Real Wedding – Catherine & Andy, Hesse VIC
Beautiful Barunah Plains was an easy choice for Catherine and Andy; a sensational setting for a weekend away celebrating their love. And what a celebration this one is – assembling a tribe of talent around them made for a day that both looked and felt like a superbly stunning soiree.
Contrasting perfectly against the backdrop of autumn foliage, superstar florists State of Nature assembled a floral dream, softly gathered in arrangements of dusky apricot, soft coral and pops of creamy pink. Stationery and signage featuring timeless typography by State of Elliot completed the look with effortless elegance.
We love a styled up marquee reception, and Elderberry event hire came to the party to assist in creating a look to wow. There to coordinate the fun and frivolities on the day were event planner extraordinaire’s Pop Up With Style, while Truffleduck provided an endless feast, a treat for all the senses.
There to capture every sweetly styled, fun-filled moment was the A+ team, Tess Follett and C2 Films. Scroll on to explore every dreamy detail of Catherine & Andy’s day (and make sure to check out her sweet kicks as she hits the dance floor!).
The meeting.
We met at a nightclub when we were 19 through mutual friends and have been inseparable ever since!
The ‘one’.
From the moment we expressed our love for one another, we knew we were meant to be together. Everything in our life is easy when we are together; we support each other through every decision in our lives and couldn’t imagine doing life with anyone else.
The proposal.
We were on a snowboarding holiday in New Zealand. We went for a walk in Queenstown gardens and stopped to listen to a busker. I had no idea that Andy had organised a busker to fly down and perform a song with him. He played the guitar and Andy sang one of my favourite songs. When it got to the chorus, he got down on one knee and proposed.
Planning process.
We started planning about a year before our wedding; the planning process was so much fun! We knew exactly what we wanted, so it made the decision process really easy. As soon as we had locked something in, we tried not to look at any other ideas so we wouldn’t regret any decisions. Pop Up With Style also created a checklist for us, so we knew we hadn’t missed anything important!
We used Ivory Tribe to find inspiration and also book some of our suppliers. The first part we booked was our venue (Barunah Plains). Once we had decided on the venue, we knew we needed an event coordinator for the day. That’s when we came across Pop Up With Style – they were amazing! We had a really clear idea of exactly the styling and event we wanted to create for our guests, but we needed a team to be there on the day to pull it all together.
We loved the stationery from State of Elliot and had Sarah customise some of her designs for us.
For table settings and décor, I took inspiration from styled shoots. I found it really helpful that in styled shoots, all the suppliers are listed to make it easy to find them. For working out what kind of event we wanted to put on for our guests, real weddings were very helpful. Especially once we found some venues similar to ours that we could draw inspiration from.
For our seating plan, we used the Wedding Wire seating planner tool, the drag and drop feature made it so easy to make changes to the tables.
Style inspiration.
We knew we weren’t having a bridal party, so we decided we wanted to find a venue where all our closest friends could stay with us for the weekend. Once we found Barunah Plains, we used the venue as our main inspiration. We wanted to keep our styling simple as the grounds of the property are magnificent and were the perfect backdrop. We used a sperry tent for our reception and chose provincial style furniture. Instead of big table centrepieces, we had candles and smaller floral arrangements and chose to wrap the tent poles with florals for our wow factor.
The outfit.
I fell in love with the material first! I knew that I wasn’t after a beaded or lace dress, and when I came across the embossed material at Marquise Bridal, I knew it was the one. I made a few customizations to one of Megan’s designs, and it was perfect!
Favourite moments.
One of our favourite moments was the morning of the wedding. We had 25 of our closest friends stay at the property to get ready together. We all had champagne and cakes together in the morning before all the preparations began.
Meaning of marriage.
Marriage to us means always supporting each other and making a commitment to do life together until our last days.
Wedding soundtrack.
Aisle: I Will Wait by Mumford and Sons
Reception entry: Now That We Found Love by Heavy D
First dance: You Are The Reason by Calum Scott & Leona Lewis
We wanted all our guests up and dancing, so we asked our guests to choose a song when they RSVP’d, which we then sent through to the band and DJ.
Funny stories or near disasters.
Andy and the MC got custom suits made for the wedding. Two weeks before the day, Andy’s suit wasn’t ready, and the MC’s suits didn’t fit! They ended up getting suits from MJ Bale and finding an amazing tailor to get them ready on time.
Planning surprises.
Choosing a venue like ours meant organizing the bump in and out times of the vendors and having to be at the property a couple of days leading up to the wedding to make sure everything was delivered. We had to rearrange a few of our plans to make it all happen.
Words of wisdom.
Remember that the day is about celebrating your union and love. Plan a wedding that you would love to attend, and don’t let family and friends’ opinions and ideas sway your decisions. Soak in every moment of the day; it’s not often you get all your family and friends together to celebrate you!
Wondering how to create that perfectly picturesque, wow-worthy ceremony setting? We’ve curated some of our favourite styles and set-ups on the blog, here. Pour yourself a glass of bubbles and prepare to be inspired!
CATHERINE & ANDY’S VENDORS
Ceremony & reception venue: Barunah Plains
Celebrant/Officiant: We were set on having someone who really knew us to deliver the ceremony, so we choose Andy’s brother Michael. We had a celebrant, Kitty Kulman, liaise with Michael in the lead-up to the wedding and help him prepare the ceremony. Kitty was there on the day to make sure everything ran smoothly and take care of the legal proceedings.
Photography: Tess Follett. Tess was incredible! We were so nervous about not looking natural in our photos, but Tess made us feel so comfortable on the day. She captured the most amazing moments with our friends and family.
Videography: C2 Films. We had Adrien for our videography; he was great to work with.
Styling: Me!
Florist: State of Nature. Laurens team created the most beautiful arrangements for the day!
Hair: Amanda Lunedei from Xiang Hair
Make-up: Suzi Sela. The make-up was flawless and lasted all night.
The dress & veil: Marquise Bridal
Shoes: Lana Wilkinson and Converse.
Rings: Cushla Whiting – engagement ring. DB Jewellery – bride’s wedding band. Uniform Black – groom’s wedding band.
Groom’s suit & bow tie: MJ Bale – they saved us at the last minute!
Event Coordination: Kahlie and Kaylah from Pop Up With Style
Catering: Truffleduck. Truffleduck’s catering was superb. One of our top priorities for the day was to have good food and lots of it! We had canapes by the pool followed by a sit-down dinner, roving desserts and late-night snacks on the dancefloor.
Bar: Tom Collins. We loved the look of a caravan bar, and Tom Collins went perfectly next to our sperry tent. We are big cocktail drinkers, and boy did they deliver!
Cake: Torte by Mirjana. We went for a slightly untraditional cake flavour of sticky date with caramel sauce; it was delicious.
Stationery / Signage: State of Elliot
Entertainment: Groove Junction. We had a duo for our ceremony and canapes, a four-piece band for the reception and then a DJ to finish off the night. The band was one of the highlights of the wedding.
Décor: Elderberry Event Hire and Memphis Hire
Hire: Undersky for our sperry tent and guest glamping tents and Paddock Dreams for the toilets.
Honeymoon: Our original Honeymoon to Bali has been postponed for now. We went to Hamilton Island and Airlie Beach, and it was perfect!
