Real Wedding - Brittany & Jack, Red Hill VIC

July 16, 2018 In Black and White, Classic, Luxe, Most Popular, Real Weddings By Natalie Drum

Real Wedding – Brittany & Jack, Red Hill VIC

When you have fabulous and talented friends, it’s best to include them in bringing your day together, which is exactly what Brittany and Jack did when they wed on the magical Mornington Peninsula.

They kept things classic and simple, preferring to take a personal approach to their celebration, with their main aim being to have everyone smile, laugh and dance all night long – and they achieved exactly that!

Brittany was a vision in her Silvana Tedesco gown and there to capture all the fancy fun was Jai of Free the Bird.

In Brittany’s words…

The meeting.

We met through friends at Falls Festival, Lorne in 2011 – it was a long three days of awkward flirting but eventually on New Years Eve, Jack worked up the courage to make his move. He followed up by asking Brittany on a date when they got back to Melbourne – cooking her (then a vegetarian) beef tacos – nailed it.

The ‘one’.

It didn’t take us long to realise we were both as weird as each other, and we were basically inseparable from that first taco date.

The proposal.

Jack organised a weekend away to our favourite spot on the Mornington Peninsula. We’re often down there for weekends, so it seemed normal at the time. After a long lunch, Jack suggested we head back to our accom for an afternoon nap. As I walked up to the bedroom I saw a dress on the bed with a note, I turned around to see Jack literally sprinting out the door – he was gone! The note told me not to freak out, and to get changed and pour myself a glass of champagne before I would be picked up in an hour (longest hour of my life). Once I manage to pull myself together, a limo arrived and drove me to our favourite winery/place in the world – Foxeys Hangout in Red Hill.

I got out and heard our favourite song playing, with a path of rose petals trailing down the hill, with Jack standing there wearing a tux, with a picnic rug and a bottle of wine. He proceeded to get down on one knee and ask me to marry him– it was pretty spectacular! I thought that was it, until we got back in the limo, which took a number of wrong turns (or so I thought), and pulled up to a huge house with 30 of our closest friends and family ready for an epic celebration that went well into the night.

Style inspiration.

We wanted to keep things classic and simple, but it was important that our day reflected us as a couple and felt really personal to all of our guests. We had a big bridal party and involved other close friends throughout the day (one of our best friends was our celebrant, another our MC and another DJ’d). We also wrote a personal message on everyone’s Menu/placecard – something that took a lot of time/effort but paid off when we saw everyone’s reactions reading their messages on the day!

The dress.

I had a very clear picture of what I wanted in my head, but just wasn’t sure whether it would suit me. I knew I wanted it to be custom made, so I pulled together a mood-board and met with Silvana. She totally understood my vision from the start, and was able to transform it to reality with complete grace and ease. She added a few unique touches that I would never have thought of on my own, and ended up being my favourite elements of the dress! The dress was actually the easiest part of the whole wedding for me – and I couldn’t have loved it more (devastated I can’t wear it again!)

Favourite moments.

There was a moment between speeches and our first dance where it was just the two of us in the room – dancing like idiots before everyone came in to watch our first dance. We both just remember feeling so happy.

Meaning of marriage.

Love, support, always having each other’s back and always having a laugh.

Wedding soundtrack.

Aisle: Clair de Lune by Flight Facilities (the song Jack proposed to)

Signing song: Cigarettes and Chocolate by Chet Faker

Recessional: Hearts on fire by Cut Copy

Reception entry: 212 by Azealia Banks

First Dance: I Dare You by The XX

Funny stories (or near disasters).

There was a two week period in the lead up where almost everything that could go wrong, did…thankfully all the bad luck got out of the way before the wedding and none of it even mattered on the day.

Planning surprises.

We both actually really enjoyed every minute of the planning process. Jack was very hands on the whole way, and I’m a notorious planner, so I was really in my element! We locked everything in super early, which sometimes backfired (a lot can change in a year), and I was surprised at how hard it was to find nice wedding shoes!

Words of wisdom.

Don’t sweat the small stuff – no one will notice except you, and don’t try any new beauty treatments in the month prior (a big mistake I made!)

Last words.

We knew the day would go quickly (as everyone likes to remind you!) but we didn’t realise how quickly! We had recovery drinks the following day, which allowed us to properly chat to friends and family that had travelled to be there, or those we didn’t get a chance to spend much time with on the wedding day. Highly recommend having a catch up the following day to debrief and share the love with everyone around you in a more relaxed environment.