted to get the diamond out of the backpack as I was nervous about carrying it around. I decided after two days of being in Vietnam, I wasn’t going to wait for a picturesque beach proposal and that New Year’s Eve was the best time to get the ring safely on Kate’s finger.

Kate: I was completely surprised after waiting seven years. He caught me off guard. I was speechless and there were tears!

The planning.

We had a look at two other locations before we decided on Terindah. We absolutely loved the feel and look of the venue with the backdrop looking over the bay and the You Yang ranges, and that there was a fantastic wet weather option. You can never be too prepared for rain, living down here! The staff were very warm and welcoming, which made the decision easy. They encouraged us to have a look around the winery and showed us the different options for ceremony placement. We also liked the idea of it being close to home, knowing that our dogs were going to be in the wedding.

Style inspiration.

As we both grew up in central Victoria near the bush, we wanted to incorporate a bit of our childhood, and have a bit of the bush in with the beach. We wanted a warm and relaxed vibe and a place where our family and friends would feel that they could relax, enjoy the food and the company, and have a boogie! The warm lighting hanging from the ceiling, candles (including our favourite Lotus flower scent from Ecoya), and smell of the hanging foliage created this vibe.

Our florist, Verity, loves working with Australian natives, which suited us perfectly. She listened to our ideas and interpreted them well, and suggested her ideas too, then incorporated her own special touch. Verity also made the dream catcher that was attached to the arbour, which added a beautiful touch. And of course, a talented and experienced wedding band was an absolute necessity to set the mood and groove for the night, our dance floor was great fun!

We had fun with some DIY projects too. Josh made the arbour that we married under. It was made from a piece of extremely heavy driftwood, used for right side of the frame. He completed the arbour with an old wharf beam bought from Timber Zoo in Geelong. Josh also made the wishing well box out of old apple crate and a palate and I made the ‘Best Dog’ and ‘Dog of Honour’ bandanas. My mum and a family friend made the bonbonieres which were small tin buckets bought from Ebay which were planted out with succulents collected from various family and friend’s gardens. Josh’s Mum and partner made a ‘J+K’ out of wood and planted it out with succulents for the reception; it looked amazing!

The dress.

My dress was from Rue De Seine; the Daisy gown. I bought it at the Bridal Atelier on High Street in Armadale, Melbourne. The girls in there were absolutely fantastic and so helpful. I had been to two other bridal shops before going to the Atelier, but they didn’t feel right. I tried on about ten gowns whilst I was there, which was great for variety! It was a really fun experience, especially having my bridesmaids and Mum there. When I tried on ‘Daisy’ I knew she was the one! I loved being able to wear a dress that I felt so comfortable in; one that I didn’t have to awkwardly adjust, and that I could’ve danced all night in. I will mention that because we only had a short time (in wedding terms) to organise things, I had to start looking at dresses pretty soon after we confirmed the date. Otherwise you can incur a ‘rush fee’ if you leave it too late.

Favourite moments.

After talking about it, both of us think the ceremony was our favourite part of our day.
Kate: For me, I was so nervous about having to walk and talk in front of everyone and the boys wouldn’t let me talk to Josh to say “good luck” or anything! When I stopped at the top of the aisle before walking down, I saw Josh and the nerves instantly disappeared. This is when I felt really special being surrounded by our beautiful family and friends. The d-floor was awesome too, because most people had a boogie! Getting ready with the girls was lots of fun too. I think we had too many espresso martinis though because I was on a bit of a coffee buzz!

Josh: When I saw Kate walking down the aisle towards me, it was a really special moment. She looked beautiful and it felt like everything in my peripheral vision just disappeared and for a short time, like we were the only ones there. Getting ready with the boys in the morning was great too, the excitement for what was to come had me buzzing but they kept me relaxed at the same time with lots of laughs and jokes. I was nervous about my speech but when the time came, and I looked around the room I realized that everyone sitting before me was very close to us and it would be no different than talking to them individually, so my speech ended up being really enjoyable and satisfying.

Traditions.

We displayed photos of our grandparents at the reception, to have them there with us on the day.

The meaning of marriage.

We feel that marriage means two people taking that extra step towards being fully committed to each other, and is an opportunity to show your love for one another in front of your nearest and dearest. It’s entwining your lives together that little bit more.
And it’s exciting to know that we each have someone to share a life time of experiences, adventures, food, dogs, laughs, cuppa’s and babies with.

Wedding soundtrack.

Aisle – Fool For You by John Butler Trio

First Dance – I got you babe by Sonny and Cher

Funny stories/ near disasters.

Lots, but probably none specifically.
Josh: We didn’t practice our first dance and Kate is particularly uncoordinated. We just had to wing it on the day and I was very proud that she didn’t break a leg. Also, one of the groomsmen kept on ringing and asking what the date of the wedding was up until two weeks before the big day! Some of the groomsmen kept me awake until all hours of the morning singing songs.

Kate: The dressmaker pulled out on making the bridesmaids dresses three weeks before the wedding. All we could do was laugh though; there was no point in getting totally stressed about it. It meant a fun shopping trip with the girls and ending up with dresses better than the original idea. We were lucky that it was heading into spring racing time so there were lots of options.

We had our dogs in our wedding. When Saffy was walking down the aisle she spotted Josh at the end of the aisle and tried to run to him, almost pulling over the bridesmaid that was walking her! She was trying to get to Josh and our other dog Turbo (who was on the boy’s side) during the ceremony too. And was trying to walk on the back of my dress. We think there must have been some rabbits in the paddock behind us getting her a bit excited. That’s just some of the challenges faced when animals are involved in your wedding, but we wouldn’t have had it any other way. We didn’t expect them to be perfect (even though we think they were). It lightened the mood and gave people a bit of a laugh throughout the ceremony.

Also, the car that we were chauffeured around the property in for bridal photos almost got bogged on the way back to kick off the reception. It could have been disastrous being stuck in the middle of a big black mud pit in a white dress. Thankfully the car was a 4WD and we just got enough traction to make the reception on time!

Planning surprises.

We quickly learnt that there’s a lot of computer time involved with organising a wedding!

Words of wisdom.

The lead up to the big day can be pretty stressful so make lots of lists! And time plans are good too. Book and secure your vendors in as soon as you can, it’s piece of mind and won’t leave you disappointed. Pay things off as you go so there’s not a big lump sum at the end. If there’s jobs that you would like people to do on the day or leading up to it, provide a list or debrief them. It’s one of the biggest days of your life; if you want something on the day, then just do it! Budget allowing, of course, I’m not talking fireworks! Not everything will be perfect, or how you pictured it in your mind, but it doesn’t matter, no one else will notice! Things happen or don’t go to plan, that’s a given. Just breathe and enjoy the day. Try not to worry about anything because if it’s not organised before the day, it’s not going to happen. Make sure you stop and take it all in too, because it goes so quickly.

The most important thing on the day is if you enjoy yourself, then everyone else will too! Have fun!!

Last words.

We loved all of our vendors! We couldn’t recommend them all highly enough!
Our celebrant Job Betz was so great and very informative in the lead up with what needed to be done for our ceremony. She even helped us with our vows. Our photographers were fantastic, they were super easy to work with and a joy to have there on the day. We are so happy with our photos and think it’s so important to have good photographers there to help capture and preserve the memories from the day, which is exactly what Kat and Scout did. Our graphic designer Emily was exceptional. She made the whole ‘wedding stationery’ process easy. Nothing was too hard or an issue for her (and there were a LOT of emails back and forth suggesting little things etc.) They were all so accommodating and were relaxed leading up to the day, and on the day itself. It felt as though everyone we worked with went above and beyond to make things easy, and our day special and just how we wanted it.