Real Wedding – Clachair & Michael, Newstead QLD
Clachair and Mike’s wedding is a fabulously fresh dose of laid-back cool, electric emotion and perfectly sublime style. From their epic first look photos to their uniquely created ceremony, these two stunning souls chose to do it their way – and the result is pure magic.
From the minute they entered the ceremony together, cruising past the bar with champagne in hand, their guests knew they were in for an exceptional treat. Clachair rocked no less than three gowns, from a floor-length 70s style sequinned gown to a whipped-satin, mini, Maticvestki-designed delight. Topped with a pop of red lip and neon scarlet bouquet, her look was nothing short of showstopping.
A full scale, ivory blossomed tree was centrepiece to the crisp white cylindrical bar, offset perfectly against the charcoal industrial interior of The Refinery. The only thing that could elevate this look further was the effervescent excitement of the guests as they soaked up the fun.
Tessa Shannon was the legend behind the lens, capturing each incredible moment, pinnacled in a portrait session with the newlyweds against the backdrop of the Brisbane skyline, oozing movie star cool. As much as we love the look of this day, it’s the loved up, ecstatic emotion between Clahair and Mike that truly electrifies, taking the superb soiree to a whole new level.
The meeting.
I used to work with Michael’s sister at a local café. He worked at Target and used to walk past and wave. His sister Hayley spilled that he thought I was cute, and from there, we used to see each other at parties and out in town. This eventually led to our first date in 2011 to see Inception, Michael’s second viewing (he still doesn’t understand it!)
The ‘one’.
We moved pretty quickly! Before we knew it, we were living together in his parents’ granny flat, were saving for a house and had got a bulldog called Phoenix. It all fell together so smoothly, and his humour and light-heartedness had me falling quickly. Who doesn’t love a man who can make you laugh!
The proposal.
Michael organised a weekend away in Montville. We had been at wineries all day and were very tipsy! Michael mentioned we had to go home to get changed for dinner. Then, an uber took us to literally the middle of nowhere! I’m pretty sure the uber driver was concerned for my safety. He was of the assumption we were headed to dinner too, yet we ended up parked beside an open field. Multiple times he asked, “are you sure this is the spot?” to which Michael responded, very flustered, “yes, this is perfect! BABE, get out of the car!” We then wandered to a gate, with some confusion, until someone across the road yelled, “yes, that’s the one!” (later, I found out this was a photographer he had organised!). We opened the gate and headed across the field to a beautiful, misty, rainy view of the Glasshouse Mountains and a sole dainty tree – one tree hill.
He got down on one knee, asked if I would smell his farts for the rest of my life and from there, I think we both blacked out, cried a little and headed down to a teepee tent picnic setup for Moet and a platter to celebrate. He had organised a photographer to capture everything as he knew photos were so special to me. It was just perfect!
Planning process.
I am horrible at organising anything. It’s just something that doesn’t come naturally to me. And in the end, I had to organise our wedding twice due to a covid postponement in 2020! I was so lucky to have Rach from our venue, The Refinery, talking to vendors behind the scenes. She was legendary! I just kept everything super simple; the aim of the day was to have the least stressful day celebrating with friends and family, so we kept reverting back to that train of thought to not go overboard on decorations or the budget.
Style inspiration.
I didn’t really have a particular style. I wanted to keep it simple and add a pop of colour through my lippy and bouquet. The rest of the tones were just black, white and greenery.
I found inspiration through real weddings, mostly. I was following a few photographers on Instagram and picked up a few vendors from Instagram searching other people’s real weddings!
The ceremony.
Our ceremony was us to a tee. It started with Michael and I doing a first look and reveal to our family. From there, we got our family portraits prior to the ceremony so we could have as many hours as possible celebrating after! A HUGE thanks to Tessa, our photographer, for recommending this – the best! Our day was always about celebrating TOGETHER with our friends and family as they are the people who have in some way or another made us the people we are today.
We walked down the aisle together, cheers-ing and sipping champagne as we walked around the circular bar. We gave Paul Vogue, our celebrant, a pretty hard time refusing to say anything at the alter other than what we legally had to say. Once Paul got to know us, he suggested the grand idea to bring forward our best friends speeches to the ceremony to tell our love story from their point of view. It was honestly the best way to tell our love story. They talked about us as individuals, their love for us, hung some sh*t on us and overall chatted about how perfect we are for each other. It meant so much to us and was the most special part of our day.
The outfit.
I had three dresses for the day! Hunting for my dresses was my favourite part of organising our day. My ceremony dress was just from ASOS and was a late addition; I had seen it on Tessa’s page and hunted and purchased it for a steal!
My second dress I had purchased in 2018 from the Maticevski trunk show. I saw it and fell in love. Three years later, and I was still absolutely pumped to wear it, I am still so in love.
My third dress was a Rachel Gilbert dress. It was sequined, short with long sleeves and feathers at the bottom, so fun! Unfortunately, we didn’t get any professional pictures in this one because it was a late-night change!
Favourite moments.
The whole damn day!! Couldn’t pick a single moment. Everything was just too damn fun!
Meaning of marriage.
I was never a little girl wishing for a huge extravagant wedding. Michael and I both considered eloping and just focusing on us, but we realised our friends and family meant too much to us to not share the experience with them. We really did want it to be a celebration of us, of how far we’ve come, of the people who took the journey alongside us and for it to be the beginning of our next chapter of life together.
Wedding soundtrack.
Aisle: Cherry Hill by Russ
Recessional: Never Gonna Give You Up by Hazlet
Reception entry: Praise You by Fatboy Slim (Kite String Triangle Remix)
First dance: Firestone by Kygo
Friends dance: Believe by DMA’s
Funny stories or near disasters.
The week in the lead up to our wedding, Brisbane was hit with torrential rain and flooding. I had to work the day before the wedding, so sent Michael out to go find clear umbrellas for our day. He searched high and low and ended up finding some very expensive ones at David Jones. I sent him multiple messages to send me photos just to make sure he got the right style. He finally sent them through. Success!
An hour later, I get a very stressed message: “F*ck. I’ve lost the umbrellas! I’ve left already!” The one item he had gone to the shops for he had misplaced! I laughed. He was so angry at himself and headed back to retrace his footsteps – again, success! I message to say, “how’s to betting it won’t even rain tomorrow!” He responded, “it better!!!”. The wedding day came around, and as expected, it was the first day of sunshine all week, and not one single raindrop fell.
Planning surprises.
Covid! Our first wedding was postponed due to Covid, and it lingering was always very stressful. We snuck it in a week before another hard Brisbane lockdown. Very, very lucky.
Words of wisdom.
Always do you. Don’t stick to a tradition if it’s something that doesn’t align with you or make you feel at home. Don’t sweat on the little stuff. Remember people are there to have a drink, celebrate and enjoy your company.
Love Clachair and Mike’s ceremony vibe? If you’re keen to do your ceremony your way, we have a bunch of incredible celebrants who will support and guide you, and relish realising your unique vision! Check out the best in the biz, here.
CLACHAIR & MICHAEL’S VENDORS:
Ceremony & reception venue: The Refinery, Newstead. Rach was absolutely legendary; she had things sorted I didn’t even know I had to do! She was in touch with all of my vendors and made sure the day ran so smoothly. So much love and appreciation for her.
Celebrant: Paul Vogue. Paul took the time to get to know us and the way we wanted to run our ceremony. He put forward the awesome idea of having our friends speak at our ceremony and had all our music under control. Couldn’t have picked a better celebrant if I tried!
Photography: Tessa Shannon. Tessa is one of those people who, when you meet, it is like you have known her for years. She is such a little weapon, sprinting around, holding our excess bags, helping zip and unzip me for changes and just generally making sure we were so comfortable. Not only that, she is an absolute wizard at photography, she has such an eye for great spots, shots and we were SO impressed with our whole portfolio. Anyone searching right now, lock in Tessa!! You will not regret it!
Styling: Tree from Blossom Tree Co. This was our main decorative item. We honestly booked it, and on our wedding day, it was set up already and good to go, no fuss; they knew what to do and who to contact. It was just such an amazing feature.
Florist: Bunch it up. I contacted Roxy about a month prior, and she was so accommodating! She absolutely nailed my bouquet and the arbour. It was exactly as I had hoped it would look. So thankful for her as I felt my explanation of what I had wanted was so vague, but she nailed it!
Hair and make-up: The Future Mrs – Alarna Taylor. The Future Mrs were amazing. So hassle-free, emails responded so quickly and somehow everything just falling into place on the day. Alarna, my make-up artist, was just the best! So down to earth and easy-going. We were definitely chewing her ear off, and she literally just felt like a girlfriend we had known forever. On top of that, mine and my bridesmaid’s make-up was just perfect.
The dresses: Asos – Ciara Kimono Gown, Maticevski – Flamenco Gown, Rachel Gilbert – Nisha Dress.
Suits: InStitchu
Entertainment: Nik Conomos. Nik nailed it, knowing exactly when to play what type of songs to suit the mood and, more importantly, knew how to get the party going and not stopping! Highly recommend him as he was very adaptable and suitable for our whole day from ceremony to reception to the party!
Transport: SR Car Hire – 1949 Jaguar.
