Real Wedding – Al & Imogen, Freshwater Creek VIC
What we adore about Al and Imogen’s celebration is the fact that this pair said a big ‘hell no’ to tradition and instead made every aspect of their day completely about them and what they truly wanted.
In Freshwater Creek, where they also live, they combined their own talents, along with their family and friends to create a day focused on love and fun and they showcased their DIY skills in spectacular style.
Choosing to spend the night together the night before, Al zipped his bride-to-be into her dress before they hit the aisle. Easing any nerves so there was only a sense of huge excitement.
Set in an olive grove, they exchanged vows before they partied into the night. Think festoon lights, an outdoor dance floor, bell tents and fabulous food and drinks.
Kas Richards was behind the lens and we think you will agree that this celebration brings nothing but a big smile to your face.
In Imogen’s words…
The meeting.
Our love story started in August 2012. On a whim at Al’s sister’s 21st birthday, he decided to stand up and say a few words – his words caught my attention. The next day I tracked him down and asked him out for a drink. I remember feeling instantly attracted to Al, I found him incredibly charming and funny.
Al remembers my life was like nothing he’d experienced before, it was bright, weird and energetic. He remembers the first night we hung out where I talked all night big ideas and dreams.
The next morning after staying up all night talking, we walked down Sydney Road for breakfast, Al remembers I took his hand in mine. He said it felt natural which also felt strange because we barely knew each other.
The one.
Before we met, I had already decided that after uni I was going to move to London, however now that I’d fallen in love, I didn’t want to leave. Al told me “I’m not going to be the reason you don’t go”. Al broke up with me the night before I left and pushed me onto the plane. When I arrived in London, I turned on my phone to a message saying “I take it all back, I love you and I want to be with you.”
The proposal.
Over the years we have realised that the best things in our relationship have come as a result of making big decisions. Moving away, starting our businesses, quitting our day jobs.
Like every decision made in our house, getting married was a choice we made together. Rather than a grand proposal our engagement came from a conversation one morning during a walk at Point Addis beach. On-top of the cliffs we decided we would like to make the commitment to each other.
We set a date to go ring shopping and because I didn’t feel it was fair only the women got a present, I booked an appointment with a local shaper to get Al a custom-made surfboard.
On a typical rainy Melbourne day, we strolled through the city stopping for coffee and searching for rings. We eventually found a gorgeous (very old) citrine and pearl ring tucked away in the back of a tiny antique jeweller. We matched Al’s surfboard to my ring; yellow and white – a daisy in the middle with IMO written in it.
Al still wanted to ‘propose’ and about a month later we were in Sydney on a work trip and I took him to the beach where I lived when I was a little girl, we watched the sunset over a pizza and he dropped to one knee.
Planning process.
Choosing a venue was the easiest part of our planning, Freshwater Creek Cottages is a neighbouring farm to us and Marissa (owner and absolute godsend) made us feel like anything was possible. We walked through the olive grove dreaming of dancing under the stars, we also know the Noble family who planted the olive trees in the mid 90’s which made the place feel extra special.
Knowing that almost all of our guests would be travelling quite far to celebrate with us we really wanted to make sure that logistically it was made easy for them. We arranged beautiful bell tents via Twilight Glamping and showers and toilets through Paddock Dreams which meant everyone had a place to stay for the night, plus it really made our wedding weekend that much more fun!
DIY is in our DNA – we’re creators and makers so naturally we wanted to do a lot of it ourselves. We are also blessed to be surrounded by some incredibly talented family & friends who all rallied around us offering their skills to help us pull off our dream day.
The week leading up to the wedding was almost just as fun as the day itself, we had so many people come to help us which was such a lovely way to catch up with old friends. We are inspired daily by all the cool stuff our family and friends get up to and we feel truly honoured that our wedding was a showcase of the talent we live amongst… and damn it felt good seeing it all come together!
Style inspiration.
We moved to Freshwater Creek just over three years ago and absolutely love it down here! We were so excited to have the opportunity to gather together with our loved ones here and celebrate not only our commitment to each other but also to share with them where we’ve chosen to set up and do life. We really wanted the day to hero our new lifestyle and showcase how beautiful it is down here.
Our dream from day one was to ‘dance under the stars’ – we designed the entire wedding around the position of the dancefloor – even moving the rustic shed turned bar to suit. Festoon lights were strung through the grove, over the dancefloor and to the bar. At the very last minute I got my hands on a disco ball which definitely worked as a party-starter.
We chose styling pieces that felt right at home on the farm, rustic furniture, vintage crates – foliage from the olive grove and fruit from the orchard. We used large fruit crates from the farm and placed ply lids on top with umbrellas to serve as food & drink stations – the food itself served as styling, featuring lots of fresh, quality produce. A prosecco bar surrounded by fresh fruit and juice meant guests could help themselves to top ups.
The dress.
Many moons ago I studied Fashion at university and I think I always felt deep down that I wanted to make my own wedding dress. I love a challenge, and this absolutely was one of the most stressful tasks I have ever taken on…we called it the “stress dress”. Going against all the traditions of the groom not seeing the dress, Al actually helped with the design and fittings. 2 weeks before the wedding I had a meltdown and totally changed my mind on the bodice, I called Al and he said “what dress have you worn in the past that you felt great in? Replicate it. ” So, I pulled one of my favourite dresses out of my closet and copied the neckline.
I kept it simple with accessories – gold and pearls to match my engagement ring. I did have a veil that I had made, it was a super cute silk tulle bow that hung to my shoulders… to this day I haven’t been able to find it!
Stepping into my handmade dress on the day felt really good and having Al zip it up felt even better! I’ve since boxed it up with my mother, grandmother and great grandmother’s wedding dresses which also were all handmade.
Favourite moment.
There are so many special moments that I wish I could just relive again and again but Al and I both agree that the ceremony was our favourite part of the day. It was so heartwarming to look out and see all of our favourite people in the world gathered amongst the olive trees. A dear family friend of Al’s is a fabulous actor and stood in as our celebrant, having Phil orchestrate the ceremony made it feel really special and is a memory that we’ll both hold forever in our hearts.
Meaning of marriage.
Marriage to us is a celebration of equality, teamwork and the community of love you have around you. It’s to champion and challenge one another to grow into your best self. Love knows no boundaries and we are so happy that same sex marriage is recognised in Australia. It’s to see every challenge in life as an obstacle that you’ll face together, and it empowers you to take on bigger and bigger dreams because we know you will always have the other person in you corner. Life together should feel limitless.
Wedding soundtrack.
Walk down the aisle – Here Comes the Sun, The Beatles.
Signing Docs – This Must Be The Place, Talking Heads
Just Married – Everyone’s A Winner, Hot Chocolate
First Dance – Loving you Baby, Charles Bradley
Funny stories (or near disasters).
The weather! Either side of our wedding was disaster weather, I’m talking lightning, hail, sideways rain, gale force winds and super chilly temps! It was raining the morning of and apparently bucketing down in Melbourne where many of our guests were coming from. But by some miracle the afternoon turned into a calm and balmy 29-degree day with not a cloud in the sky!
Planning surprises.
I’m a total commitment phobe when it comes to shopping…. There are so many options for everything and you could literally just keep searching forever. I wish I had trusted my initial gut instinct straight up and booked and just moved on once I found something I loved.
Words of wisdom.
Just do you and make sure you plan the day so you have fun, if you’re having fun – everyone else will too! Leave traditions behind if they don’t feel right. We stayed together the night before, chose not to have bridal parties and got ready together. We invited a bunch of our interstate friends to our house for pre-drinks, they all rocked around wearing Al and Imo T-shirts! Keeping it casual throughout the day meant we got to spend more time with each other and our friends!
Final words.
Enjoy it, it truly is one hell of a party!
On the hunt for a wedding venue? Here are Victoria’s best!
AL AND IMOGEN’S TRIBE
Ceremony venue / location & Reception venue / location: Freshwater Creek Cottages. Marissa, Phillip and their family went above and beyond to make our day so perfect for us. Watching them all work together as a united family was so inspiring to be around and we’re so grateful for everything they did for us.
Celebrant/Officiant: Hannah May (celebrant) was so supportive of our wish to have our good friend Philip Quast (an old family friend of Al’s parents) step in as “acting celebrant”. Hannah did a fabulous job of making sure the day ran seamlessly.
Photography: Kas Richards understood our vision and captured the day so authentically and beautifully. Kas made us feel comfortable and really celebrated alongside with us! As I didn’t have a bridal party Kas did a tremendous job of standing in as my Maid Of Honour when it came to things like making sure my hair, makeup and dress looked perfect … she also made sure I always had a full glass of champagne!
Videography: Carl and Matt from Those Two Films are great friends of ours, being in small business ourselves we love supporting others! It only felt right to hire the boys to film our day, we had so much fun together and we think they did a bang-on job of capturing the ‘the love in the air’ on film. As soon as they arrived at the house and saw everyone in Al + Imo Tee’s they tore their shirts off and switched some themselves and wore them throughout the whole wedding!
Styling, Florist & Grazing Table: My soul-sister and creative extraordinaire Shae-An Williams from The Collection Co is an old friend of mine and we’ve known each other for years. We lost hours bouncing ideas around together planning the styling. Shae-An flew down from Cairns on the Tuesday before and we spent the week together at the flower and food markets sourcing delicious produce and pretty things! I totally trusted Shae-An and she exceeded all of our expectations and truly brought my farm-wedding fantasy to life.
Hair: I did it myself! I just wanted it to feel natural and not fussy.
Make Up: Another talented friend of mine Abbee from Makeup Artists Cairns is an incredible makeup artist, she made me feel like an angel dropped from heaven.
The Dress(es): I made it myself. I found a leftover remanent roll of silk organza from a Zimmerman collection which I fell in love with … I designed the dress around the fabric. I used silk crepe de chine from D’Italia for the underlay.
Shoes: Loeffler Randall // Ted Baker
Rings: Engagement Ring – Burlington’s Antiques // Wedding bands – Windfall Jewellery
Groomsmen’s suits: Peter Jackson 3 piece suit
Tie & Shirt – MJ Bale
Catering: We LOVE food, eating is without a doubt one of our favorite things to do. Making sure that everyone had an abundance of amazing, quality food was really important to us. Al’s mum; Jaon is an incredible cook (in fact she’s even written a cookbook) we left her in charge of food and boy did she deliver!! Our guests were spoilt with home-cooked goodness. We had slow-roasted lamb on the spit and legs of ham – all fresh produce from the farm. Silver trays of smoked salmon, baskets of fresh bread and dishes piled high with beautiful salads to be enjoyed with our friend Tim’s homemade peach chutney. Our lovely friends brought platters of their classic favourites which were served as midnight snacks – homemade sausage rolls, chicken sandwiches and veggie pasties!
Bar: We had a processo bar with fresh fruit and juice for guests to help themselves. The bar served a selection of classics plus a Hendrix gin, rosemary and lemon cocktail.
Cake: If you know Freshwater Creek – you know it’s famous for its passion fruit sponge cake! Every celebration since we’ve moved down has had a Freshy Sponge involved and it only felt right we had them for our wedding cake! Freshwater Creek Cakes provided plenty of sponges which we served with fresh berries (they even did a couple of gluten free versions).
Stationery / Signage: I designed all of the stationary and signage myself and my beautiful mum traced out the artwork onto blackboards. Al built the massive dance floor and since the wedding we’ve repurposed the timber to line our new workshop – it’s a pretty cool feeling being in there and knowing your favourite people have busted out their best dance moves on the timber!
Entertainment: Our friend Dylan Dj’d and had the dancefloor heaving all night! I recall friends coming up to me dripping with sweat – the music was so good no one could stop dancing!
Hire:
Glamping Tents – Twilight Glamping
Amenities – Paddock Dreams
Tables, Chairs & Umbrellas – Pepper Sprout Hire
Crystal Glassware, Silverware, Vintage China, Lawn Games – Betty May Vintage Hire
Disco Ball – Surf Coast Party Hire
Honeymoon:
Sri Lanka for 3 weeks – sun, surf and food.
