Real Wedding – Brittany & Luke, Phillip Island VIC
Fun ceremony followed by old school house party? Ah – yes please!
Brittany and Luke followed their hearts when it came to the inspiration for their dream day – relaxed, chilled out and a great time for all.
The Shearing Shed at Phillip Island proved to be the ideal venue to host this uplifting non-traditional wedding celebration, not only stunningly situated but with a team that made the day feel truly effortless.
Choosing to forgo traditions that didn’t feel like them meant Brittany and Luke both felt relaxed and excited leading up to and throughout the day, and importantly, when they look back, they adore every choice they made.
Their only regret? Not adding a bucking bull to the reception.
Read on to enjoy every perfectly personal moment, captured by Claire Davie Photography.
The meeting.
We met online in September 2014. We spoke for around six months before finally meeting because Luke was a bit too anxious.
Our first meeting wasn’t even a date, it was just a quick 10-minute catch-up in a car park after work to break the ice. For our first proper date, we went down to Mornington and shared a pizza and juice on the grass in the sun.
The one.
Luke: What first drew me to Brittany – I thought she was so beautiful and that she just seemed different to anyone I had spoken to, like she had her head screwed on for a 20-year-old at the time, which really intrigued and interested me.
Brittany: What drew me to Luke was that we always had such amazing conversations, and I felt like our values were aligned with one another. He was just different to anyone I had ever met before.
The proposal.
The proposal happened nine years later, in our home we built together, on the 31st of March 2024 (Easter Sunday). Luke proposed this way because it just felt like us, surrounded by our beautiful Border Collie, barking while he got down on one knee and popped the question. Before, we had a day spent celebrating Easter with our closest family.
Planning process.
The planning process was definitely somewhere in between smooth sailing and a wild ride; we planned it all ourselves, with Brittany handling a lot of it, including all of the emails, which she did incredibly. A lot of stress, but worth it in the end.
We chose The Shearing Shed because it was just us. We knew the second we had our viewing that it was the place we needed to get married, you could say The Shearing Shed was love at first sight. The venue, the grounds, the barn, the courtyard, the whole place just fitted into exactly what we both had in our heads and hearts.
Style inspiration.
The overall vibe we were going with for our wedding was for it to be relaxing, a day where our guests could come and chill out and have a great time. The idea that we had our heads was a ceremony in the beginning, followed by an old school house party afterwards.
We are so glad we made the day ours, that being not following tradition. Changing up the day, minimising speeches, cutting the cake and doing our first dance early to get all of the formalities out of the way to give us more time to enjoy our day and relax. Which actually gave us from 7:30pm onwards to just take it all in and celebrate. We are also so glad for following our gut and not listening to traditions with outfits. The boys and groom not wearing suits, and the bridesmaids not wearing typical bridesmaids’ dresses.
We made the day a reflection of us and it paid off.
The only thing we wish we had done was add a bucking bull to the reception for a bit of solid entertainment.
Planning surprises.
There weren’t really any challenges during planning, we had an idea in our heads on exactly what we wanted and the vibe we were going for and when talking to our vendors, everyone was excited and on board to deliver what we were after which helped massively.
The outfits.
Luke had an idea in his head for what he wanted to wear – keeping it very 1950’s styled. Given the chance, it was possibly a hot day, which it was, the thought of wearing a full suit was a no-go, and given he likes his fashion and to push the boundaries, the idea of doing something completely left field for a wedding was something he wanted to do.
Our thought for the bridesmaids was a similar thing, something different and not your everyday bridesmaid’s dress, keeping it light and comfortable and not a long, sticky, silky dress. Being a light yellow, it also matched what the boys were wearing, being brown, beige and olive green. Perfect to match the flora and rustic scenery at The Shearing Shed.
The big day.
Luke – The morning of was definitely full of nerves, not much sleep the night before, not really eating during the day, but once the day had started, my mind was busy with things in the morning dropping things off to the venue then washing the 4wd’s and grabbing a coffee with my groomsmen in Cowes then heading back to the AirBnB for my parents and Nonna to arrive and wait for Claire (photographer), Rachel (videographer) and Jimi (content creator) to do what they do best. After that it was back to the venue to finish setting a few things up and checking into the accommodation for Brittany and I for after the wedding, which followed by a chaotic 25 minutes for myself and the groomsmen to get ready before making our way to the venue for Brittany and I’s first look.
Brittany – The morning was quite calm for me. The girls and I allowed plenty of time to get ready because I knew that if I was rushed, I’d be super stressed! I was pretty nervous all morning and didn’t get much sleep the night before, but I think the adrenaline pushed me through the day. Everything ran smoothly, and all our vendors were amazing, which really helped calm the nerves knowing everything was under control.
Favourite moments.
Luke: To me, the whole day was emotional; it was a mixture of nerves, love and the feeling of all of these people closest to us being there to celebrate a day which was just for us, not to mention a rush of emotions from 12 months of planning coming together.
Brittany: The most emotional part of the day for me was probably our first look. Just getting to that moment together and having it for just us before the craziness properly began was such a surreal feeling and a bit of a ‘we made it moment.’
Words of wisdom.
Do what you want to do. Don’t worry about what family or friends think, it’s your day.
The day is stressful enough as it is, if you’re not comfortable doing speeches or a first dance, don’t do it.
Do a first look to get a bit of the nerves out of the way and some of the photos done, which gives you more time to spend with family and friends.
Plan the day in a way where you can enjoy it, and when you look back, you can say you actually had a great time. The day goes extremely fast, as most people would hear from people who have got married, but 9/10 those people don’t actually spend time enjoying the day they planned. They blink, and it’s done because they spent the whole time running around. We are firm believers that the wedding should reflect the couple who are getting married, not what time and traditions say a wedding should be.
Also, make sure your food and music are on point!
Last words.
Married life so far has been nothing short of amazing, from 10 years of a relationship to now calling each other husband and wife is the greatest feeling ever. Not to mention, we are now expecting a little baby girl too. We can’t wait for the future.
BRITTANY & LUKE’S VENDORS
Our vendors all nailed their roles.
The Shearing Shed made our life so easy, ticking things off in the background and running the day to the exact minute of our run sheet, they made the day feel so effortless we didn’t even think about what was going on. They also nailed the food!! We still hear about it six months later, how good the food was, which is such a big win in our eyes. Food can make or break a wedding.
Claire, Rachel and Jimi just capturing the moments that we will now hold onto forever. Bossing everyone around while executing their jobs perfectly.
The DJ for nailing the tunes, taking our playlist of 95% pre-2010 music and creating a night of music and nostalgia that everyone could enjoy and dance to.
Lily with her amazing voice and her guitarist Chris for serenading the ceremony and our first dance.
Steph, our celebrant, for being her quirky self and setting the tone for the day, The Florist, Photo Booth girls, Brittany’s sister for nailing her make-up and her hairdresser from a little shop in Beaconsfield that came down and perfectly did everyone’s hair.
Plus, everyone else involved just did an amazing job that we will forever be grateful for.
Can’t forget to mention Cassandra Mamone for the amazing wedding bands (and engagement ring).
Ceremony & reception venue: The Shearing Shed, Phillip Island
Photographer: Claire Davie
Videography: Rachel Mary Films
Photobooth: The Photobooth Girl
Content Creator: Jimi Jean
Video Guest book: Here’s To You
Celebrant: Celebrant.Steph
DJ: Luke Fakos – Fakos Events
Signage / Stationery: Sea and Paper
Cake: Bake Haus
Make-up: Alannah Artistry
Hair: Astonishing Hair
Bride’s dress: Kyha Studios
