Real Wedding - Meghan & Sam, Bellarine Peninsula VIC

December 22, 2015 In Real Weddings By Jo Betz

Real Wedding – Meghan & Sam, Bellarine Peninsula VIC

Meghan and Sam’s beautiful winery wedding was exactly what the pair had always dreamed.

From the ocean views to the rolling vineyards and the amazing entry of over hanging trees, Meghan and Sam fell in love with the beautiful Baie Wines, and on their special day – they couldn’t wipe the smiles off their faces.

In a stunning Katie May Collection gown, Meghan wowed her new husband as they celebrated their love in their romantic, rustic-inspired setting.

Jenna Fahey-White has captured this relaxed and incredibly special day so perfectly.

IN THEIR WORDS…

The meeting.

We met ten years ago in Birchip – the small country town we grew up in – at Sam’s cousin’s 21^st birthday party. After we met we started playing in a couple of sports teams together and shortly after Sam moved into the house next door to me. After a few dates we started spending more and more time together and within a couple of month’s we were boyfriend and girlfriend.

The one.

Sam: I knew she was the one months of happiness and fun times with Meghan. I longed to be around her and knew we’d be together forever. I absolutely love cricket and Meghan says she hates it. So I knew she was a keeper when I was asleep in the car with Meghan driving and she switched the radio onto the cricket to check the score.

Meghan: When I realized how happy I was around Sam, everything felt right and we laughed so much together.

The proposal.

Meghan: Sam and I went on a holiday to Queenstown, New Zealand in August 2014 to enjoy the snow and snowboarding. After a huge day snowboarding we were exhausted and sore, so the following day we decided to go on a helicopter ride to see the sights around Queenstown and the mountains. It was the most perfect bluebird day and the helicopter landed on the snow covered ‘Remarkables’. We got out of the helicopter into knee deep snow – the view was incredible! Sam walked off a little and called me over to him. I kept saying to Sam repeatedly ‘this is so beautiful I can’t believe how amazing it is’ while taking photos on my iPhone, completely oblivious to what was about to happen. Sam turned to face me and began to tell me how much he loved me. He then got down on one knee and produced the most beautiful diamond ring I had ever seen and asked me to be his wife. Of course I said ‘YES!’

The planning process.

Many of Meghan’s girlfriends suggested bridal magazines, Pinterest and Instagram for our wedding planning and inspiration, however we already had our vision of a marquee winery wedding. We attended a number of wedding venues trying to find the perfect one that suited our personalities and what we had imagined our wedding to be. We found a number of venues that were good but just didn’t quite fit what we had imagined for us. Through Meghan’s regular Instagram-ing she found the wedding of Jimmy and Nadia Bartel which lead us to discover Baie Wines. It was perfect! From the ocean views to the vineyards and the amazing entry of over hanging trees, we knew we had found our perfect location and we were hooked!

Styling inspiration.

We had our wedding vision in our minds very quickly after we became engaged. We love the Scandinavian look that we have in our own home and we love the rustic look. We decided to tie both together with exposed wood, greys, green and white flowers and our palm leaf plates. We have experienced many cocktail weddings and formal sit down weddings and there were aspects of each that we really liked. We wanted a casual feel, but felt it was also important to sit down, so we went for a seated shared entrée plate, buffet line which was then seated and a help yourself buffet style dessert.

The dress.

It was a gorgeous Katie May Collection Dress from the Bridal Atelier on High Street, Armadale. When I first set out looking for the perfect dress with my Mum and sister Maryanne, who was also my maid of honor, I found many which were absolutely beautiful but far too traditional and classic for me. I had the idea of a backless dress in my mind and it was hard to stray from this idea. Amy at the Bridal Atelier was so lovely and helpful in helping me find my dress. I recommend the Bridal Atelier to anyone and everyone. On our wedding day my sister Maryanne was the only bridesmaid who had seen the dress and I had kept it a secret from the other girls as I wanted to surprise them. Maryanne helped me into the dress and the other bridesmaids waited out in the lounge for me to come out. The reaction from my bridesmaids was overwhelming with so much love and happiness – it was perfect.

Favourite moment.

Our favorite moment was the ceremony, especially when Meghan got to the end of the aisle and we held hands with the biggest smiles on our faces and we whispered ‘I love you’ to each other. We loved looking around at our guests – our nearest and dearest family and friends who were over joyed with love and happiness for us!

Traditions.

Meghan: We made a slight change to a family tradition on our wedding day with a family heirloom. My late Great Grandmother wore a golden brooch with rubies in it on her wedding day and passed this onto my Grandmother and Mother who did the same. Instead of wearing this brooch we decided to add it to my bouquet on our wedding day.

Meaning of marriage:

Meghan: Love and laughs forever in our future is what marriage means to us. It’s also time to move forward and begin our family. We look at our parent’s marriages and our grandparents whom have all been role models to us – we strive to have a long and happy marriage as they do.

Wedding soundtrack.

Aisle: I’m gonna be by Sleeping at Last

Reception entry: King and Lionheart by Of Monsters and Men

First dance: Thinking out loud by Ed Sheeran

Funny stories (or near disasters).

Meghan is always late – to everything in life she is late, even if there is a chance she will be early she will put on a load of washing or decide to do the dishes in the five minutes she has to spare before heading out the door and then ends up late.

Meghan was determined to be on time for the first time in her life and aimed to be at the wedding at 3.40 with the guests on the bus arriving at 3.30. En-route to the wedding, Meghan’s bridesmaid Gen got a phone call from our friend Mel who was incharge of getting people on the bus and the bus leaving on time. Mel was calling to report the bus driver was lost and that the bus was were going to arrive at the wedding at 3.35-3.40. Meghan and her squad had to pull of on the side of the road and wait until they saw the bus pull in before then continued on so again, Meghan was late.

Planning surprises.

The invite list was much more difficult than we originally thought. We both have large families and so many friends and – surprise, surprise – we wanted to invite everyone. Knowing we couldn’t was so sad for us. People are very understanding however and know how difficult it is.

Words of wisdom.

There is no need to stress – really there isn’t, everything will work out one way or another. So many people joked to me about bridezillas they have known and warned me not to be one – there was no way I was going to be one. If you cant have something or something hasn’t gone your way then stop, breath and think – it is seriously not worth stressing over. You are going to have the best day of your life.

Last words.

A videographer was suggested to me, and looking back – it is one addition I wish I could have fitted into the budget so we could rewind and press play over and over again to watch the best day of our lives. Not a necessity, but if you can then do it!