Real wedding - Jayde and Brock, Ballarat VIC

May 22, 2016 In Black and White, Church, Classic, Country, Luxe, Most Popular, Real Weddings, White By Natalie Drum

Real wedding – Jayde and Brock, Ballarat VIC

A last minute venue change wasn’t enough to spoil the magic that Jayde and Brock had planned for their wedding day.

When just a week out their chosen venue fell through, the swift-thinking bride activated ‘plan B’ and pulled off a celebration like no other, creating an elegant, timeless and stunningly-styled wedding that the couple and their guests are sure to never forget.

In a love-filled celebration surrounded by their closest family and friends, the long-time lovers had their dreams come true and the talented Love Katie + Sarah have documented their darling day just perfectly.

In Jayde’s words…

The meeting.

We met over Easter weekend in 2012, I was living in Melbourne at the time and a girlfriend’s husband was coaching at the Newtown football club. She had mentioned there were a few nice single men around the club and begged me to come down. After some extensive Facebook stalking, Brock had caught my eye. We were then officially introduced at a VFL football match and to be honest, the rest is history…he is a charmer!

The ‘one’.

This is a tough one. At the time I was unsure, it probably didn’t really hit me until we travelled together to Europe in 2013 but if you asked me now, I would say from the moment I met him.

The proposal.

He really is such a romantic, he sent myself and Ruby (our one-year-old daughter) on a scavenger hunt, hiding clues and questions that we had to answer. Eventually it led to him, where he handed over the final clue and dropped the knee. I cried so much that I actually can’t remember all the amazing things he said, he totally threw me. It was just the three of us salvaging the moment together, perfect.

The planning.

I locked all the important elements in rather early, venue, band, catering, photography and videography. We both knew what we wanted, we (or I) had been talking about our wedding long before the engagement. I had been planning and pinning for over 10 years, what girl hasn’t?!

So the planning started and it was smooth sailing.

I was planning/styling my entire wedding, I have an events background and a love for styling, so it was important we picked a venue that I could bring together all my own vendors/elements into.

We had a few hiccups along the way, but the biggest was the marquee company aligned with the original venue, that went into receivership six days before the wedding. It was such an unfortunate situation, for them of course and us, as the cost to redeem ourselves and have the same marquee as originally planned was going to be too excessive, it meant I had to think quick.

I called Leish at Willow + Stone as a girlfriend was married their a few months prior and it was a brand new venue in Ballarat. I explained the situation, that my budget was exhausted and a week out there was just no way we could afford to hire another marquee of the size needed. We would already have had to cover extra running costs that weren’t in the budget, such as generators and commercial kitchens, at the previous venue, and it was a very tough decision to make. I loved the original venue but I simply had no choice.

Willow + Stone were our life savers, they were in the middle of renovating the site, so they actually bent over backwards for us to make it all work. I was lucky enough that Ballarat Party Hire had a marquee in our budget to fit the designed space at Willow + Stone, and they went above and beyond to source me a clear roof (a necessity, as I had stunning festoon lighting planned).

I was lucky that everything was as simple as a “change of address” for all vendors, and Willow + Stone still offered their own unique aesthetic which was still very suited to my style for the day.

All in all – we just wanted to get married, sometimes you can let the whole planning process take over and consume you (it totally consumed me), but it all worked out, probably even better than originally planned, karma was good to us in the end.

Style inspiration.

Pinterest and Instagram. Wow, did I spend many hours trawling through them both, pinning or screen-shotting, I honestly loved pulling together ideas for our day.

I think choosing your theme is very dependent on your venue. I had a vision and knew my venue had to involve nature, a marquee and the outdoors. Once I had this selected, the rest was easy.

I chose to stick to a ‘modern-meets-elegance’ theme. Incorporating all the natural elements such as luscious greenery, stone walls, high trees, open grassed areas, hedging etc.

The florals were neutral colours, white/ivory with pops of lush greenery. I chose to have crisp white table clothes and stunning grainy grey napkins which tied in perfectly with the metallic gold touches – for example, vases, cutlery, votive’s – this added my modern touch.

Because of where we were and our surroundings, I wanted to introduce a timber element to soften the look, and had seen amazing laser-cut acrylic place cards on Pinterest. I decided to get in touch with Sketch and Etch in Geelong to see if they could do this in a ply/timber. It was as easy as that, this meant I had a timber element to then tie in with My father in law hand-made amazing timber cheese boards that were placed on each table for the antipasto to be served on. Sketch & Etch also engraved the boards with “Mr & Mrs Bouch 11.03.2016” and we gifted them to close family and friends after the wedding.

The dress.

My dress!

This was always going to be my biggest battle, I had worked In the fashion industry for over 10 years and felt like the “bride” look just wasn’t me. I was worried that finding a dress to suit (that didn’t cost over $10,000), was going to be impossible.

I watch the fashions at most of the big events each year and I happened to stumble across a dress that was worn at the Logies last year. I fell in love and just knew that whoever designed this HAD to design my wedding dress.

Sonia from Cappellazzo Couture was AMAZING, I went to meet her and discuss the ideas for my dream dress and she visually created a masterpiece on me with scraps of material to show me “what she could do”. There are not many designers who can do that. Sketches and drawings always worried me, I was so lucky I found her.

The dress oozed ME, it was perfect.

Favourite moments.

This is hard, there are so many. I would have to say – walking down the aisle – cliché, I know. I guess it is because there is no other moment like it, you only ever do that walk once (well, you hope). It was the most nerve-wrecking; crazy rush of feelings I have ever felt.

My mum walked down the aisle first with our daughter Ruby (who had been vomiting all day, yes, my luck was super) and handed her over to Brock.

With Dad on my arm – who was so damn emotional – we walked down what seemed to be one kilometre of aisle towards my little family (I think I am crying just writing this). I don’t think my smile could have been any bigger, walking past all of our nearest and dearest, watching them smile, laugh, cry. Wow – it was unforgettable.

Traditions.

The ceremony was rather traditional.

We had speeches from father of the groom and bride, best man and then the two of us. We also had a first dance (so much fun), but we did forget to throw the bouquet and cut the cake. We were just having way too much fun dancing the night away.

Meaning of marriage.

Marriage means we are now just officially stuck together rather than unofficially! It’s something you dream about as a child, to find that one person you want to spend the rest of your life with. Someone you will love unconditionally for the rest of your days.

Wedding soundtrack.

Aisle – 500 Miles by Sleeping at Last

First dance – Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli

Funny stories (or near disasters).

Ruby fell ill on the DAY of the wedding. And on a lighter note, one of Brock’s good friends took over the band at one point, choosing to sing a solo version of the Shannon Noel hit “what about me”. It was hilarious, the band even got around him and jumped on the instruments.

Words of wisdom.

Be organised, have a budget, and be realistic. Styling and planning our own day meant we could achieve our dream wedding.

Final words.

Like This Corp Band – we had the dance floor outside under the stars and our wedding was all about the dancing. Our band, in all honesty, were A TOTAL HIT. They had the entire wedding up and dancing ALL NIGHT.

The setting, the day, everything. What was once a dream became a reality!