Real Wedding - Sarah & Tyson, Ballarat VIC

September 13, 2017 In Real Weddings By Natalie Drum

Real Wedding – Sarah & Tyson, Ballarat VIC

Sarah and Tyson planned their perfect day within five months of being engaged, and threw a party like no other.

With stylish greenery and gold accents, the decor was simple and elegant, perfectly suited to the industrial vibe of uber cool venue, Housey Housey.

Enlisting the photographic expertise of Kas Richards, Sarah and Tyson’s fun-filled love affair was documented beautifully.

In Sarah’s words…

The meeting.

Queen’s Birthday weekend, 2009. Tyson caught my eye, he would say due to his devilish good looks but I would also add because he was wearing an Australian flag as a cape. I’ll admit I have a thing for dorks.

The ‘one’.

I knew he was the one when I noticed how much happier I was in myself since being with him. I laughed more and was content being who I wanted to be not who thought I should be. He also is a massive cat person and treated my cat, Mittens like our baby (now our cat…more like his cat, she chose her favourite parent). Massive brownie points for that!

The proposal.

After seven years of dating I got proposed to on the isle of Mont Saint Michel, Normandy, France. We had been travelling for five weeks and he waited till the second last day. How he managed to keep me from finding the ring or not losing it will always baffle me.

The planning.

We always knew we didn’t want a long engagement, so five months was perfect for us. It may have helped that I had basically already planned our wedding years ago on Pinterest. We decided early on our special day was to focus around amazing food, lively entertainment and unlimited booze. A big party rather than a day full of traditions/formalities and thankfully it was exactly that.

Style inspiration.

I’m not going to lie, I absolutely loved styling our wedding! 2am on night shift was my peak for creativity. However, our ceremony and reception locations basically styled themselves. Our ceremony was set in the lush gardens of Kirks Reservoir. We were married in front of our bespoke golden archway covered in foliage and botanicals. We kept the style of greenery with accents of gold flow into our reception venue. This suited the industrial and raw vibe of Housey Housey perfectly. Our florist and venue coordinator were amazing in helping me bring our vision to life.

The dress.

I tried on one dress and bought it then and there. I had my eye on the Jasmine dress by Lover the Label for ages. Within two weeks of being engaged I had my dress! I found a second-hand Jasmine on StillWhite.com being sold by a lady an hour away from me. My Mother and Mother-in-law joined me on my road trip and we made a day of it. I knew the second I tried it on it was the one. I love that it was comfortable to wear. It didn’t restrict any of my awesome dance moves and I was able to go to the toilet without assistance. Win!

Favourite moments.

The whole day was an incredible blur of favourite moments but Tyson being slapped across the face by his brother/best man was definitely a stand out. We wrote our own vows and Tyson bless his heart struggled to get through his without emotions taking over. He turned to his groomsman for moral support. Dale being a good brother recognised him struggling and gave him a manly “you’ve got this” tap on the cheek. Which did in fact work, so kudos!

Tyson’s Dad marrying us and his younger sister singing me down the aisle were also huge highlights.

Meaning of marriage.

After being together for seven years, marriage wasn’t really a change to our relationship. It has been interesting how many people have asked what’s it like being married and if things are different. We reply honestly, that it is no different and if it was we would be a bit worried. Between us we know what we mean to one another and what our relationship is. The wedding/marriage was pretty much an opportunity to throw a big party and get all our friends and family together in one place.

Wedding soundtrack.

Aisle: All I Want is You by Barry Louis Polisar (acoustic performance by Tyson’s sister Bree)

Reception entry: Africa by Toto

First dance: Old Love by Lior (performed by our wedding band the Baker Boys)

Father-daughtee: Choreographed dance

Funny stories (or near disasters).

We attempted a ceremony rehearsal the day before our wedding with our celebrant, Tyson’s Dad. The day had been so busy setting up the reception and confirming all the last minute details that when we got to the reservoir and Tyson’s Dad said “do you have a print out of what you want me to say” both of our faces dropped. So on the day we had no idea what was coming and thankfully 20 + years of performing weddings well equipped Ross to improvise.

It all ran super smoothly and in reality we enjoyed not having that structure, making for a relaxed and fun ceremony.

Our first kiss was missed, only being noted by Tyson as we were signing the marriage documents. He whispered to his Dad and he very casually replied “oh yeah probably should have by now, just do it when you get back up there”. I found out later that our guests did notice the deviation from tradition but thought we had done it on purpose, that we wanted to kiss officially as husband and wife. A welcomed accident.

Planning surprises.

That it was easier and more fun to plan than I had anticipated! Naturally being quite a highly strung and anxious person I surprised myself in how I handed the planning process. I think Tyson and the people who know me best would agree!

Words of wisdom.

Don’t let the planning consume your relationship and quality time together. Have one night a week for a working dinner date.  The more the night goes on and the more glasses of wine, the easier the decisions become.

Invest in a videographer! We weren’t going to have one originally but it was one of the best decisions we made. Photos are one thing but having a video that captures moments you may have missed, like your partner getting ready and how nervous they were or the look on your guests’ faces when you walk down the aisle.