Real Wedding – Annabel & Angus, Lorne VIC
Real Wedding – Annabel & Angus, Lorne VIC
Real Wedding – Annabel & Angus, Lorne VIC
Real Wedding – Annabel & Angus, Lorne VIC

Real Wedding – Annabel & Angus, Lorne VIC

 

There was no other place that Annabel and Angus wanted to be wed than in the coastal town and haven that is Lorne, and The Peak was the perfect location.

When planning their day, these laidback lovers wanted to showcase the beauty of Lorne and its incredible surrounds and were set on allowing the beautiful venue they chose to speak for itself. With stylist Weddings of Desire at the helm, they created a relaxed beachside-meets-forest feel and the results are stunning.

Annabel chose a gorgeous Marquise Bridal gown that she fell in love with instantly and when she walked down the aisle, Angus could barely wipe the smile off his face.

Incredible moments, captured by the talented Katie Harmsworth, show off all the love, laughter and fun these two had as they celebrated into the night with all their favourite people, scroll on for this gorgeous love-filled affair.

 

 

The meeting.

We definitely did not start out with the whole ‘love at first sight’ love story. We first met back in 2013 when we were both employed as rowing coaches at my old high school. I remember meeting Angus for the first time when we had our first coaches meeting, but he doesn’t recall meeting me! We became friends quite quickly, especially with the help of Momo, Angus’ German Shorthaired Pointer puppy, who would join us at every rowing session. It was definitely love at first sight for Momo and I. I used to look forward to every coaching session as I knew it meant I’d get lots of Momo cuddles! After a few months of working together, Angus got my friend Hannah and I into rowing for Monash Uni, and after a few fun nights out together with the team (and quite a lot of flirting between the two of us), and a trip to Sydney to compete at the University Games in 2014, Angus finally made a move, and the rest is history! Fast forward eight years, Momo is almost nine, and we now have a second German Shorthaired Pointer called Daisy and our beautiful 8-month-old daughter Clementine, who we welcomed in 2021!

 

The ’one’.

It was quite early on in our relationship for me. I had one of those actual ‘I think he’s the one’ moments! I was driving over to Angus’ place and was just happily jamming along in the car, and I remember thinking to myself, “wow, I’m seriously so happy, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way before about anyone and that makes me so excited”. Our lives fell in to place together so quickly and seamlessly, I think that is why I realised so quickly that he was ‘the one’ and that our relationship was so different and special right from the start. It also helped that we had many shared interests, such as enjoying a good gin and tonic, spending time with our dogs, going to live music gigs, watching and playing AFL and being by the beach.

 

The proposal.

I had absolutely no clue Angus was going to propose or was even thinking about it! It was the best surprise ever – but not without many bumps in the planning process for poor Angus.

It was back in 2019 and we had planned to spend the weekend down at Angus’ family holiday house in Lorne to celebrate finishing the first year of my Master’s degree along with our five year anniversary. He had the ring (which he had so impressively gone and designed all by himself, without any inspiration or guidance), and my parent’s blessing, so had planned to sneak down to Lorne the week prior with our dogs, Momo and Daisy, to snap a cute shot with the dogs and the ring to put on a card to give me as part of the proposal.

He had managed to sneak down and back without me realising. Even though Daisy had left some seaweed vomit in the backyard. When I asked Angus where the seaweed had come from, he quickly covered his tracks saying they’d made a quick trip to the dog beach. The next bump in the road came early in the week that we were planning on heading down to Lorne. My brother had a horrible workplace accident which led to Angus questioning if he should even go ahead as planned. With a push from my parents, who said it was the happiness and excitement that we all needed, we packed up and headed to Lorne. We had planned to head down to the beach for a picnic with the dogs on Saturday afternoon after I submitted my final essay for the year. While Angus was busy in the kitchen making our lunches, I was ever so slowly proofreading my essay before submission, a process which took me two hours longer than I’d originally said. Little did I know, Angus was nervously prepping and re-prepping our picnic lunch behind me in the kitchen, trying to hide his nerves! Finally, we were down at the beach and after a quick swim Angus got out a card for me, which I thought was weird since he never gives me a card for anything, let alone for our anniversary! I opened the card and only noticed a cute photo of our dogs on the front of it, completely missing the little ring box sitting between the dogs in the photo! Angus requested that I read the card aloud. Angus has very fancy cursive writing that I’ve always struggled to read so I struggled through the card, asking Angus what every third word was. I wish someone had videoed this moment as I got all excited and squeaky when it eventually clicked. Finally, I got to the end of the card and Angus knelt next to me with the ring in his hand! Of course, I said yes, and then we Facetimed our family and friends to share the news with them! Angus had made a reservation at our favorite restaurant in Lorne, Ipsos, for dinner. After such a crazy build up, he finally relaxed and enjoyed a few too many G&T’s so by the time dinner came around he was quite tipsy and during our dinner had to duck outside to lie on the grass across the road for a few minutes.

 

Planning process.

We jumped into planning our wedding quite quickly, and thought we wanted quite a short engagement of 12 months so had our sights set on a date in December 2020. This was all pre-COVID, so were able to visit a few venues and get an idea of what we wanted. Angus had suggested getting married at the Peak at Lorne Country Club, but I initially said no as I didn’t want to get married on a golf course. Luckily, he persuaded me to go and see the venue and meet with Bridge and Matt who run the Peak. As soon as we met Bridge and Matt, and after walking around the beautiful venue, we just felt so relaxed and excited.

Our preferred date was available, so we quickly locked it in and from there we were then able to start looking at securing our other suppliers. I also got onto dress searching quickly too. My Mum and I started shopping in January 2020 and were so lucky to find my perfect dress not long after. Then COVID hit… I was so relieved we got our date, venue, suppliers and my dress all locked in before this – I couldn’t imagine trying to plan a wedding amongst all the ins and outs of lockdown!

It was around August, about four months out from our original wedding date, we were still so unsure of what restrictions would look like come December, so we both thought the safest option would be to postpone the wedding 12 months. After making this decision we also thought why wait on another life plan to have a baby? We welcomed our daughter Clementine into the world!

After Clem was born, we were able to dive back into wedding planning. Having a baby whilst trying to put together a wedding made us even more thankful that we had the amazing, and ever so talented, Laura from Weddings of Desire there for us, helping and guiding us every step of the way! The final lead up to the day was still not without some hiccups and close calls with COVID and restrictions, but we were so lucky to be able to finally have the wedding we had always dreamed of without any restrictions and have almost all our nearest and dearest there to celebrate with us.

 

Style inspiration.

We didn’t really have any restriction or even much of an idea for our style for our wedding at the start. The views and surrounds of our venue at the Peak in Lorne are so breathtaking and really speaks for itself so we didn’t want to take anything away from this.

We wanted our flowers and décor to make it feel just like Lorne, and really showcase the beautiful Australian natives and relaxed beachside-meets-forest feel.

 

The ceremony.

Our ceremony was set up on the first fairway with the most divine backdrop of rolling green down onto the forest tree line into the ocean. There were three very significant aspects of our ceremony for us.

First was having my brother’s partner, Annabelle Eve, sing during the ceremony. We actually asked Belle to sing for us before her and my brother were together, and when Will told me they were together I told him he better not stuff it up as Belle would be singing me down the aisle no matter what happened between them!

Second was having our six-month-old daughter at the time, Clementine, be there and a part of our ceremony.

Third was my brother, Will, being able to walk down the aisle, whilst holding Clementine, even after everything Will had gone through in the past two years since his horrible accident. Will was a part of my bride tribe, as a bridesman, and having him stand up there alongside me on the day was so special.

Special mention also to one of our close friends, Jane, who was our amazing celebrant who made it even more meaningful to have her marry us, and to my bridesmaid Hannah and Angus’s groomsman Hamish who read out a beautiful poem they had written for us.

 

The outfits.

My dress was nothing like anything I could have imagined! It was absolutely stunning, and I felt so beautiful and comfortable in it throughout the whole day. I never really had too much of a set idea of what I wanted. I loved the idea of a big skirt and top look and thought I would want something which had an open back, but this was all the prior thoughts I had before going into dress shopping. Mum and I both agree that the moment I tried on my dress we both knew it was the one. I walked out and just felt so comfortable and excited. Mum could tell by my face that she knew it was going to be the one, even before I said anything! I loved how it gathered and flowed in all the right places, and I was obsessed with the open cross back. I didn’t want to take any attention away from my dress, so I didn’t go too heavy on the accessories and found a comfortable pair of Dazie heels to complement the dress. My Mum found the most stunning gold pearl drop earrings that made my whole outfit!

Angus knew he wanted tuxedos, but other than that he wasn’t too sure of what to do! With the help of the exceptional Rick from V & J Menswear, he chose a black velvet tux jacket and shiny black shoes, whilst his groomsmen were in a standard black tux jacket and black RM Williams boots. The special touch of Angus being in a velvet jacket and shiny shoes really made him stand-out and look the part!

For my bridesmaids, I’d said from the start that I wanted them to wear a dress they are most comfortable in, and would hopefully one day want to wear again, so we were always set on having them in different styles. I wanted their dresses to work well with the beautiful green and blue colours from the surrounding forest and ocean backdrop of our ceremony site, and Georgie and Erika at Erika Georg were able to nail the exact colour we were after! With the girls having somewhat of an idea of the style they were each thinking of wearing, Erika and Georgie were able to create each of their dresses to perfection, even when they were something new they hadn’t designed before. Clementine also wore a tie belt around her waist in the same fabric as the bridesmaid’s dresses which was the perfect touch! I cannot thank both Georgie and Erika enough for creating the bridesmaid dresses of my dreams! Now I just need to find an excuse to borrow all three of them from the girls to wear myself…!

 

Favourite moment.

Walking down the aisle and seeing Clem in Angus’s arms, and Angus smiling back at me would definitely have to be up there! Both Angus and I agree one special moment of the day for us was when we slipped away while our guests were having their mains to take some sunset photos with Katie. We went down the back of the venue which overlooked a big gully of sweeping forest. We had a quiet moment just the two of us while Katie snapped some of the most magnificent sunset shots we’ve ever seen! This moment was so special as it gave us a moment together to stop and breathe and take it all in. We could hear the band playing in the distance and birds were chirping away, it was so peaceful and magical!

 

Meaning of marriage.

After being together for seven years, owning two dogs, and having a baby together, marriage was never really going to change too much for us other than finally all having the same surname. Marriage to me, however, is giving your heart and life to your husband forever, and knowing that you are now bonded together, as a family, to take on the future and the rest of your lives together as a team. For us our wedding was also an excuse to have a huge party and celebrate our love and life together with our friends and family.

 

Wedding soundtrack.

Angus and I both share a love for Aussie music which is why our wedding soundtrack is not quite traditional, especially our first dance song by Northeast Party House, who are our favourite band (we may or may not have seen them play live more than 10 times throughout our relationship to date!)

Pre-processional: One by Ed Sheeran

Aisle song: Love You Like That by Dagny

Recessional: Feed the Rhythm by Client Liaison

Reception entry: World Of Our Love by Client Liaison

First dance song: For You by Northeast Party House

 

Funny stories (or near disasters).

We did have one near disaster after my Hen’s party. My Hen’s was 2 weeks out from the wedding and one of the venues we were at throughout the day had a positive COVID case visit the venue. This meant many of our guests, and myself, all received a close contact text 7 days out from the wedding, so we all had to rush off and get a PCR test, with the potential of having to isolate for 7 days looming in my mind. That was a very stressful 36 hours waiting for those results and thank goodness everyone was all negative and good to go!

 

Words of wisdom.

Trust your gut. There were a few moments throughout our planning process where if we were ever unsure about a decision or what to do, we would listen to our gut and go with it. This helped us make the decisions about our postponement, my dress, our wedding venue and many more, and we were never second guessing or disappointed in our final decisions, ever! A few of our friends also gave us the advice to take a brief moment together some point throughout the wedding to just be together and take it all in. We were lucky enough to do this during our sunset photos and we are both so happy we were able to take a step away together and appreciate what we were finally able to do and have the wedding of our dreams!

Also, have Katie Harmsworth photograph your day! Honestly Katie was an absolute dream to work with and made us all so comfortable when she was taking photos throughout the day, she felt more like a close friend than a wedding photographer on the day! The photos and memories she has captured from the whole day are just magical and we are so thankful for having her there capturing it all.

 

 

 

Well you’ve heard it from Annabel and Angus, if you want Katie Harmsworth to capture your incredible day, we suggest you get in quick and send an enquiry ASAP.

 

 

ANNABEL AND ANGUS’ SUPPLIERS

Ceremony and reception venue: The Peak at Lorne Country Club. Bridge and Matt made planning a wedding so relaxing and stress-free. No matter the (numerous!!) questions and requests we had, they were always there to help and give us guidance and really played a big role in bringing to life the wedding we had always wanted.

Celebrant/Officiant: Jane Mackinlay – Jane is one of our close friends which made her marrying us even more special!

Photography: Katie Harmsworth (@katie_harmsworth). Katie is seriously the best in the business!

Styling: Weddings of Desire. From the constant check-ins and updates throughout COVID lockdowns, to her guidance and assistance with putting together our day, we would have never been able to have our wedding without Laura!

Florist: Georgia Ko. We gave the brief of Australian natives and flowers/foliage you see around Lorne, and a request of no roses, and Georgia absolutely delivered! All our flowers and bouquets were breathtaking and more beautiful than we could have ever imagined!

Hair: Meagan Nash

Make Up: Nikizsha Lyons

The Dress: Marquise Bridal

Veil / headwear: Grace Loves Lace

Shoes: Dazie

Rings: Cushla Whiting

Bridesmaid’s dresses: Erika Georg

Suits – if applicable: V & J Menswear

Bow ties / ties: V & J Menswear

Catering: The Peak at Lorne Country Club

Bar: The Peak at Lorne Country Club with a special addition of a gin spritz with the delicious strawberry gin from the local Great Ocean Road gin!

Cake: Our close friend Laura made our delicious wedding cake!

Stationery / Signage: One of our very talented family members, Georgia, helped us design all the stationery. She even spent the time to freehand design each of our guest’s names onto their menus which would have been a laborious task!

Entertainment: Baker Boys Band. No request was too hard for the Baker Boys Band, and Paul the manager was an absolute delight to work with. They were able to assist us with a guitarist to accompany Belle singing for the ceremony, have the 3-piece band play outside in the courtyard for canape hour prior to the reception, and then have the full 6-piece band play the night away out on the deck for the reception!

Transport: Lorne Tours

Honeymoon: Noosa, Queensland

Other: Our daughter’s little linen romper was from Aubrie – an Australian small business who make the most gorgeous flower girl outfits and accessories!

 




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