Real Wedding – Eliza & Ryan, Lorne VIC

Eliza and Ryan’s wedding images make it abundantly clear that this dream day ticked all the boxes: fabulously laid-back style, epic moments, truly gorgeous emotions – and so many heart-shaped glasses! For these two lovers, who shared a dance floor pash at a grimy nightclub and then stepped the relationship up to official at Falls Festival on NYE, their wedding day was bound to be one epic party.

We love that although Eliza and Ryan chose to do a stunning, sunshine-drenched first look before the ceremony, Ryan’s emotions still got the better of him when he saw his glowing bride appear at the end of the aisle – all captured to perfection by photographer Nic Stephens. Celebrant extraordinaire Jo Betz kept the incredible vibes flowing with an emotion-filled, uplifting ceremony to set the tone for the day.

A colour palette of warm neutrals underpinned bright accents of burnt tangerine, soft rust and popsicle pink, the perfect balance to the sweeping sea vista of The Peak. And with Ryan’s squad looking sharp in contrasting hats, the overall look was one of super chill chic.

As Eliza switched her gorgeous gown for a cool party dress, both from Love Honour Bridal, the dance floor amped up to the tunes of legends One More Song. Scroll on to see this incredible party unfold.

The meeting.

We were introduced through mutual friends all the way back in 2012, and it wasn’t really a love at first sight story! After several meetings where we barely spoke (my memory was that Ryan was too shy), we went to a house party and ended up at a grimy nightclub, Tramp on King Street in Melbourne, and ended up having a little dance floor pash. After that, we clicked and can honestly say that ‘we found love in a hopeless place’!

The ‘one’.

We had been dating for about six months. Ryan was planning to move to Brisbane the following year, so we were keeping it pretty casual but obviously falling for each other! A couple of weeks before Ryan was set to move to QLD, we went to Falls Festival together with a bunch of friends. When Coolio (the headline act) came out to sing ‘Gangsters Paradise’ on New Year’s Eve, Ryan strutted over, wearing a bandana around his neck, and asked me to be his girlfriend. The rest is history.

The proposal.

It was my (Eliza’s) birthday weekend, and we planned a trip down to my mum and her partner’s property in Yambuk near Port Fairy. I was set on having a relaxing quiet weekend down there. On the Saturday morning, Ryan was adamant about going to the Port Fairy jetty to see some “really good fishing spot”. He was acting so strange and mysterious about getting there at a certain time for “the good fishing time.” Turns out that was because two of my friends, Morgan and Fi, were taking photos from across the jetty, and he was waiting for them! When we got halfway down the jetty in Port Fairy, he started singing his own amended version of Don’t you want me by the Human League, changing the lyrics to be about our life and got down on one knee with my dream ring.

After that, we walked back into town and went to a pub in Port Fairy, where a group of our best friends were waiting with champagne to surprise me for my birthday, so they also got a surprise that it was actually an engagement! We all camped at the property in Yambuk and had the best night partying on the beach.

Planning process.

We originally had a wedding date for early 2021, and when we decided to move the date due to the dreaded ‘C’, we had already planned and booked in most of our dream suppliers. So having an extra year to plan all the extra details was super cruisy and enjoyable for us both.

Style inspiration. 

As soon as we saw The Peak, we fell in love with the location, views and laid-back style of the venue. Originally, we wanted a Palm Springs-style wedding, so we incorporated a few elements of that but pared it back to suit the venue and ocean-side location.

I definitely found myself in a Pinterest/Instagram wedding inspiration hole on many occasions, but once we chose our suppliers, it really helped us narrow down the style and feel of our wedding, along with help from Agi from Whole Lotta Love, who did the on the day coordination (as well as a lot of help in the lead-up!).

The ceremony.

We wanted our ceremony to be laid back, relaxed and enjoyable for our guests and us, nothing too serious – which reflected our relationship. We opened the bar before the ceremony so people could kick back and start the celebrations early! Jo Betz (our celebrant) was so amazing at helping us achieve this vibe, and we laughed through the whole ceremony. It was so special looking out and seeing the smiling faces of all our guests.

The look. 

I fell in love with Love Honor Bridal as soon as I found them on Instagram, so it was a pretty easy decision. When I went to The Bridal Atelier in Melbourne to try them on, I couldn’t choose between The Florence and The Anya, and seeing as we waited an extra year for our wedding, I decided on both!

Ryan found his and the groomsmen’s suits on ASOS and that was a pretty straightforward decision for him. However, he had a special hat custom made by Feather & Drum – this was the most important part of his outfit, and he loved the process of designing it with them.

Favourite moments.

Our favourite moment was seeing each other before the ceremony. Ryan and the groomsman came over to the house I was staying at with the bridesmaids; we had champagne on the tennis court and just had so much fun before the craziness of the day actually began.

Second to that has to be the dancefloor, looking around and seeing all the people we love having the best time together.

Meaning of marriage.

Marriage to us is about making a lifelong commitment to one another in front of all the people we care about, and having love, respect and care for each other forevermore.

Wedding soundtrack.

Aisle: 10,000 Emerald Pools by BORNS

Recessional: I Like Love (I love love) by Solitaire

Reception entry: Ride on Time by Black Box

First dance: Dream Lover by Bobby Darin

Funny stories or near disasters.

After our and the bridal parties’ entrance, we had a beautiful champagne tower set up next to the dance floor, ready to go. However, we got all the guests up and about during our entrances and ended up knocking part of the champagne tower over! Luckily no one found any glass pieces in the bottom of their champagne glasses!

Planning surprises.

How difficult it is to chase up RSVPs! So many people assumed we knew they were coming, so they didn’t complete their RSVP, which was a nightmare for me as I am so organized and structured with excel spreadsheets!

Words of wisdom.

Start planning and booking vendors early, so the lead-up is super chill. And 100% book in a On the day Coordinator – it was a lifesaver having Agi from Whole Lotta Love there on the day setting up and styling everything, so Ryan and I, our bridal parties and family could all relax and enjoy the day.

If like Eliza and Ryan, you are a party-loving couple, you want to keep that upbeat vibe flowing throughout your day. Here are our tips to inject the party atmosphere through your music choices.

ELIZA & RYAN’S VENDORS

Ceremony & reception venue: The Peak at Lorne Country Club, Lorne. Bridge and the team at The Peak were so easy to work with and so chilled! Everything we requested they made happen, and they went above and beyond to help make the day as seamless as possible.

Celebrant:  Jo Betz. Jo was one of the first vendors we booked in; after seeing her at a friend’s wedding, we knew she was the one! We were so nervous writing our vows and thought they were going to be awful as we are both terrible at writing, but Jo made the process so easy and stress-free. We had so many comments after our ceremony about how amazing she was and how beautiful the ceremony was.

Photography: Nic Stephens. Nic was so much fun to have there on the wedding day and made us feel so comfortable throughout, and bonus, we are obsessed with our photos!

Videography: Lachy Henry. I stumbled across Lachy on Instagram and fell in love with his style and how we incorporated super 8 into the film. He was so easygoing and was having a ball with us before we left for the ceremony.

Styling: On the day – Whole Lotta Love Creative. Hands down the best wedding planning decision we made!

Florist: Botanical Roots. Bernadette has a beautiful style and, after only a few inspo pics, nailed exactly what I hope for in our flowers.

Hair: Vesna from Sila Salon

Make-up: Mila from Cosmetic MD. Vesna & Mila were so so much fun to have while we were getting ready, all of us girls felt so comfortable with them both, and they made us feel amazing with our hair and make-up.

The dresses: Both from The Bridal Atelier; the designer was Love Honor Bridal

Veil: Kim Alpha Bridal. I also had a hat by EastnWest Label (but saved it for the day after party in the end!)

Shoes: Loeffler Randall

Rings: Custom-made Hildan Jewellers

Bridesmaid’s dresses: Bec + Bridge

Suits: ASOS

Headwear: Ryan – Feather & Drum custom hat co. Groomsman – Lack of Color.

Champagne tower: Miss Fizz

Stationery / Signage: State of Elliot and Sea and Paper

Entertainment: Eddy Mac from One More Song. Eddy absolutely nailed our brief; everyone was on the dance floor literally all night, he even recorded part of his set from the wedding night, and we still listen to it all the time. Abe Anderson. Abe played some acoustic tunes for us post-ceremony; we are so glad we did this over a playlist. It was heaven.

Transport: Coastal Kombi Weddings and Lorne Tours

Décor: Table cloths – Table Art Event Hire, candles – Flort Designs, Southern Lights Candle Co

Hire: Harry the Hirer furniture and a Twilight Glamping Yurt

Honeymoon: Manly, Sydney and belated honeymoon to Europe

Tans: The Sorority