Real Wedding - Alice & Tim, Tungamah VIC

August 22, 2017 In Real Weddings By Natalie Drum

Real Wedding – Alice & Tim, Tungamah VIC

There is just so much to love about Alice and Tim’s sweet celebration. Making the most of the family private property in regional Victoria, the pair created a classic and romantic affair that left all of their guests in awe.

Bride Alice, a florist herself, styled the gorgeous setting and let the sweeping natural views of the property do the rest.

Captured lovingly by The Bower Co, this special day is evidently filled with beauty and love.

In Alice’s words…

The meeting.

Tim and I met on the Gold coast (nine years before getting engaged), in the whirlwind that was University Games (playing sports for the same university, unbeknown to us). The fact that we were both from Melbourne made it easy to catch up when we got home. It was then that Tim told me he was finishing his degree in Melbourne to then move back to the family farm in Tungamah (North East Victoria). After a year together in Melbourne, Tim moved home and we did two years of long distance driving up and down the Hume highway. After falling very much in love with this farmer of mine, I moved to Tungamah to live on the farm.

The ‘one’.

I figured out pretty early on in our relationship that Tim was special. He was unlike anyone else I had ever met. Once Tim moved back to the farm, we treasured our weekend catch ups and made the most of every little bit of time we had together. As they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder, and it was the long drives home from Melbourne where I realised we couldn’t be apart for much longer as life was too much fun together.

The proposal.

After nine years together and six years living on the farm, you come to learn that some farming jobs just can’t wait and unfortunately special days like birthdays are sometimes missed. Being a big birthday celebrator, it took me a few years adjust to this, however in October 2016 I promised to not be angry when Tim was away for four days over my birthday. On the day Tim returned home, I came home grumpy after a bad day at work (which I later learnt made Tim even more nervous!). Tim had brought home lobster and prawns for dinner and we prepared a BBQ on the most perfect Spring night. Before we sat down Tim proposed! We enjoyed a beautiful bottle of bubbles that Tim had in the fridge which I hadn’t even noticed, ate the lobster that was overcooked (Tim was too nervous about the proposal) and then enjoyed the moment before calling our family and best friends. It was no secret that I wanted to marry Tim, but it was the most perfect proposal because he caught me so off guard and I wasn’t expecting such a beautiful surprise. The next night that was meant to be my birthday party dinner with our best friends, turned into a last minute engagement celebration!

The planning.

Working in the industry, I had my list of suppliers down pat pretty quickly. Tim and I considered a number of venues but realised that we didn’t have any real connections with any of the places we looked at. It was then that we decided we would get married at Tim’s parents house on the farm. Being a florist, I knew most of the set up would take place the week before the wedding so with Mum, Dad, sister and sister in law’s help, we nutted out all the little details and then waited for the week of the wedding!

Style inspiration.

My inspiration for our wedding was to let the setting speak for itself. I wanted to capture views of the farm during our ceremony and canapés. Tim’s parents beautiful weatherboard house is positioned on top of a hill overlooking the farm, surrounded by gum trees and one huge olive tree on the lawn. The setting is inspiring on it’s own and required minimal decorations. A few market umbrellas and wine barrels with small florals were all we needed and we let the views do the rest! Classic and relaxed was the brief I set myself. I love roses and wanted to incorporate the beautiful blooms into the rustic, country setting, so we grouped roses together with lots of gum and olive foliage inside the marquee to carry the relaxed feeling on the lawn, into the marquee for the reception.

The dress.

I had no idea what style of dress I was looking for but I knew I wanted something classic, but something a little bit sexy. I wanted a dress that was comfortable and something that I could party the night away in. I fell in love with a guipure lace which was classic but modern, and worked with Tania Stokes from D’Italia to design my dress. I chose an oyster coloured silk to sit underneath the lace which turned out to be one of my favourite things about the dress, the colour was just a little bit different to plain white.

Favourite moments.

My favourite part of the day was our ceremony. Tim and I were both pretty nervous but thanks to a few funny moments, it was extremely relaxed and fun. We had a visit from Tim’s parents fox terrior Mikey who we were sure would stay up at the house as he doesn’t like big crowds, but thought he might like to be a part of the ceremony! As we held the ceremony down the driveway we were quite close to the road, we waved one car on as they slowed down to have a good sticky beak and another huge truck came past and gave us a big toot. Tim and I wrote our own vows and listening to Tim’s was a special moment.

Our bridal party stole the show with their introductions into the marquee, with special dances and acts, one of my bridesmaids even acted out the throwing of the bouquet but the bouquet ended up being thrown onto the suspended florals from the roof!

Traditions.

My ‘something old’ was my late grandpa’s buttonhole that he wore on his wedding day. It was a beautiful flower made of wax that we secured to my bouquet to keep with me on the day. Tim and I ended up on the shoulders of the groomsman for a dance towards the end of the night which has become a traditional at all of our friend’s weddings.

Meaning of marriage.

In our vows we both expressed our love for our friendship, our love for one another, and our understanding that together life is simply better together.

Wedding soundtrack.

Aisle: Stacks by Bon Iver

Procession: Sign, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder

Reception: Sweet Lovin by Sigala

First dance: Better Together by Jack Johnson

Funny stories (or near disasters).

The majority of our guests almost didn’t make it to the wedding as our buses did not arrive! Thankfully one of our groomsmen organised another bus company and whilst the wedding started almost an hour late, everyone made it!

At the end of the night our bridal party skipped the bus for the after party that carried on into the early hours of the morning. Short of beds in the house, Tim and I woke up to find Tim’s best man had snuck into the bed with us in the early morning! Sharing the bed with the married couple of their wedding night was the top story the next day!

Planning surprises.

All of our suppliers were amazing and made organising the wedding very easy! The one thing we couldn’t plan was the weather. We were so surprised, and lucky, that after months of non-stop rain, we had two perfect Spring days for our wedding and recovery. The next day the rain started again!

Words of wisdom.

Sometimes all of the planning in the lead up can cloud the real reason you are getting married. Take a moment to remember your wedding day is about marrying the love of your life and all of the little details for the party aren’t really that important!

Last words.

A honeymoon is a must! We loved having a week to ourselves to think back over what a fabulous weekend we had just had.