Real Wedding – Rhiannon & Gareth, Camperdown VIC
Rhiannon and Gareth chose their hometown of Camperdown as the perfect place to bring their dream wedding to life.
After 11 years, they knew exactly what they wanted out of their wedding plans – a relaxed, fun-filled affair filled with their loved ones and plenty of dance floor action!
Sweetly styled, and keeping the fuss to a minimum, their ceremony was heartfelt and the after party? One to surely remember.
Soak up the gorgeous imagery of this special celebration as captured by Brown Paper Parcel.
In Rhiannon’s words…
The meeting.
We grew up in the same small town so we had known each other for a few years, but we officially met and had our first kiss at Gareth’s sister’s 18th birthday party. He was at university in Melbourne at the time and I was in year 12 in Camperdown so there was a fair bit of travelling up and down the highway during that first year, but I joined him in Melbourne the following year and 11 years later, here we are!
The ‘one’.
Gareth remembers knowing we had something pretty special when he was working at Bulla Dairy Foods and he was going to extra lengths to smuggle home my favourite ice cream, which wasn’t in the “take home” freezer. As our celebrant Niki said, “If that’s not true love, I don’t know what is!”
The proposal.
We were on a trip around Europe, and Gareth had bought the ring with him, although hadn’t planned quite when he would ask me and had been stressing the whole trip that I would find it in his bag! We were in Dubrovnik one night, and I was sitting on the windowsill in our apartment taking a photo of the sunset whilst I waited for him to get ready for dinner. He came over to me with the ring and said “I didn’t quite know when I was going to do this but seeing you sitting here now, I think it’s the perfect time”. I love that we have the photo I had taken just a moment before.
The planning.
We were quite relaxed about planning the day. We knew we would have the wedding back in Camperdown; its where we met, both our families still live there and it’s a beautiful old town (especially in Autumn). We liked the idea of an April wedding and when the 1st of April was a Saturday, having an April Fool’s Day wedding sounded like too much fun to pass up! We didn’t want the planning to be stressful or rushed, so we gave ourselves 18 months to get organised, which meant we had plenty of time to do our research and choose vendors that suited us. We wanted to make sure the day represented us; a fun filled, relaxed celebration with our families and friends and of course good food, good wine and a band that was going to keep the dance floor full all night!
Style inspiration.
We wanted something beautiful and timeless. I love autumn colours so that was the inspiration behind the girls dresses, the flowers and make up. The buildings we were married in and held the reception are stunning in their own right and we didn’t want to do too much to take away from them so we kept the styling fairly simple. Keeping things relaxed, we went with long trestle tables, without a seating plan and shared food platters.
The dress.
I spent way too many hours looking at dresses online, there are just so many available now it’s easy to become overwhelmed! When I came across a photo of mine, I had a feeling it was the one. I made an appointment at The Bridal Atelier and although I tried a few others on while I was there to be sure, I knew I’d found it. It was modern, yet still had a classic silhouette, I loved the playfulness of the sheer skirt, and it was so comfortable that I could wear it all day and then dance the night away in it.
Favourite moment(s).
There were lots, but I think one of my favourites was just after our ceremony. Niki kept our ceremony quite light hearted with a lot of laughter, we had done well getting through our vowels without choking up and then after the ceremony Gareth’s grandma came up to give him a hug. She had been quite unwell in the lead up so it meant a lot for him to have her there, so he started to cry, so I started to cry, so my bridesmaids started to cry and we all just stood there laughing and crying, while Niki was running around trying to dab our tears without smudging our make up and everyone was waiting outside wondering what was taking us so long!
Meaning of marriage.
It’s a promise to each other, a partnership – no matter what life decides to bring, we’ll be here for each other.
Wedding soundtrack.
Aisle: Hey Ho by The Lumineers
Signing: Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes
Exit: Burn Your Name by Powderfinger
First dance: One Crowded Hour by Augie March
Funny stories (or near disasters).
I managed to get red lipstick right on the front of my dress as a climbed into the car to head to the ceremony, so we were late after spending a mad few minutes scrubbing that off!
Planning surprises.
Just how many decisions there were to make and how busy those last couple of days are! Turns out there are A LOT of things that have to come together to make a wedding happen.
Words of wisdom.
Stick to your guns. Everyone has an opinion on weddings and how they think they should go, just make sure your day is everything you two want it to be. Its probably the biggest party you will ever throw so enjoy it! There are lots of hidden costs along the way, so if you’re sticking to a budget think about your big-ticket items and the things you actually get to keep from the day, like your photos. Have fun!
For another sweet coastal celebration, check out Emma and Chris’ special day here.
RHIANNON AND GARETH’S TRIBE.
Ceremony venue: The Camperdown Court House, Camperdown
Reception venue: The Theatre Royal, Camperdown
Celebrant: Weddings by Niki – Niki is simply amazing, she helped us so much in the lead up to the day and our ceremony was everything we could have hoped for.
Photography: Brown Paper Parcel – Jess is so, so wonderful, we cannot speak highly enough of her.
Videography: The White Tree – The last thing we booked and boy, we’re glad we did!
Florist: Bouquets – O’Grady’s Florist, Event – Geelong Flower Farm
Hair and makeup: Momu Hair and Make Up
The Dress: Houghton NYC via The Bridal Atelier
Veil / head wear: One Day Bridal
Shoes: Wittner
Rings: Bride engagement – my grandmother’s, wedding band Grew and Co (they did a awesome job making my ring to fit under my grandmother’s only by seeing photos via email!), Groom’s band – Uniform Black (Rhett was fantastic, he managed to make Gareth’s grandfather’s ring into the inside of Gareth’s ring.)
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Shona Joy
Groom’s suit: Peter Jackson
Groom’s shoes: Aquila
Catering: Darren Maskell
Dessert bar: The Loaf and Lounge, Camperdown
Cake / Cake topper: Bride, flowers by Camperdown Florist
Entertainment: The White Tree
Hire: Peppersprout Hire
Honeymoon: We’re off to Scandinavia!
