Real Wedding – Ash & Chad, Murgheboluc VIC

It was private property perfection when Ash and Chad pulled together the wedding day they had always dreamed of.

From the get-go they knew they wanted a modern, outdoor affair that would allow their guests to relax and then party all night long. Clear span marquees set the stunning scene and the decor was divine – complete with chic furniture and beautiful blooms.

Neither will never forget the moment they saw each other as Ash made her way down the aisle in a magical Marquise Bridal number, paving the way for a stunning ceremony and heartfelt vows they will treasure forever.

Our friend Alex, of Motta Weddings, was the lens legend behind this incredible celebration and his imagery truly brings the love between this pair to life.

The meeting.

We met at the local football netball club Modewarre. Ash had moved from Echuca for Uni and Chad had grown up at the club. We were introduced at a club function one night and the rest is history!

The ‘one’.

We both knew pretty early on that we had something special. We have so much in common and found that we have very similar values in life.

The proposal.

Chad and I went on holiday to Noosa not long after we had moved into our new home. He had convinced me there was no proposal coming anytime soon because we had just moved. Chad took me on a picnic to one of the secluded coves at the national park and, to my surprise, he got down on one knee.

Planning process.

Planning our day was so much fun (most of the time)! Ash styled our whole wedding, we had a pretty clear idea of the style of wedding we wanted and that didn’t change throughout the process. We knew from the start we wanted a marquee wedding on a property to have a great celebration with our family and friends. We are so lucky that both of our parents are on properties, it made our day extra special to have it at a venue that meant so much to us.

Our wedding was at Ash’s parent’s property, so as soon as we confirmed that, our parents got to work preparing the lawn and getting power out to the paddocks. We were so, so lucky that our parents went above and beyond to help us create the perfect day.

We booked the main things pretty quickly once we had chosen a date, we didn’t want to miss out on the suppliers we knew that we loved. We knew we wanted amazing food, music and a great photographer so they were the first few things we booked. We could relax for a little once they were all booked.

Styling the wedding ourselves, we slowly ticked off the smaller suppliers and hire items over the next few months. The weeks before the wedding we spent confirming everything with our suppliers to tie up any loose ends. The team at Truffleduck were amazing, they made sure we had hired everything that was needed for a private property wedding and contacted our suppliers/vendors to put together a run sheet for bump in times for the day. A lot of time went into planning our day, but we are so glad we did it all ourselves!

Style inspiration.

We knew that we wanted a modern outdoor wedding from the get-go. All we wanted was a relaxed night to celebrate and party with our family and friends. We loved the look of clear span marquees so used that as our base and built on it with our furniture and blooms. We spent hours looking through blogs and Instagram posts to find exactly what we liked and disliked for the day.

The outfit.

I knew the style of dress I wanted from the start I just had a little trouble finding it! I wanted something simple that I felt comfortable in. I tried on so many dresses at different appointments and had nearly given up on finding one that I loved. I kept searching online and made an appointment with Megan at Marquise Bridal. The moment I tried on my dress I fell in LOVE! It was exactly what I was looking for, I felt so comfortable in it. Megan made the whole process so easy and fun for me!

Favourite moment.

We had the best day of our lives, so it is so hard for us to pick from so many special moments on our day! Seeing each other at the ceremony as Ash walked down the aisle and being welcomed into our reception for the first time as husband and wife are both up there with some of our favourites!

Meaning of marriage.

For us, it is spending life with your best friend. It’s celebrating each other always and sticking together through the good and bad days. It’s having adventures and enjoying all the little things together.

Wedding soundtrack.

Bridesmaids aisle: XO by John Mayer,

Bride aisle: Can’t help falling in love by Haley Reinhart

Recessional: Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder

Reception Entry: Sweet Lovin’ by Sigala

Father-daughter dance: My Girl by Tiago Lorc

First dance: Stand By Me by Skylar Grey

Funny stories or near disasters.

The only real issue we had was stressing about the weather. Having a marquee wedding on a property we were hoping for a warm day with no rain. The week leading up to the wedding rained, as well as the morning of. We were so lucky that the sun came out for the afternoon, and it was a beautifully warm afternoon for us.

Planning surprises.

We knew a lot of time went into wedding planning, but we didn’t really plan for all the small things that you can’t do until the week of the wedding. That was a very busy week for us that we weren’t overly prepared for.

Words of wisdom.

So many!
You do you! Don’t stress about what you think everyone else will want. It is your day that you will look back on forever.

Take some time in week of your wedding to be together and take everything in. It’s a busy time in your life and goes by so quickly, so take a time out together to take it all in.

Plan! Make plenty of lists. It makes the whole process so much easier to have small lists each week and tick items off slowly. It can be overwhelming to look at every single thing you need to organize on one big list, so try to break it down as much as you can.

Make sure you create a run sheet for the day and get it to all of your suppliers/vendors. Having everything and everyone on the same page before the day of the wedding makes for a much more relaxed wedding day. Also make sure you have someone reliable as an ‘on the day’ contact in case anything needs clarifying or there’s issues with anything.

Don’t stress about the little things. You might think they are so important, but on the day, people won’t notice them.

For more marquee moments and ideas for embracing the great outdoors on your wedding day, get inspired by some of our seriously chic open-air celebrations here.

ASH AND CHAD’S VENDORS

Ceremony venue: Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Barrabool Hills

Reception venue: Private property, Murgheboluc, Vic

Photography: Alex at Motta Weddings. He is an amazing photographer! We are so in love with our photos, Alex captured our day so perfectly. He was so relaxed and easy going too, which helped us and our bridal party relax in front of the camera. We have had so many compliments on our photos. We would book him again in a heartbeat.

Videography: The White Tree. This was one of the last things we booked for our wedding, but we are sooo glad we did. We absolutely love our video! Tom was so easy going, him and Alex worked so well together on the day.

Florist: Ebony at Wildfolk flowers! She is an extremely talented florist, the blooms she put together for our day were so much more than we imagined!

Hair: Blondie Salon

Make Up: Blondie Salon- These girls are amazing! Our hair and makeup was exactly what we had all pictured for the day. The Blondie girls are so friendly and laid back, which helped create a relaxed vibe on the morning of the wedding.

The Dress: Marquise Bridal. I tried on so many dresses before I made an appointment with Megan, they were all nice, but I just couldn’t find one that I loved. The minute I tried on my dress on at Marquise I was in love! Megan was so relaxed and helped make the process so easy.

Veil / headwear: Marquise Bridal

Shoes: Valentino

Rings: Charles Rose & Protea Diamonds. Chad had my engagement ring made by Robin at Protea Diamonds. It is so perfect!

Bridesmaid’s dresses: Shona Joy

Groomsmen’s suits: Bell & Barnett

Bow ties / ties: Bell & Barnett

Catering: Truffleduck. AMAZING! The team at Truffleduck are so talented. We had a cocktail style wedding and were worried that our guests would be hungry, but everyone was so full and we had so many people raving about the food! It was all so delicious! We actually found it hard to pick from the menu in the lead up to our wedding, there were so many choices. The service both ourselves and our guests received on the night was second to none.

Bar: Havana Caravan Bar. Jess and Ronnie are an awesome team. They were so relaxed, yet so thorough with all the details leading up to our day. Nothing was too much of a hassle for them. Their service and the drinks they were serving were 10/10.

Favors: Stemless cocktail stirrers by Make & Keep

Cake / Cake topper: Sweets by Stephy Girl

Stationery / Signage: Tres Collective, the Laser Cutting Studio and Bellarine Waterjet Cutting

Entertainment: Like This Band. These guys know how to read the crowd so well. They had everyone on the dancefloor, even our grandparents! All we wanted was a big celebration and they helped create this for us. A lot of our guests loved them. We would recommend them a million times over.

Décor: Dann Event Hire (furniture), Neon Collective (neon sign),

Hire: Marquee Monkeys supplied our marquee and lighting for the night. Dom was so easy to deal with, nothing was a problem! Dann Event Hire supplied our furniture. We loved the furniture we hired for the day, it worked so well for the style of wedding we had. Our Umbrellas were from Tent luxury Hire, they really helped put together the look we were putting together. Paddock Dreams event hire supplied our toilets, we wanted some portable toilets for the event that weren’t an eyesore, these ones blended well at the property.

Honeymoon: Noosa for a few nights after the wedding. We were planning on a trip to Europe in June, but we will reschedule for another time! We are just glad we got away to spend some time together and relax after such a busy few weeks.