Real Wedding – Brodie & Belinda, Yarra Ranges VIC
When Brodie and Belinda recall the feeling of dancing into their reception as newlyweds, surrounded by 120 of their favourite people enthusiastically waving pride progress flags, tears still spring to their eyes. They probably always will.
It was a moment of pure magic, symbolic of the entire celebration – bright, joyful, goosebump-inducing.
Every detail of the day spent honouring this friends-to-lovers duo was intentional and meaningful; from Belinda’s wedding dress – which they took an interstate road trip together to find – to Brodie’s tie, loaned from their brother’s own wedding ten years prior.
A couple who is equal parts sentimental and stylish needs a photographer who can capture the obvious and intangible beauty of a big occasion, and Tess Follett is the master.
Scroll on to discover how this pair went from the all too common ‘should we have eloped?’ planning doubts to the euphoria of a day that, given the chance, they’d do all over again exactly the same way.
The meeting.
We met at work in 2016 and were friends for three years before we started dating. Brodie was very keen early on, while it was a slower burn for me. I had a rule of never dating anyone from work, but Brodie eventually won me over. We had so many sliding door moments though before meeting in 2016 – we both grew up in the same suburb, went to the same primary school and lived in London and Manchester in 2012.
The ‘one’.
For Brodie – I was certain Bel was the one when we first started dating. Everything was so effortless and I was drawn to Bel’s warmth and kindness. I knew based on three years of friendship that we were perfect for each other.
For Bel – There was no distinct ‘the one’ moment for me, but with Brodie I felt completely at ease and 100% myself. I was always drawn to Brodie’s wittiness and ability to work a crowd and over the years I saw so many layers- they were empathetic, loyal, generous, and thoughtful. All the reasons why I said yes to taking that leap of faith from friends to a relationship (date your mate).
The proposal.
We’d started to design an engagement ring together for me (Bel) six months prior, but true to form I couldn’t make a decision or commit to a design prior to us leaving for our eight-month van trip around Australia, so Brodie secretly finished the ring without me knowing and hid it in the van until the right moment on our trip.
In September 2022 at the top of Charles Knife Canyon in Exmouth Western Australia, Brodie had prepared our favourite wines and cheeses for a date night. Brodie had hidden a camera and thought they pressed record on the video (but later realised they were so nervous they didn’t click record!). Brodie had made a scrapbook for me of our journey and life together, but was flipping through the pages so quickly in order to time the sunset and sky colour perfectly for their proposal. Brodie got down on one knee in front of the most perfect sunset, and I was so shocked that the ring we had been planning was entirely finished in front of me. Without hesitation, I yelled YES, with nearby onlookers cheering.
Planning process.
So. Many. Checklists! Also inspo boards, deep diving through social media and Ivory Tribe (thankyou) to find our A-team. We booked most of our suppliers about 11 months out, which really took the pressure off and gave us more time to actually enjoy the process and lead up together.
The biggest advice we could give to anyone is to book vendors in early and do your research. It made the entire process far more enjoyable and the lead-up way less frantic and stressful. Book in vendors that you trust and have a great relationship with, meet them over zoom first and only book people you vibe with! The planning and lead-up was so special and fun, take as much time as you can to enjoy the process and not get too bogged down in the ‘to-do’ lists.
Style inspiration.
When we first started looking at venues, we were set on a barn/ rustic vibe. We looked at so many, but none felt quite right for us. It was actually one of the neighbouring venues that suggested Acacia Ridge to us, which we’d never even considered. As soon as we walked into Acacia, we instantly knew this was our vibe – relaxed and picturesque. In terms of colour, we totally changed our plans on the style halfway through the process (seems we are a little indecisive!). Originally, we wanted a neutral palette, but we ended up doing a 180 and landed on a ‘sunset’ palette with big pops of colour, and wow, we are SO glad we went colour, it was way more fun to plan and was completely us! Not to mention it’s our favourite time of day.
The ceremony.
It was soppy and playful. Our celebrant, Megan Watson, completely understood our vibe and totally delivered everything we wanted and more. It was so special hearing our love story being told by Megan, and it really made us proud of the life we’ve built together. From walking down the aisle and seeing Brodie crying to sharing our personal vows in front of our loved ones, we felt totally overwhelmed by love, joy and support. There was the perfect balance of soppy tears and little in jokes that make our relationship unique.
The setting at Acacia was also ridiculously beautiful; we couldn’t have asked for a better day or a better backdrop! We also wanted to get our mums involved in our big day, so we had them both as our ring bearers – they were so excited to be involved, and we’re so glad for that shared moment with them.
The outfits.
For the dress, I had always envisioned something whimsical. After trying six different boutiques, I came across Alena Leena’s collection on socials and instantly fell in love. There are no stockists in Melbourne, so we jumped in our van and did a road trip to Sydney to find the perfect gown. As soon as I put on the ‘Cosmos’ I knew I’d found ‘the one’. I still wanted it to feel more me so I decided to get custom sleeves made to add that whimsical factor. Niki at Como Alterations was an absolute saint and worked so closely with me in creating sleeves I had only dreamt of having.
Brodie took ages to decide on a suit! Brodie always wanted a custom suit from Shane Ave but had no idea about style or colour. They wanted to stand out so went with a white tuxedo jacket, white shirt with black button accents and black pants. Brodie also borrowed their brother’s bowtie from his own wedding ten years prior. We didn’t realise or plan it but we felt on the day our two outfit choices really complemented each other and our venue too.
Favourite memory.
Our entrance into the marquee for the reception! Brodie completely surprised me by giving every guest a pride progress flag before we got announced, and then when we entered the marquee to Waka Waka by Shakira, every guest was standing and waving these super bright rainbow flags. The whole marquee lit up and was filled with so much love and joy! I was completely shocked. It still gives us goosebumps and brings tears to our eyes now thinking about all the love and support that was in the room at that moment in time! It was a sea of love and colour. Looking back on the day, along with saying our vows, this was by far our favourite moment and one we will cherish for life.
Meaning of marriage.
It’s the ultimate commitment. It’s knowing that no matter what life throws at us, we’ll be right here figuring it out together. How special to find someone that you love doing life with -adventuring, cooking, grocery shopping, Indian takeaway on the couch. It’s complete trust that things will always be okay.
For Brodie it’s even more special – because they hadn’t thought they could legally marry in Australia until 2017. So, being able to ask Bel to marry them and make this commitment is a privilege and a joy.
Wedding soundtrack.
Aisle: Live acoustic cover of Halo by Beyonce.
Recessional: Send Me On My Way by Rusted Root
Reception entrance: Waka Waka by Shakira. (When we travelled around Australia in our van this song became our go-to pump up so we knew it had to feature in our wedding.)
First dance: Come And Get Your Love by Redbone.
Funny stories & near disasters.
I had a mini fake tan disaster the two days prior to the wedding, where my underarms turned green! It was like that classic moment from the movie The Wedding Planner of frantic Google searching how to get rid of it. In the end, it wasn’t too noticeable, but there was a lot of panicking the day before. I was also nicknamed Shrek for a few days because of this!
Planning surprises.
We were genuinely surprised and so grateful by how committed all our vendors were to really delivering our vision and making us feel so comfortable and supported through the whole process. We thought the wedding industry was going to be a bit more of a ‘you’re just another number’, but honestly, our vendors felt like friends. We can’t believe how fun the whole process was!
Words of wisdom.
Don’t leave each other’s side the entire night. We had a dry run of this at our engagement celebration and quickly realised we didn’t spend a lot of time together so we changed tact for our wedding day. No matter how many times guests try to pull you aside to congratulate and give you love (which is amazing), make sure to do it with your partner.
Take five minutes at some point in the night to sit away from the venue and look back on all your guests there to celebrate you, it’s unbelievably special.
Also, find a friend that recently got married and copy their spreadsheet! (Thanks Rach) Why reinvent the wheel?
Halfway through the process, we thought ‘why didn’t we elope?’ but we can safely say that the big wedding we ended up having was the most special, fun and crazy day, and we would do it ALL again in a flash. If you’re on the fence about small vs big wedding, go big and enjoy every moment of the craziness.
For more real weddings set in among stunning wineries, click here.
BRODIE & BELINDA’S SUPPLIERS
We need to make a special mention that ALL of our vendors were inclusive and LGBTQIA+ friendly. They created a safe space, made us feel welcome, accepted and seen. As well as their incredible talent, this was a huge part of finding the right vendors for us.
Ceremony & reception venue: Acacia Ridge Winery
Kathy, Lach, Nikita and their team were amazing to work with. In the lead up to our wedding, Kathy super prompt and answered the million questions we had. Nothing was ever too much and they really pride themselves in providing an incredible venue and service
Celebrant: Megan Watson
Megan was warm, welcoming and so invested in our relationship from the very first zoom call, through to our planning meeting. Megan from the get-go was always our hype girl and we’re SO GLAD she was the one to tell us little love story. Megan so perfectly weaved all the right notes of laughter, joy and the strength of our relationship into our ceremony and had such a calming presence on the day (especially important for Brodie trying to keep it together while I walked down the aisle). She is a true ray of sunshine!
Photography: Tess Follett
We chose our wedding date based on Tess’s availability as soon as we saw her work. Tess is truly the best in the biz for wedding photography! Her talent is so evident when you see her use of colour, black and white, golden hour photos and so perfectly capturing the tiniest but most special moments of the day. Tess had an incredible way of making us feel so at ease during the portrait moments (which we were a bit nervous about in the lead up). She was able to shift the energy and make us laugh and then let us have our quiet moments too. Tess’s professionalism really shone through in the way she calmly conducts herself and somehow manages to wrangle all the chaos so effortlessly. We’re so grateful that Tess captured our day for us.
Videography: Komorebi Film
Tony and Kim’s work blew us away. From our first meeting they were so laid back and easy going and instantly made us both feel so relaxed. Prior to the wedding, they sent us a little questionnaire which had some really sweet personal questions eg: favourite songs as a couple etc. On the day of the wedding, when we got a little camera shy, Tony and Kim pumped out these favourite songs – this little touch and gesture goes such a long way to making us feel more in the moment with one another. It’s such a credit to their professionalism that our guests and us barely noticed them the whole day, they were both so skillful in the way they melted into the background but still captured all the beautiful moments. Tony even brought a white microphone (without even being asked) to attach to Brodie’s lapel for the ceremony because he knew Brodie was hesitant about the black microphone being visible against the white suit jacket. We loved these little details and thoughtfulness; we can’t recommend them enough!
Florist: Floss and Fleur
Working with Britt was an absolute dream and such a stress-free process! Not only did she go above and beyond to make all our visons come to life, but she was truly SO fun to work with and felt like a friend from the very beginning. Britt was completely transparent about all quotes and really helped us make the most out of our budget without ever pushing for more, which we really appreciated. Her attention to detail and creativity was so evident throughout the entire process- from design briefs, mockups and of course our stunning florals on the day. She paid attention to every little detail, making sure nothing was overlooked. Britt even helped Brodie pull off a last-minute surprise for me by attaching a sentimental pin to Bel’s bouquet and was there to wish me luck as I walked down the aisle. We are forever grateful that we had Britt in our corner.
Hair: Lisa Milevski
For someone that doesn’t style their hair often, I had no clue what style to choose for our wedding. Lisa was extremely patient with me during the many trials and I knew there was always such genuine care for me to feel 100% happy. She had such a calming presence during the morning when we were getting ready which never went unnoticed.
Make-up: Giuliana Corallo
The dress: Alena Leena with custom made sleeves by Como Alterations
Niki at Como Alterations and her team were nothing but kind, prompt and beyond patient with me throughout the entire design and custom process. I lost count of the amount of times I went back with tweaks and they never once pushed me or made me feel bad about the vision I had in mind- it was always met with a ‘can do’ attitude which I deeply appreciate. Niki is so skilled, insightful and such a pleasure to work with.
Shoes: Sandler
Rings: Oval and Pear
Teagan Flynn designed my engagement ring and we always wanted to go back to get our custom wedding set made by her. Teagan is such a pleasure to work with and exudes excitement, care and attention to detail in the entire process. Teagan’s creativity really helped us make our wedding set unique and we would go back to Oval and Pear a thousand times. We are beyond happy with our matching set!
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Billy J
Bridesmaid’s jumpsuits: Cue
Suits: Shane Avenue
Bow ties: Brodie’s brother (her something borrowed)
Catering: Locavore Catering
Cake: Caked N Co.
Stationery: CREATE.PRINT.LOVE
Georgia and Elise went above and beyond with their communication in the lead up to the wedding, supplying endless mock ups. We had a very specific colour palette and style in mind for our menus and place cards, and they were both so easy going and kept tweaking each draft until we found the perfect design.
Signage: The Details
Entertainment: James Marris from Unplugged Entertainment live acoustic and DJ.
From the very beginning, Unplugged Entertainment was exceptionally responsive and accommodating with our bid to the perfect artist. We hired James based not only his incredible vocals but for his huge range of music genres and we couldn’t have been happier with our decision.
Transport: McKenzie’s Tourist Services (for guests)
Décor: Table runners from Careyou & travertine stone pieces & candles from Ikea , U-shape vases from Koch & Co
Hire: Candle vases from Happily Evady After
Honeymoon: South and Central America for six months. Brodie also booked a sneaky four day getaway to Port Douglas straight after the wedding- which was much needed after a full year of planning!
