Real Wedding – Bec & Nick, Blakiston SA
Bec and Nick’s gorgeous garden party inspired soiree was a synergy of soft, dreamy romance with fresh, modern style. From the sweetest proposal story (no spoilers here, you’ll have to scroll to find out!) to the moment they left their ceremony as husband and wife, these two have been endlessly positive and bliss-focused.
Pulling together a wedding in only a month is no easy feat, but the result for these two stunning souls was a dream day of friends and family, blissfully bathed in dappled sunlight. Keeping the theming to hues of sage green and muted ash with sweepings of vanilla and pops of blush pink took the gentle garden surrounds to new heights of botanic beauty.
For Bec, choosing a dress could have been tricky, as she was pregnant with their first child. But superstar designer Karen Willis Holme’s Olympia gown was a flattering sheath of shimmering style, making Bec feel (and look!) every inch a contemporary Queen.
See how every enchanting moment unfolded through the lens of photographer Melanie Bolzon.
The meeting.
We met in late 2015 through friends at a pub one night. We chatted a little but only really got to know each other better a few months later.
The ‘one’.
After we got to know each other better in early 2016, there wasn’t a day that would go by when I wasn’t thinking about him. I felt like we had so much that aligned that surely this had to be something special. And, sure enough, when we started dating properly it didn’t take long to know Nick was the person I wanted to spend the rest of forever with.
The proposal.
In June last year, a girlfriend had asked me to come out for drinks one Friday night to meet this new man she had been dating. Little did I know that Nick had actually asked her to get me out of the house so he could come home and set up to propose.
When we were getting ready to go out, I just had a feeling that maybe I shouldn’t be drinking at all and so quietly popped upstairs to take a quick pregnancy test. And, sure enough, those two little blue lines appeared. I couldn’t ring him to tell him this wonderful news without my girlfriend hearing the whole conversation, so I sent him a sneaky little message. To which he quickly replied with all of the love heart eyes while he was at Bunnings stocking up on fairy lights to fill our house with for that night.
So, I went back downstairs and broke this huge news to my girlfriend, which I was obviously so happy about, but I was still very much processing, while she was absolutely losing her mind with excitement knowing what the rest of the night had in store.
When she dropped me home that night, I walked in our front door to our favourite song playing, tea light candles and fairy lights everywhere, and my initial thought was, “how sweet, seems like a lot to celebrate a pregnancy, but how sweet”, until I looked over to Nick on one knee in front of the fire, with our fur baby right by his side and realised what was actually happening. I was so surprised and overwhelmed. I threw my arms around him and was saying yes before he got much more than a sentence or two out. It all felt so perfect and meant to be, like fate really had put us there.
Planning process.
When we got engaged we had both agreed that we didn’t want anything too traditional, just a big party to celebrate our love and that we would probably wait until after we had had this baby. But as covid made itself more settled in our lives and we realised we could put it off forever if we were waiting for all our loved ones from around the world to be able to come, we decided that getting married and being a family was what was important to us, and so made the crazy decision to plan it all in a month.
Giving ourselves such a short time frame to plan everything surprisingly didn’t make it any more stressful. We didn’t have time to sweat the small stuff, and it kept our focus on just getting married, which was why we were planning it at all.
In saying that, we were incredibly lucky. Everything just seemed to fall into place. We didn’t have to compromise on any of our vendors; we got the celebrant we wanted, the weather was perfect, not to mention the effort that our family and friends put in to make sure it all came together.
Style inspiration.
We have been to plenty of beautiful weddings in our time, and the same theme kept emerging when we went to any weddings that we both particularly enjoyed; that they were relaxed. Neither of us loves being the centre of attention, and we knew we didn’t want anything too traditional, just a beautiful day with a relaxed atmosphere, our favourite people, good food, wine and all lit up with fairy lights in a beautiful garden somewhere.
The ceremony.
Our ceremony was short and sweet. Our celebrant tailored it perfectly to us, telling our story with some good laughs along the way, exchanging personalised vows and then having our dog (our no. 1 baby) as our ring bearer. It was the best. It was actually the part of the wedding we were both most anxious about, but it was so special to stand up in front of our loved ones and make the most important promises and commitment of our lives. It was definitely my favourite part of the whole day.
The outfit.
I am lucky enough to have a good friend who works for a wedding dress designer, so when we decided to get married at such short notice I sent her a message asking for help, as I knew being pregnant would complicate things more.
She was incredible; she helped me pick a shortlist of wedding dresses that would be flattering and came with me to try them on, ensuring we picked something with a bias cut to flatter my growing bump. By the time the wedding came around I was 33 weeks pregnant and still felt like an absolute queen in my dress, and yet so comfortable.
Favourite moments.
Definitely the ceremony; despite being so anxious to have all eyes on us, it was such a special moment to share.
Meaning of marriage.
Marriage, to me, is making a commitment to one another to always be on the same team. To see your partner for all their worth and celebrate that every single day. Making compromises and actively appreciating every little thing your partner does for you and your relationship, and never keeping score. Giving them the last piece of chocolate, forgiving them when things aren’t perfect and making sure you always look for the good because you know they will do the same thing for you. In our experience, if you both do these things and you both show a mutual appreciation for it, you will laugh more often than not and never have doubts about your love for one another.
Wedding soundtrack.
I walked down the aisle to First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes.
Our recessional song was It’s Nice to be Alive by Ballpark Music.
Funny stories or near disasters.
Maggie, our dog, was our ring bearer and mid-ceremony we could see a little commotion going on in the middle of the aisle but didn’t pay too much attention to it. Little did we know, Maggie was trying to eat the bag with the rings in it, and our beautiful friend who was holding her had to wrestle them out of her mouth. It was a good laugh afterwards! Otherwise, everything went off without a hitch!
Planning surprises.
Just how easily everything fell into place. We were so lucky to have so many beautiful friends and family who brought it all together for us; it certainly wouldn’t have been such a perfect day if it wasn’t for them.
Words of wisdom.
Try not to get too tied up in making sure everything is “perfect”. You won’t believe how beautifully the whole day comes together, imperfections and all. At the end of it all, you’re there to make a commitment to one another and celebrate your love, and I can guarantee you can still do that perfectly, even if you don’t have the exact flowers you had envisioned.
Is your dream day in SA? We have some incredible South Australian inspiration on our blog. Pour yourself a glass of Barossa Shiraz and get browsing!
BEC & NICK’S VENDORS:
Ceremony and reception venue: The Creamery, Blakiston SA
Celebrant: Claire Parsons
Photography: Melanie Bolzon Photography and Amy Spooner Photography
Florist: We bought all our flowers wholesale, and some of our very talented friends adorned our arbour with florals, and I made my own bouquet.
Hair: Sinead Marian Hair
Make-up: Nicole Bovis
The dress: Olympia by Karen Willis Holmes
Veil: Karen Willis Holmes
Shoes: Betts
Rings: Michael Hill
Groomsmen’s suits: Country Road chinos and linen shirt, Jack London blazer, Calibre shoes and bow tie, and brown leather suspenders
Catering: The Chopping Board
Entertainment: Jodes Music
Hire: Hygge Studio
