Real Wedding – Beth & Tom, Dromana VIC
Easter weekend was the perfect time of year for Beth and Tom to seal the deal on a stunning property in the Mornington Peninsula.
Choosing a minimalist and monochrome style to their day, they let the venue and landscape speak for itself while surrounding themselves with beautiful florals.
While this couple were not overly traditional, they did create a new tradition with Beth smashing an Easter Egg across her new husband’s head (in lieu of cutting the cake), making for many memorable moments beautifully captured by Dan Brannan.
In Beth’s words…
The meeting.
Tom and I met at high school in the year 2000. After a short stint at dating in year 8 and a friendship that followed for the next 10 years, we became closer and everything just progressed from there.
The ‘one’.
For me, knowing the one is when you realise you want the same things from life and that person makes you laugh. A bit practical I know, we just clicked.
The proposal.
We had a weekend away booked in with friends in a seaside cottage in Johanna, VIC. Tom picked me up after work on the Friday and we made our way down in the ute with the dog in the back. As we were driving along the freeway between Geelong and Colac, Triple J’s, “Put your windows down” segment came on. This is a segment that plays an older, classic song to start the weekend. Jagged Edge’s – Let’s Get Married (a mid-2000’s dance track) started playing. Tom thinking this was an omen began frantically looking for the ring behind the car seat whilst trying to distract me and pulling over. Once on the side of the road Tom pulled the ring out and asked me to marry him. It was quite the shock but of course I said yes, and the rest is history.
The planning.
The beginning of the planning process was fun. I made a scrap book with all my ideas and started to build a style theme. We made task lists with due dates and delegated where possible.
The week before the wedding was hectic; I wish I could do it again and be more organised. We had an enormous amount of help from family and friends. Without them, the day wouldn’t have been possible. We had friends spray painting signs and building tables on our back lawn at 10pm that week. We did A LOT of DIY in the end – something I would probably steer away from if I had my time again.
The day before the wedding we had the entire bridal party, extra friends and family running around putting it all together. It was stressful at the time, but now when I look back on the day it was very fun.
Style inspiration.
Tom and I have always had similar tastes and like the same style. Pinterest was great! I liked minimalistic/monochrome but with lots of florals. We were lucky as Tanglewood was such a beautiful location, all we needed was to add hints of our own style.
The dress.
My dress was a fitted full lace dress with a split in the front, a diamond shaped open back and a boat neck. I found the dress process very difficult. I didn’t want anything too bridal and wanted to be comfortable. After months of looking and shopping around, I decided to buy my own lace and silk and get a dressmaker to put it together from some sketches and photos I had for inspiration.
Favourite moment/s.
I don’t think I can pick a single moment. Dancing, speeches, having all of our friends and family together celebrating the two of us as husband and wife, it was all very special.
Traditions.
We are not that traditional however we did include a few traditions such as a first dance. We didn’t cut the cake, but we may have started a new tradition where the bride smashes a chocolate Easter egg on the grooms head; Easter wedding!
The meaning of marriage.
I think it means you’ve found the person you want to grow old with, have a family, go on holidays and share life together. It means being a team, helping each other achieve and support each other. When you see pictures of couples in the newspaper who are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary, I’d like to have a photo like that one day.
Wedding soundtrack:
Aisle: Young by Valis Alps for Bridesmaids and Sweet Thing by Van Morrison for me,
Reception Entry: Honey by Moby
First Dance: These Arms by Otis Redding
Funny stories/ near disasters.
We did have a bus issue on the morning of the wedding. One of my bridesmaids had organised buses to take everyone home following the wedding. When they went to pick the buses up in the morning, they were asked to produce their bus license (which no one had). With an hour to go before the bus depot closed, everyone was frantically looking for two people with a bus license. Luckily they found two drivers in the nick of time – one being a friend of a friend’s nana. The other was random stranger down the road from bus depot.
We never actually knew about this until after the wedding, they kept it all quiet.
Planning surprises.
I was surprised how long it took me to find a dress and shoes.
Words of wisdom.
Take all the help that you are given, people really do like to help. Make the day how you want it and don’t let others change your mind. Be mindful of all the little extra costs along the way and remember to keep the day about the two of you. It is the only time you will get to throw a party like this – enjoy it!
Shannon and Dave’s beautiful Mornington wedding was one full of much love and emotion, be sure to check it out.
BETH & TOM’S TRIBE
Ceremony and reception venue: Tanglewood Estate, Dromana, VIC
Celebrant/Officiant: Robyn Davies (My Aunty)
Photography: Dan Brannan
Styling: Ourselves
Florist: Naomi Rose Floral Design
Make Up: Claire Vyverberg
Hair: Blisque Salon
The Dress: I bought the materials and had a dress maker put it together for me, along with a veil.
Jewellery: Swarovski earrings and a ‘borrowed’ bracelet from my sister.
Shoes: Bianca Buccheri
Rings: Rodger Thomas
Bridesmaids dresses: Shona Joy
Groom and groomsmen suits: Calibre
Grooms Shoes: Lloyd
Catering: Milkbar & Co
Favors: Little bottles of rosemary infused Olive Oil which Tom’s mum put together for us. We ordered the bottles from Ebay, spray painted the tops gold and used our invitation design for the clear stickers on the front.
Cake / Cake topper: Tom’s mum and sisters made our cakes and being Easter we also had a chocolate platter with Easter Eggs put together by Tom’s sister.
Signage: We made our own signage. We bought wood from Bunnings, Tom cut into arrows and spray painted black. I then wrote on them with white paint.
Entertainment: We had a family friend DJ for us with a playlist we put together ourselves
Transport: Tom, his family and the groomsmen took a limo to the estate however the girls and I stayed in a cottage on the property – no transport required.
Honeymoon: No honeymoon yet, saving for a bigger trip to Europe.
