Real Wedding – Adam & Laura, Dromana VIC

For Laura and Adam, who had both grown up surrounded by leafy nature, incorporating this into their day formed the sensibility of their aesthetic style. With dreamy Tanglewood Estate as their backdrop, Wanderlust and Wilflos nailed the “romantic Garden of Eden” ethos.

Laura stuns in a breathtaking Marquise Bridal gown, while Adam elevated his Bond-inspired look with an ivory tux. Against the abundantly exquisite floral backdrop, legendary photographer and videographer Jerome Cole has captured their radiant glam to perfection.

Scroll on to see how this gorgeous day came together through cohesive wedding planning and a strong sense of personal vision.

The meeting.

We first met in 2014 at a Law School Welcome Garden Party. We were instant friends. Nearly two years later, we woke up one day and realised we were in love with each other – and have been inseparable ever since.

The one.

Adam: When she made me laugh so hard I couldn’t breathe.

Laura: When I heard him play piano.

The proposal.

It was actually a bit of a saga! We were up on the Gold Coast for the week on a last-minute workation. Adam went up with the ring stashed in his work bag with no idea if or when he would propose.

On the Saturday, we’d planned to go for a hike through a rainforest. Adam thought, “What a perfect opportunity”.

I was so excited to go that I was pushing Adam to get ready as quickly as possible, watching the whole time, so he didn’t have an opportunity to sneak the ring out of his bag and into his pocket. We had a wonderful hike through the quiet forest, with so many birds, waterfalls and no one else around. But no ring. At one point, I said, “This is the most beautiful place in the world”. Perfect opportunity out the window.

But Adam is a stubborn man. Later that day, he thought we should go to Currumbin Beach. We arrived late afternoon for a walk and headed up to the lookout over the water. Adam thought, “Also, not a bad opportunity”, but before he could take action, a swarm of loud kids ran up to the lookout, which sounded the death knell for any romantic vibe. Strike two.

As we walked along the beach, we headed out onto a cool rocky outcrop, which, Adam thought, had the prospect of a bit of peace and quiet to finally get down on one knee. “Not so”, said the many people waiting for the sunset. “Absolutely not”, said Laura, an aficionado of Bondi Rescue who was watching the rising tide slowly cut us off from the beach like a hawk. Fear of being dashed on the rocks wasn’t very conducive to a relaxed proposal, so back to the sand we went.

As we headed back towards the car, Adam was considering whether the universe was conspiring against him. Luckily, sunset hit. And what a sunset. Pastel pink, orange, yellow and blue lit up the sky. The beach looked magical, and I said so as she turned around to take a photo. Adam looked around the beach – not a person in sight – now or never. When I turned around to see Adam on one knee, I was stunned. I didn’t hear Adam ask me to marry him the first time – I felt like I “blacked out”. So he had to ask again. I’m not easy to surprise, but Adam’s spontaneity helped not to give it away. It was the most special moment.

So, really, despite the hiccups along the way, it was the perfect proposal. Adam still likes to remind Laura how unintentionally difficult she was throughout the whole day (she agrees!).

Planning process.

Honestly? It was fitting in planning whenever we could amongst many of our friends getting married/having babies/turning 30! It was a huge year, which made it so much less stressful as we made decisions quickly and didn’t have time to overthink anything. We genuinely loved every second of the planning and preparation for the day.

Style inspiration.

Laura grew up on a farm and Adam in the leafy burbs, so we knew we wanted nature to be a big part of the day. We wanted to highlight natural elements and keep everything else classic and minimal. Tanglewood Estate provided the perfect setting, and our phenomenal wedding stylist and florist absolutely nailed the ‘romantic Garden of Eden’ vibe.

Real weddings were the biggest source of inspiration for us! Especially seeing weddings that vendors we followed on socials had been part of. It was helpful to understand what was realistic and achievable and to draw creative inspiration from.

The ceremony.

We’d initially planned to have our ceremony outside but made the call to move it inside around lunchtime as rain was forecast. Luckily, we did because there was a huge storm right before our ceremony (we’re talking about a torrential downpour). We huddled in the house next to the ceremony space and made a dash over when it was time to walk down the aisle.

We each walked down the aisle with both our parents and running through the garden with our families in the rain was so fun and exhilarating. The minute we stepped inside, it took our breath away. The only way to describe it was magical. It was so intimate and cosy (even more so because of the storm outside!), and the incredible floral installation created this ethereal atmosphere. Having our close friend Tom as our celebrant made us feel so at ease (he was stellar), and it was undoubtedly our favourite part of the day.

The outfits.

Laura: The Harvey gown from Marquise Bridal was the first dress I tried on. I had seen another bride wearing it on Instagram and went to Marquise specifically to try it. The minute I put it on, I knew it was the one. It was completely different from what I thought my wedding dress would be – I tend to be very minimal in what I wear, and this dress was sparkly and form-fitting – but everything I tried on after paled in comparison. Making a day of trying on wedding dresses and having brunch with my mum, sister, and mother-in-law was one of my favourite parts of the planning process!

Adam: I wanted something classic but a bit different to a black tux. I also wanted something a little bit James Bond, so the ivory tux I settled on was perfect – it looked great in the black and white photos we got. I also wore personalised cufflinks engraved with the faces of our sausage dogs, Theo and Lola (who would have been there if we weren’t hyper-aware of how loud they would be!).

Favourite moment.

Other than our ceremony (see above), it would have to be our first look. We chose to have our first look in Tanglewood’s 110-year-old timber chapel and it was such a beautiful, private moment to have before the crazy fun of the rest of the day.

Meaning of marriage.

Getting to spend all the big and small moments with your best friend.

Wedding soundtrack.

Aisle: Bloom by the Paper Kites and Can You Feel the Love Tonight (Haley Klinkhammer version) – sung by our incredible duo Charlotte and Joey from Unplugged Entertainment.

Reception entry: Come and Get Your Love by Redbone.

First dance: Forever You and Me by The Teskey Brothers.

Special mention to our last dancefloor song: Gimme Gimme Gimme by Abba.

Funny stories (or near disasters).

Definitely the proposal saga and storm on our wedding day (see above)!

Planning surprises.

How far in advance things book out! If you have preferred vendors – book them in as early as you possibly can.

Words of wisdom.

Don’t second guess yourself, remember that even if on the day it doesn’t go exactly how you planned in your head, it doesn’t really matter as long as you embrace it and have an amazing time, and your vendors are everything so choose people you really click with.

Order as many cake-tasting tester boxes as you can. There are so many different flavours of cake and when else do you have the excuse to do so?!

Love a wedding filled with gorgeously abundant florals and stunning styling? Gerardine and James’ Stone of the Yarra Valley soiree is equally breathtaking, in a colour palette of cornflower blue and crisp whites, and infused with personality.

ADAM & LAURA’S SUPPLIERS

We found our suppliers through word of mouth/referrals, Instagram and Googling! With Instagram, in particular, we relied heavily on wedding blogs like Ivory Tribe and vendor accounts we liked for inspiration.

Ceremony venue: We live on the Mornington Peninsula, and whilst we were looking at venues all over the state, when Tanglewood Estate came up in our Google searches, we were immediately in love with its relaxed, rustic vibe. The fact it was 20 minutes from home was a bonus. The team from Tanglewood were amazing: responsive, accommodating, and so much fun!

Celebrant: Our celebrant, Tom, is a close friend of ours from university. He had just done his celebrant’s course, so this was his first wedding, and he absolutely smashed it. His professionalism shocked us (not that we don’t believe in you, Tom!), and he knows us so well that he told our story perfectly. He got so many compliments and is now taking bookings for other weddings!

Photography: Laura had been a fan of and followed Jerome Cole on Instagram for years – long before we got engaged or even knew we would get married. As soon as we started wedding planning, we arranged a meeting and we clicked instantly.

Videography: We were so lucky that Jerome decided to start doing videography not long before our wedding, so of course, we booked him to do both!

Styling: Laura from Wanderlust Creative. There aren’t enough words. From bringing our vision to life to counselling us through a 20-40mm rain forecast, Laura was our rock. Again, we had found her on Instagram and were such huge fans of her work, but we had no idea how big a role she would play in our day, and its success was largely because of her. She is a true artist.

Florist: We were connected with Nat from Wildflos through Wanderlust but might have found our way to her regardless, and she had done florals for our friend’s wedding that we loved. Nat is an absolute magician and completely blew us away with her incredible floral installations.

Hair: Rhodia Makeup and Hair and Jaytee Hair. We were referred to Rhodia by one of Laura’s best friends and found Jenn on Instagram. Rhodia and Jenn were so calm, friendly and absolute masters of their crafts. Jenn went way above and beyond on the day, staying behind voluntarily to help Laura into her dress, put finishing touches on everyone, take photos and videos and ensure we got off to the venue without a hitch. We had never met before and she was so kind – we would have been lost without her.

Make-up: Rhodia Makeup and Hair and Sienna Daisy Makeup. Both are magicians and wonderful people. We were referred to both through friends and other makeup artists.

The dress: Marquise Bridal. From start to finish – this was the best dress experience we could have asked for. Every single person we dealt with at Marquise seemed genuinely invested in our wedding (even though they do this all the time). Laura looked forward to every fitting and was so sad when it was over and the dress was finished!

Veil: Laura’s veil was also from Marquise. Two tiers for the drama.

Shoes: Bared Footwear for both. No blisters or sore feet here. Laura changed into sparkly Keds halfway through the dancefloor for fun!

Rings: Whilst we always wanted to choose rings together if we did get engaged, Adam proposed with a beautiful shell ring made by Kate Macindoe – a friend of Laura’s. Laura now wears it on her other hand. Laura’s engagement ring and Adam’s wedding band are from Cullen Jewellery. Laura’s wedding band was made by J Edwards Jewellery, a family friend from the Peninsula. All experiences could not have been better – we loved the process of trying on different styles together and deciding what suited us.

Bridesmaid’s dresses: All Rachel Gilbert. Laura searched every corner of the internet for dresses she liked, and it wasn’t until visiting Rachel Gilbert by chance, as it was next door to Bared Footwear, that we found the gorgeous Matteo dresses.

Suits: Adam could not rate Angela Nicolades highly enough for his bespoke tux – he felt like a million bucks. It was a brilliant experience at her Richmond studio and Angela was so helpful, kind and patient every step of the way. The groomsmen’s black tuxes were from Formal Red – Carl and the guys there were awesome all the way through fittings to delivery.

Bow ties / ties: Bow ties were all also Formal Red numbers.

Catering: Tanglewood referred us to Finesse Catering Group. Kym and her team were absolutely amazing – we got so many compliments on the food!

Bar: Provided through Tanglewood.

Favours: Our favours were handmade by our mums: Laura’s mum made her grandma’s shortbread, and Adam’s mum made his Nonna’s Sicilian spicchiteddi. These were lovingly packed by our families and tied using recycled ribbon.

Cake: Niko’s Cakes. We saw a picture of a cake they had made on Google and the rest was history! They were great to deal with and it tasted as good as it looked.

Stationery / Signage: Paradise Invitations – another Google find. We couldn’t recommend them enough – the process was so easy, and their stationery is beautiful and affordable (particularly for handmade paper).

Entertainment: Unplugged Entertainment (also found on Google) – we had the amazing Charlotte and Joey as our acoustic duo for the ceremony and cocktail hour, and then Joey as a DJ for the dance floor. They are insanely talented!

Transport: Victorian Bus Charters

Décor and hire: Table Art Linen Hire, Cloth and Confetti, Social Hire, Peninsula Party Hire

Honeymoon: We adventured around Southeast Asia for two months – 99% planned by Laura (Adam is a very relaxed traveller, and Laura basically takes travel planning as a hobby).

Other: At the Beep Audio Guestbook (found through Google) – we loved listening to people’s messages whilst on our honeymoon!