Real Wedding – Charlotte & Benjamin, Yarra Valley VIC
Char and Ben’s Yarra Valley wedding is a vision of elegant romance, tastefully stunning styling and an overwhelming sense of sweet emotion. Leaning into the charming rustic undertones of their gorgeous venue, Immerse in the Yarra Valley, Char and Ben curated a celebration as fresh and modern as it is timeless.
With the impending arrival of their beautiful twin daughters, Char and Ben gave themselves a long lead time and surrounded themselves with vendors whose work and vibe they loved. The result? A couple who are ultra relaxed and blissed-up, and a day that feels as incredible as it looks, beginning on the absolute right note with a ceremony by one of the on-demand celebrants of the moment, You’ve Got the Love.
Softening the classic monochromatic pallette with muted champagne bridesmaids gowns coalesce perfectly with the groomsmen in sharp black suits from Andre J Menswear. Char looks sleekly stunning in her fit by the always incredible Kyha Studios, with full skirts and perfectly on-point off-shoulder detailing. Minimal accessories keep the look chic and allow all eyes to be on Char’s magnetic smile, which glows from every frame by superstar photographer Tess Follett.
This day is a dopamine hit for the senses – scroll on to see all the magic.
The meeting.
Rewind to New Year’s Eve eight years ago, when we found ourselves at the Beyond the Valley music festival with different groups of friends. Luckily within these groups, there were a few mutual connections so by the end of the festival all our friends had combined, and we met amongst that.
The ‘one’.
It was a slow burn for us! After meeting that New Year’s, we became friends before sharing our first kiss six months later; from there, it was another six months until we made it official! Funnily enough, despite the slow burn, Ben does remember telling a friend in the early days that he had found ‘the one’; however, there was no big moment, so to speak.
By the time we decided to make it official, we were very connected. We hit certain milestones, including enduring a long four-month Europe trip inside each other’s pockets and living together. Naturally, our conversations were always looking to the future as to when we would get married and start a family.
The proposal.
During a break in the 2021 COVID lockdown period, we planned a week’s getaway in Red Hill, Victoria, as a belated gift to each other for our birthdays, which were celebrated in lockdown. I planned the first few nights of accommodation, activities and lunches, which was a surprise to Ben, and he did the same for me for the back end of the trip.
On the way to Red Hill, Ben surprised me with a Polaroid camera as a gift to take photos of our staycation. On the second last day, Ben had organised a fancy lunch for us, and whilst we waited for the taxi to pick us up, he asked me to take a photo of him while we were waiting and ready. As I put the Polaroid camera up to my eye, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was a complete surprise, and as I work in content, he thought it would be the perfect story to go with a photo of him on one knee – but of course, I was so surprised I dropped the camera, didn’t get the photo, and ran to him in tears.
We still went to lunch after, but Ben went another step further and surprised me again with both our families and close friends at the venue, ready to celebrate with us. It was the best end to an amazing staycation!
Planning process.
We always knew we wanted a winery wedding, so we planned a day in Red Hill and a day in the Yarra Valley scouting venues straight after the engagement. We booked Immerse in the Yarra Valley a month after our engagement in December 2021 for the 15th of December 2023. We wanted to book two years out, as we had already decided we wanted to start trying for a baby. Planning a wedding two years out was great for us and made the process very relaxing. We booked our main suppliers as soon as we could which were luckily available at that stage. Then we fell pregnant with our twin girls! We knew our girls would be seven months by the time of our wedding, so we did most of our planning in the months before I gave birth, to make sure we were as organised as possible for the wedding by the time it came around.
Style inspiration.
We always wanted a winery wedding as we find them so effortlessly beautiful, and the vibe is relaxed and fun. Immerse in the Yarra Valley was the perfect venue for us; they have a stunning chapel with gorgeous gardens and vineyards, and we knew we didn’t have to add much styling. The venue is rustic and charming and had accommodation on site for our family and wedding party, which was a bonus. The venue has a very romantic feel, so we channelled that by adding florals, cheese cloths to our wooden tables and lots of candles, which were styled by our florist, Renee from Yarra Valley Blooms.
Instagram was amazing for inspiration! Our suppliers were incredible, and we loved their previous work, so we drew lots of inspiration from their Instagram feeds and trusted them completely. Our florist offered styling and had candle and table runner hire, which made the process easy. I followed so many wedding accounts, both Australian and international, and read up on Real Weddings on Ivory Tribe. As we had two years of planning, I found following lots of wedding accounts and particularly stylist’s Instagram accounts so helpful, as I wouldn’t need to search for inspiration; photos would just appear that I liked, and naturally, over time, pinpointed the style we wanted.
The ceremony.
Our ceremony was so special. Shelley from You’ve Got the Love events set the tone, which was intimate, relaxed and very fun (we did paper, scissors, and rock to determine who would make their vows first!). Our mums walked our daughters down the aisle first before our bridesmaids, which had everyone in tears, including Ben, from the get-go; it’s a memory that will forever be so special. Shelley was such an amazing celebrant, and the vibes were certainly high post-ceremony. We wrote our own vows, surprised our bridal party by having thoughtful introductions read to our guests through our celebrant, and had our sister-in-law, who introduced us to each other, announce us as husband and wife – so the ceremony was very personal.
The outfits.
Bridal dress shopping was surprisingly an easy process considering I had no idea what I wanted. I went to two places and had lots of potential options, but when I tried on the Davis dress at KYHA Studios in South Yarra, my bridesmaids and mum immediately knew it was the one. I was four weeks pregnant, trying on dresses at the time (no one else knew!), so I ordered it in the next size up, with plans to tailor it to my body when I was comfortable postpartum.
As for my bridesmaids, I chose a light champagne colour for a summer wedding and told my five bridesmaids to pick any style they felt great in. They all loved the same style! So naturally, all wore the same.
Ben and his groomsmen had classic tailored black suits from Andre J Menswear, which were sharp and timeless.
Favourite moments.
We have so many favourite moments. Our ceremony, taking sunset photos of just the two of us with Tess Follett and Ryan Lee Adams, was so fun. It was nice to take a breather together and look back at all our guests having fun. Our speeches were incredible. We had so many people talk about them afterward. They were emotional and hilarious, and we loved watching them back even a second time when we received our video footage.
Meaning of marriage.
For us, we didn’t feel anything would necessarily change by getting married, but we wanted to make a lifelong commitment to each other as lovers and best friends. To share our vows and declare our love and respect for each other in front of our daughters, our closest family and friends was just so special to us. We embrace all of life’s greatest celebrations, so it was a day that was just so exciting for both of us.
Wedding soundtrack.
Aisle: So Into You by Tamia/Childish Gambino version (sung live by Marcus Miller)
Reception entry: You Were Right by RUFUS DU SOL
First dance: Never Too Much by Luther Vandross (sung live by Marcus Miller)
Funny stories or near disasters.
When we decided to start trying for a baby shortly after booking our wedding, it wasn’t the easiest road for us! We definitely had moments of regret and panic booking our wedding whilst trying to conceive. Luckily it did end up happening for us eventually, but having twins thrown into the mix was a big surprise! We were very thankful for our early wedding planning in the end, as getting married with two seven-month-olds is no easy feat!
Words of wisdom.
If you have the time, we wrote ‘love notes’ to each of our guests, which were part of the table stationary. We wrote a personalised message to each guest with our favourite memory of them and how grateful we were for them to be with us. Everyone felt so appreciative we did that, and it was a touch that really resonated with our guests, so we recommend it as something special to do if you can! It also takes the guilt or pressure off if you can’t get around to everyone to chat with them on the day. Another word of wisdom would be to enjoy the process as stressful as it can be! The day goes so fast, and once it’s over, you will wish you could do it all over again as it is just the best day.
Char chose stunning Harlo heels to dance her wedding night away, and we simply love her choice. For more uniquely exquisite, fashion forward footwear style, we’ve collected some of our faves, here.
CHAR & BEN’S VENDORS
Ceremony & reception venue: Immerse in the Yarra Valley. Immerse is such an incredible venue. Their team of wedding coordinators are extremely knowledgeable and attentive; we felt we were in safe hands from day one with seamless planning and correspondence both face-to-face and over email. It was lucky we found Immerse; my sister had found they were having an open day on the day we were going to the Yarra Valley to look at venues. Immerse was not originally on our hit list, as we had never heard of it before. It was the last stop on our venue scout, and we fell in love with it immediately! They often have open days, so it is worth keeping across these. The food and drinks service were unbelievable, we had so many compliments from our guests about this. The venue not only is beautiful, but offered great accommodation on site with breakfast included the next day, which made it such a fun getaway for so many of our friends and family. We can’t thank the Immerse team enough for everything they did to make our dream wedding possible.
Celebrant: Shelley Amar, You’ve Got The Love. Shelley was recommended to us by my sister, and I am so glad she put us in contact. We instantly clicked with Shelley after our first Zoom catch-up. Shelley is so down-to-earth and relaxed and knows how to craft a perfect ceremony tailored specifically to the vibe we envisioned. We loved getting to know Shelley over the journey of planning, and we can’t thank her enough for going above and beyond for our big day. Shelley also works for Top Dog Entertainment, so we also worked with Shelley for our entertainment for the day. Shelley is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to weddings, so her advice and help along the way were greatly appreciated.
Photography: Tess Follett. I had been a fan of Tess’s work for a while, and she was highly recommended by a few friends of ours, and wow, she is just incredible. We gravitated to Tess immediately after our first phone call, not only is she incredibly talented, but she is just such a lovely person inside and out. Tess made our day so special; we felt so comfortable around her, and we could not be happier with our photos; they are just perfection and memories we will cherish forever. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts Tess!
Videography: Ryan Lee Wed (Ryan Lee Adams). As I work in videography and content, choosing the right videographer for us was so important. Tess Follett recommended Ryan to us, and we are forever grateful as Ryan is so talented and captured our day so beautifully. It is clear how passionate Ryan is about his work, he not only captures all the intimate special moments but channels all the feelings on the day – watching our wedding film back was the biggest joy. Ryan is such a calming presence and was the perfect videographer for us. Thank you so much, Ryan!
Styling: Yarra Valley Blooms. Renee from Yarra Valley Blooms was so easy to work with from day one. She shared images for inspiration and offered styling to us, which made the process so much easier to have our real florals, candles, cheesecloths, and styling organized through one vendor. Renee has styled Immerse in many ways, so she has so much knowledge and is just lovely to work with. Renee, thank you so much for making our reception space look beautiful.
Florist: Melbourne Event Florals & Yarra Valley Blooms. Kevyn and the team from Melbourne Event Florals were so easy to work with when it came to our flower towers for our ceremony. They helped with any questions we had and were very professional in their service. I always knew for our real flowers (bouquets, buttonholes, reception florals) we wanted to book a local Yarra Valley florist. Renee from Yarra Valley Blooms was an absolute delight to work with – she absolutely nailed our bouquets and reception styling. A huge thank you to Melbourne Event Florals and Yarra Valley Blooms.
Hair: A Hair Stylists Secret, Darian Brazier. Darian was recommended to me by our make-up artist, Arielle, and it was so special having her be part of our day. Darian is so friendly, warm, and amazing at what she does. After our trial, I knew I was in great hands. Not only is she a pro at styling hair, but she also brought so much fun to the morning getting us girls all ready. Thank you, Darian!
Make-up: Arielle Wray. In my opinion, Arielle is one of the best make-up artists in Victoria! I have been seeing Arielle for a couple of years for make-up applications, and it was a no-brainer when I was engaged that I wanted her to be part of our day – I tried to book her as far in advance as I possibly could. Arielle, you made me and all the bridesmaids feel SO beautiful – you are beyond talented and, along with Darian, brought so much fun to our morning!
The dresses: KYHA Studios and Shona Joy
Veil: KYHA Studios
Shoes: Harlo Australia – Alexene heel
Rings: Diamondline Jewellery
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Billy J
Suits: Andre J Menswear
Stationery / Signage: Breanna Foster Designs. Breanna was incredible – sending mocks and creating designs we loved for our stationery. She created our welcome sign, seating chart, menu’s and place cards all in the style of our wedding website. Breanna is so lovely and an absolute pleasure to work with.
Entertainment: Top Dog Entertainment – Marcus Miller, our live singer & Steve Kimber, DJ were unreal. Marcus’s voice was incredible for our ceremony, canapes, cocktail hour and first dance. Steve had everyone up dancing for the reception.
Tan: Spray Aus, Brighton
