Real Wedding - Alyce & George, Marcus Hill VIC

May 15, 2016 In Real Weddings By Jo Betz

Real Wedding – Alyce & George, Marcus Hill VIC

George and Alyce woke on their wedding day to a host of comical errors – from ill-fitting rings, crazy weather, and an almost outfit mishap – it was far from perfect. However, none of this could stop the laid-back lovers and their guests enjoying the most special celebration.

They banded together their gorgeous tribe of Kombi’s, erected a beautiful Tipi, and danced the night away with their loved ones – it was one beautiful disaster.

We love this relaxed, boho-inspired wedding, and Dijana Risteska was there to capture it all.

IN ALYCE’S WORDS…

The meeting.

We met in June 2010 after I saw an ad on Carsales for a Kombi for sale. I was looking for one to take on a trip around Australia. The kombi was in Diamond Creek and I conveniently had a sister living there, so I thought I’d fly down from the Whitsundays and check it out. George said the Kombi was really inappropriate for my trip and that he had another Kombi but it wasn’t for sale. It was the kombi that was going to start his new business in Kombi hire. Well, after hearing some desperation in my voice he decided he had to let go of that Kombi and build it for me. He can’t explain why, it just felt right. Four months later after nearly a phone call a day, the Kombi (Applejack) was restored and personally delivered to the Whitsundays for me. We developed a great friendship over this time and after my trip around Australia, Applejack and I couldn’t stay away any longer. George seriously scored big time…he got paid for his kombi, got his beloved kombi back AND a brilliant, amazing, wonderful lady! haha

The one.

There was no moment that hit me in the face that George was the one. It’s just that everyday of my life he is the only man I think about. And that to me, is the one. George was won over pretty early before we were even dating apparently. He said there was one particular photo of me traveling in the Northern Territory, I was in a tree and he saw “the one”. So much so, he showed his mum and she said ‘would you believe that that girl came to me in my dreams and said she would be my daughter in law’.

The proposal.

George proposed to me on my birthday. He just got back from Sydney doing a Kombi gig, got out of the van, gave me a birthday card, got down on one knee and said some sweet words and will you marry me. I didn’t believe him because I never really could imagine George ever proposing because he always goes against ‘normal’ but here we are all hitched!

Planning process.

George and I are not the most organised people so we didn’t have websites or spreadsheets, but I guess we just both wanted the same thing. Simple, inexpensive, true to us and to have a fun time with family and friends.

We decided our farm was the most appropriate, as this couldn’t be any more George and Alyce. We also thought it would be great for our guests to be able to stumble across the road at the end of the night to the Big4 – that we live right across from. It just all fell into place really quickly by contacting people in various areas that we knew, loved and didn’t feel the need to waste any time looking any further. We felt like we just had beautiful people pull together to create a bloody great party!

We are so lucky that in our line of work we meet wonderful people daily. We always ask everyone what they do and we remember and we make a call if we need help in their line of work.

Style inspiration.

We really wanted to do a St Vincent de Paul dress/op shop dress code wedding, but we didn’t know if everyone would find it as funny as us. So we decided to create a beautiful surrounding among our kombi’s using materials and decor from Vinnies. We both love creating new things and I just collected lots of beautiful fabrics which I sewed into bunting, table runners and wrapped around trees.

I collected beautiful bottles, vases and weird and wonderful gold objects from garage sales. Unfortunately though, the weather didn’t play nice on our wedding day, it was more like a cyclone so we didn’t get to put any of it on our tables as it was far too windy.

We collected random cheap old which we now plan on having a garage sale to sell everything collected/reupholstered or give it back to charity. We just stayed true to what we could afford and what we loved as opposed to what we felt we should do. There were times I did stress a little about what people would think as George comes from a traditional Macedonian family so what we were doing was completely against the norm – but George isn’t normal so he kept me strong. We were never pressured to do it a certain way, there were a few ‘oh no you can’t do that’ moments so we decided to keep our plans under wrap most of the time.

I grew up wanting to actually be a Native American Indian and George has a tattoo of one on his back so to have a Tipi was the most AMAZING addition to our day. I don’t remember how I stumbled upon Tipi Tipi but they had just started out and I said to George if we can get a Tipi it actually doesn’t matter about anything else. My excitement couldn’t have been higher. As it turned out if we didn’t have that we would have been up a really bad creek without a paddle.

The dress.

My dress was an original 1940s french silk/lace long sleeve wedding dress from The Mill Market on the Bellarine Highway. I was telling my hairdresser how I couldn’t find anything and to get anything made would be a challenge due to short time frames. I went there a few days later and found this amazing dress. It had a puffy sleeve and really heavy lining throughout the whole thing. So again, I knew a beautiful dressmaker through a friend who put her hand up for the challenge as the lace was delicate – and we came up with this. I knew I wanted as much lining out as possible to create an elegant, boho and comfortable dress.

Favourite moment.

My favourite moment of the day was when I woke up and thought I had gastro. I was so stressed about the torrential rain and wind that kept me awake in my kombi all night that I was physically sick and could barely get out of bed. I felt so bad that all my friends and family had traveled all the way from sunny Queensland to attend our wedding on the coldest, wettest day of the year. And I felt like George’s family were used to beautiful ballrooms and powder rooms and we had a yard full of mud and porter loos – so I didn’t know how we were going to pull this day off. This was the best moment looking back, because I was at my all time lowest so everything after that was the best time of my life and I appreciated every single bit of it.

Tradition.

I think the main tradition that slipped into our day was Macedonian dancing after George’s parents slipped a CD to the DJ. It was pretty messy, crazy, uncoordinated dancing but it was the happiest Macdeonian dancing I have ever seen. It was around the fire under the Tipi and as my family are from country Queensland, it was a very different experience for them and they had a ball.

Meaning of marriage.

Marriage to us is committing your life to a person who you want to see everyday. Through the horrible days and brilliant days you still want to see that person and have a cuppa with them before bed each night. George and I work together and raise two children together..there are some days we give each other the finger behind walls or through the window – but we fit and we always will.

Wedding soundtrack.

Aisle: Lennon and Maisy – Boom Clap
Signing: The Lumineers – Flowers In Your Hair
Leaving: The Lumineers – Ho Hey
Reception entry: last minute decision, I yelled out to my bridesmaid Vance Joy and they did Riptide
First Dance: Van Morrison – Into The Mystic which Luke Legs learned for our day

Funny moments/near disasters

I think our whole day was a near disaster at some point or another. I woke up vomiting; George gave our photographer my dad’s clothes thinking they were his (even though it was a completely different look as my dad is an old cowboy); George was still running around setting up when guests were arriving and didn’t get dressed until our celebrant arrived and he ran back inside to have a shower; I locked my kombi keys in the cabin at the caravan park – so the universe was looking out for us.

I didn’t get to put any of my table decorations out; George forgot to write his vows and I wrote mine in the kombi before I drove to the ceremony; our wedding rings arrived a day before the wedding and his was too small and mine was too big (our fault as we ordered them the week of the wedding). It was so cold that we told all our guests to go and get warm clothes (in hindsight we should have gone the Vinnies theme as everyone’s receptions outfits were hilarious – they’d gone and got tracksuit pants, hoodies and whatever they could find with gumboots to stay warm). My bridesmaids and I kicked off our shoes straight after the ceremony photos and raided my cupboard for boots – the bottom of my dress now looks like a sheep’s bum with dags it is so trashed from the lace getting hooked on the boots and dragging in the mud – but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

It was the best party I have ever been to. All our caterers, Luke on music, Tony behind the bar and our celebrant honestly let down their hair down and just made the most of their time there – they helped create a brilliant high energy atmosphere for our guests to get involved with.

Words of wisdom.

If the weather was perfect it wouldn’t have been the same day we feel – so if you are having a wedding just enjoy what comes. Because the majority of our guests were traveling so far for one night we wanted them to have a great time with us. It’s so hard to sit down and talk to everyone so we just said from the start, lets just dance. Our celebrant Jo Betz, we honestly believe kicked off an amazing, true and honest ceremony. Everyone was laughing, crying and heard and watched raw emotion. We are glad we stayed within our means as the day goes so quickly. So many emotions hit you once the day is over and after the guests go home, it is just you and your husband – at the end of the day that’s all that matters. So have a celebration, stay true and try not to create a day too big for you to actually enjoy.

By the way, if you’re looking for an incredible transport option when it comes to your own wedding day, be sure to check out Alyce and George’s business – Hire a Kombi.