Real Wedding – Grace & Kaiden, Merrimu VIC
When planning their big day, Kaiden and Grace had some top priorities – a relaxed, non-traditional day with a big focus on food and fun. And boy, did they have fun.
With an epic Tribe of suppliers and food trucks at the ready, many of their guests stayed on-site and it was truly the perfect way to celebrate their big day.
Mon from MB Captured has snapped every darling detail of Grace and Kaiden’s celebration just beautifully.
In Grace’s words…
The meeting.
We met in 2012 through a mutual friend who I was living with (who was a family friend of Kaiden’s). We had a housewarming party when we moved into the house and Kaiden was invited and we hit it off.
‘The one’.
We were pretty much inseparable from the start and I think we both knew we didn’t want to be with anyone else.
The proposal.
Kaiden booked a surprise night away to stay in Melbourne CBD one weekend in May. I was slightly suspicious when he told me, as I usually do most of the planning/booking for holidays etc. When we got to the city he suggested we got to Mr Miyagi on Chapel Street for dinner (my favourite restaurant so that wasn’t too out of the ordinary). When we’d got through dinner with no proposal I thought it wasn’t going to happen so pretty much forgot about it. We drove back into the CBD after dinner and he suggested we park near Federation Square and walk across the bridge to our hotel (we were staying at Crown). I thought he was after cheap parking so wasn’t suspicious at all! We started walking across the bridge over the Yarra and he observed that we’d had a photo on the bridge for out 1st year anniversary and suggested we get another one for Instagram. He asked some Swedish backpackers to take a photo of us (pretty forcefully – he told them to keep snapping away… which was strange as he usually hates photo but I was still clueless). Once they started taking photos he got down on one knee and of course I said yes! It’s so amazing to have the photos as well. We went back to our hotel room where we had a bottle of champagne and rose petals waiting for us.
The process.
It was pretty full on as we got engaged in May and set a date pretty much instantly for February the next year so we only had nine months to plan. Once I started emailing suppliers I realised I had to get them booked in ASAP as so many were booked out months in advance. We went and looked at Camp Sunnystones and decided straight away we didn’t want to look anywhere else and booked that in. Once we had all our main suppliers booked in it was just a matter of chipping away at the planning!
Style inspiration.
We wanted a relaxed, non-traditional day with a big focus on food and fun. Most of our guests stayed the night in camp style accommodation (bunk beds!) which was great and added to the day/night.
The dress.
I set aside a Saturday to go shopping with my mum and sisters to look for dresses. I had originally loved the look of the Grace Loves Lace Inca Dress but because it was going to summer I wasn’t sure how the long sleeves would go so decided to try a few on in Geelong before thinking about the Inca dress again. We went to Bridal House in Geelong and it was about the 3rd dress I tried on and I knew straight away. It was nothing like I thought I would wear but I felt amazing in it and didn’t want to take it off.
Favourite moments.
It’s so hard to pick one! We were lucky enough to have the venue for the whole weekend and stay there the night before so that was pretty special to have both of our families together the night before. On the day we loved the vows, they were a surprise and ended up being very similar which was funny and proved we were meant to be! Our photographer Mon also pulled us aside for some sunset photos later on in the night which was nice to have some time together to just take it all in. We also loved getting on the dancefloor with all of our friends later on.
Meaning of marriage.
Marriage to us is about spending our lives with our best friend and officially being our own family.
Wedding soundtrack.
Bride entry: I get to love you by Ruelle
Signing songs: Exactly how you are and It’s nice to be alive by Ball Park Music
Aisle exit song: Home by Edward Sharpe and Magnetic Zeros
Reception entry: Ni**as in Paris by Jay Z & Kanye
Funny stories (or near disasters).
We ended up having to book another food truck in two weeks before the wedding as one of ours just stopped responding to our messages/calls which was pretty stressful. The day before was pretty stressful as we got the venue ready completely on our own and so many things seemed to go wrong (eg. Kegs didn’t fit the bar and one of our groomsmen had to drive an hour the night before – and miss the rehearsal – to go and get new fittings).
Planning surprises.
How all consuming it is! It’s very time consuming and all consuming in that you don’t think of anything else but wedding related things! We also decided to do a lot of DIY things like styling and set up of venue which was probably harder than I thought it would be.
Words of wisdom.
Don’t do anything just because someone tells you it’s tradition or you should do it. Your wedding can be exactly how you want it to be.
If rustic and romantic is your style, be sure to check out Paris and Luke’s sensational celebration.
GRACE & KAIDEN’S TRIBE
Ceremony and reception: Camp Sunnystones, Merrimu. The camp were so amazing to deal with in the lead up to the wedding and we got to spend the whole wedding weekend there.
Celebrant/Officiant: Chloe Jetson – Chloe is so amazing! From the moment we met her we absolutely loved her and she ended up writing the most beautiful ceremony for us. She also helped us with our vows and extra last minute things on the day. We can’t recommend her highly enough!
Photography: Monika Berry of MB Captured. Wow! Mon was so amazing and we felt SO comfortable with her. We barely even noticed her snapping away on the day and she felt more like a friend than a photographer. We are so happy with all of the photos and can’t thank Mon enough.
Videography: Spectacular Weddings Geelong. We are so happy with our wedding videos – we got a teaser clip a week after the wedding, then a highlight video and a full length feature film.
Styling: Bride, bridesmaids and bride’s friend, Peta.
Florist: One of my besties, Peta Bell.
Hair: Cassandra de Bruin – Cass was great, so relaxed on the day and we were so happy with our hair.
Make-up: Dale from Hilary Holmes Makeup. We loved our makeup!
The Dress(es): Zavana Bridal from Bridal House Geelong.
Veil: Bridal House Geelong
Shoes: Tony Bianco.
Rings: Sally Rose White Label.
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Shona Joy.
Groomsmen’s suits: Roger David.
Bow ties / ties: Roger David.
Catering: NemnNem Food Truck, La Revolucion Food Truck
Bar: Our bar was hired from Rent my Event Geelong and we supplied all of our own alcohol.
Cake / Cake topper: Donuts from Daniel’s Bakery in Hoppers Crossing.
Stationery / Signage: All DIY with a few stickers etc from Etsy. Invitations through Vista print.
Entertainment: DJ – Moluck
Décor: All DIY – lots of lights from EBAY and other things we collected along the way. DIY donut wall.
Hire: Minapre Events – we hired our arbour, chairs, dancefloor and easels from Minapre.
Honeymoon: Vietnam
