Real Wedding – Caitlin & Glen, Mt Eliza VIC
When Caitlin and Glen’s venue cancelled their booking just three weeks out from their wedding, they thanked their lucky stars to have found Tribe superstars Pop Up With Style to step in and take the reigns.
Creating the perfect, relaxed celebration, with Tuscan vibes and gorgeous styling, this dreamy celebration came with some hiccups, but it didn’t spoil the mood one bit.
Caitlin and Glen had the time of their lives, can laugh about the minor mishaps and are just thrilled to now be husband and wife. Check our Tribe talent Immerse Photography’s take on their big day.
In their words…
The meeting.
It was at their local surf shop “Outereef” that they first encountered one another, both working part time at just 17 and 19 years old. Being a small business that only rostered one person at a time; Caitlin and Glen never actually worked a shift together….. so how they actually came to know one another is a little unclear! Fast forward a few years with Glen finishing his Graphic Design Uni Degree and working as a carpenter and Caitlin studying Occupational Therapy and still working casually at Outereef and a few other retail outlets. Caitlin and Glen continued to “bump” into one another, with Glen having dinner with friends at a restaurant Caitlin was working at….. these dinners possibly being quite intentional, with Glen thinking at the time he may want more than just a friendship with Caitlin!
Caitlin, being none the wiser, was unaware that Glen was sniffing around for her number….. and with no social media at the time to stalk her; it was Madie who answered Glen’s prayers and passed her details on. Despite Glen contacting Caitlin and asking her out for a coffee, Caitlin genuinely and naively believed they were just catching up as mates….. with Glen awkwardly yet genuinely thinking this was the start of something special! As a consequence, Caitlin did not hold back, as obviously “friends” can eat double cream and mountain mousse brownie ice cream desserts in front of their friends when catching up for coffee….. after all, Caitlin was not out to impress anyone! Glen was naturally quite shocked, and impressed and quickly asked Caitlin out on another lunch to catch up again; with Caitlin finally catching on that this next meeting may just be an actual “date”!
Leading up to the date, Glen didn’t hear a thing from Caitlin, and wasn’t entirely sure if the lunch was even going ahead. Nevertheless, he arrived at the agreed time to pick Caitlin up; starting the tumultuous journey of Caitlin’s poor phone communication; and I’m told everyone here today will attest to Caitlin’s hopelessness when it comes to her phone! A beautiful ocean-view lunch ensued, conversation flowing easily and both Caitlin and Glen enjoying a gorgeous day together. Glen dropped Caitlin home and that was the end of the story …. well…. for the next 6 months anyway, as after this date, Glen waited patiently for a text message from Caitlin to catch up again, sadly, a text message that never arrived.
Six months later, Glen tried his luck again, and arranged a dinner date with Caitlin. Just like their first two dates, conversation flowed and they both loved each other’s company…… and thankfully this time, Caitlin had actually started to use her phone somewhat effectively.
The ‘one’.
Glen – there was no single moment when I knew she was the one, but when I did know I knew I could never live without her.
Caitlin – It was the same for me. No definitive moment. It was all the little things, day-to-day that made me fall head-over-heels in love with Glen. I knew early on that he was the most incredible person I have ever met, and I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.
The proposal.
Caitlin – Glen took me back to where we had our first date. Like Glen said, I wasn’t expecting anything as we had been trying to find time for a special lunch together anyway.
When we were driving down I guessed where we were going, but I still didn’t realise what was about to happen.
Glen had reserved a table overlooking stunning ocean views. It was a beautiful sunny day, but a bit cold with the wind. We had lunch and when I look back now Glen must have been nervous because he hardly touched his meal (which is so unlike him! Normally he finishes his meal when I’m about to take the fourth bite of mine!). He also didn’t leave me alone for a second.
I excused myself to go to the bathroom and he walked me there – I told him that it was fine, he could wait at the table, but he insisted. When I walked out of the bathroom he suggested we go for a walk. I said we should go back to the table first because my handbag and phone were there. He insisted that it would be fine and we’ll just go check out the ocean views from the garden. So we walked down and stared out into the ocean. Glen was standing behind me, with his arms wrapped around me. I moved to stand behind him because the wind was so cold and he is a great shield! But he didn’t let me, he pulled me in front and hugged me tighter. He started to say how much he loves me and I just responded with “I love you so much too babe!”, but before I knew it, he let go of me and I turned around to see him down on one knee with a ring in hand and asked me the words every girl dreams about “Will you marry me?”. It was an instant Yes! And we couldn’t stop laughing and crying with happiness.
We were also fortunate that two people were passing by at that same time and captured our special moment on camera. I love looking back at those photos!
We walked back to our table and on our way, Glen saw a girl he used to go to school with sitting with her girlfriends having lunch. We waved hello and continued on to our table. Shortly after, he got a text from the same girl asking if he had just proposed to me. When he replied yes, her table exploded in cheering and clapping … which then travelled down the whole restaurant until everyone was looking at us smiling, cheering and clapping! I could hardly see anything because my eyes were filled with tears. We shared a bottle of champagne to celebrate and straight away Glen was ready to talk about dates and venues! We got the ball rolling straight away, we were so excited! It was such an incredible moment. I will remember that day for the rest of my life!
The process.
We were quite organised with our planning but three weeks out from our date, the venue we had booked cancelled on us. It was such a stressful time and we spent day and night trying to find another venue at such short notice, in peak wedding season.
Style inspiration.
I guess we had planned for an ocean view wedding however with the last minute change in venue we were guided by Pop Up With Style and went with a Tuscan-style, casual wedding set up. It was perfect!
The dress.
I only went to two shops. The first was to find the right style for me, and the second was to find the right dress. So many people told me that the dress you imagine for your wedding day it almost always opposite to what you imagine… and that was true for me. I imagined a big, princess dress but turned out it didn’t suit me, and I went with a more slim, fitted style.
My girlfriends played a huge role in choosing the dress. I came out in it and their reaction was ‘that is the one!’ So I bought it. Afterwards I felt that it was a rushed decision and I kept looking at dresses on Instagram and thinking how beautiful they were and that I should have kept looking. But when I tried it on again in my fitting, I realised that I truly loved my dress and it really was the right one for me. I wouldn’t change a thing (except make sure the train is pinned up properly at the back afterwards!)
Favourite moments.
Caitlin – Holding my Dad’s arm and walking down the aisle to my husband! I wasn’t sure if he would get emotional but his reaction was the most raw, pure emotion I have ever seen. Everything around me was a blur, all I could see was him.
Also, the vows. It was the moment of the day I felt like it was just Glen and I there, and we had been through so much to get to that point that the words I had written meant so much more in that moment. We had written our own vows, and had not seen each other’s so that it would be a surprise for each other on the day. It was so amazing to hear his vows, and I was so excited to tell him how much I love, appreciate and admire him.
Funny stories (or near disasters).
I guess as mentioned earlier, the biggest disaster was the previous venue cancelling on us. We were considering cancelling the wedding and finding another date because we didn’t want to settle with a venue we didn’t absolutely love. Thankfully Pop Up With Style came to the rescue there!
One of our guests had a medical emergency during our ceremony so we put our ceremony off for a couple of hours so we could focus on medical care first, we then went to do our photos while guests started on canapes and drinks in the garden. We then reset and I ended up walking down the aisle twice on my wedding day!
Walking down the aisle the first time was so emotional and beautiful. The second time was actually so much fun and much more relaxed, for us and our guests. It really changed the feel to the wedding, everyone was so relaxed and we all just went with the flow.
The weather on the day was perfect, right up to our ceremony. Then all of a sudden this huge whirlwind came through, which lasted the majority of the ceremony and caused the flower stands to fall and crash down, my hair to go all over the place, and was so cold I was shivering!
After the build up we had had for this wedding, we both laughed and said out loud ‘don’t worry about it, let’s just get married!’. We felt like so much had not gone to plan, that anything could happen and we would be fine because we knew one way or another, we were going to marry each other on that day!
Planning surprises.
The only thing would probably be how early you need to start looking for dresses.
I started looking in October 2017 (Wedding date November 2018) and the ladies in the bridal stores said I was already pushing it. They said my dress would take eight months to make, then we needed to allow time to have the fittings. My final fitting was two days before the wedding!
Words of wisdom.
People told me this when I was planning, and I would pass on the same message too: to enjoy every moment of the day because it absolutely flies by! So many months of planning and preparation and it is so important to soak up everything you can. Just take moments during the day to stop and really take in what is happening.
The reception is always so busy, trying to make sure you talk to everyone, but also make sure you take time with your new husband/wife. It is your wedding day, so be together and enjoy it.
Don’t sweat the small stuff! So many little things went wrong on the day. Most of it were things that we could not possibly have controlled. After the day is over, no-one remembers those things. Everyone there is so happy for you that you have just married the love of your life. And you get to a point with the planning that you realize the most important thing is that you love your new husband/wife more than anything else, truly just want them to be happy and share your lives together, and at the end of the day, that is all that matters.
When you’re prepped and planned for your day like a pro, minor hiccups shouldn’t send you into a spin. Get your plan on with Bride Business – she’ll show you the ropes.
CAITLIN & GLEN’S TRIBE
Ceremony and reception: Morning Star Estate, Mt Eliza
Celebrant/Officiant: Mrs Emma Tomlinson – Thank you so much to Emma for being so flexible with all the hiccups that occurred with our wedding! We definitely didn’t make it easy for her, but Emma was so understanding of our situation and went above and beyond to make sure we loved every moment of our ceremony. Emma was so lovely to work with and highly recommend her to any couples looking for someone upbeat and friendly to marry them!
Photography: Immerse Photography – Thank you so much to Paul and Grace for their amazing work in the lead up to, and on the day. We absolutely loved working with you and you made us both feel so comfortable the whole day! With the snapshots we have seen of our photos, we are so excited to create our album with you, they are the most stunning photos! Thank you!
Videography: Luxe Film House – Nikki and Yong, Thank you so much for capturing such beautiful, special moments throughout our wedding day. You were such a pleasure to work with and will definitely be recommending to our family and friends! We can’t wait to sit back with a glass of wine, watch the amazing video we know you will produce, and probably cry our eyes out!
Styling: Pop Up With Style – Pop Up With Style were simply amazing at being able to turn our wedding around. After our previous venue gave us last minute notice that they could not host our wedding, we desperately searched for someone who could make our dream wedding happen.
Jess and Kahlie had only less than three weeks to make our dream wedding happen and they proved that anything is possible!
They were always available to take our calls or answer our questions. Even on the day, we had a number of unforeseeable hiccups which meant we basically had to go with the flow, Pop Up With Style just adapted so quickly and still managed to create a seamless flow for the evening.
Without Jess and Kahlie our wedding would not have been possible, we are so grateful for everything they did for us. Thank you so much ladies!!
Florist: Wedding Flowers by Bethany Lee – A huge thank you to Beth for being an absolute superwoman throughout the whole wedding process. We cannot thank her enough for the incredible work she produced for our wedding, whilst also being a bridesmaid too! We gave her a vague description of colours we liked and handed over everything else to her to design the flowers for our special day and she produced the most beautiful, elegant arrangements for us!
Hair: Hair by Brittany (Brittany Wertheim)
Make-up: Make Up By Denise (Denise Carrasco)
The dress: Martina Liana
Veil / head wear: Mi Bridal
Shoes: Badgley Mishka
Rings: Anton Jewellery
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Shona Joy
Groom’s suit: Dyonsu
Grooms shoes: Windsor Smith
Bow ties / ties: Dyonsu
Favours: Mini Danube Jar Candles
Cake / Cake topper: Mrs Walters Wonderful Cakes (flowers by Bethany Lee)
Stationery / Signage: DIY
Entertainment: The White Tree
Décor: Pop Up with Style
Honeymoon: Bali
