Real Wedding – Laura & Lachie, Fyansford VIC
After finding a love that felt like home eight years ago, Laura and Lachie carefully curated a wedding day that reflected that ease and intimacy.
The result was a relaxed, fun and ‘wholesome as hell’ celebration at the exquisite Provenance Wines.
The breathtaking blank canvas that is the Grand Hall was expertly brought to life with chic powder blue and lilac florals by the endlessly creative Florette, further enhanced by candlelight and complemented by modern black bow details.
To top off the dream aesthetics, Laura wore an off-the-shoulder Kyha gown with dramatic leg split that she’d long had saved in her screenshots.
The elegant scene was elevated to goosebump-inducing heights by the hauntingly beautiful sounds of acoustic duo Tom and Georgia from Geelong Entertainment.
And when the time came to let their hair down (or in Laura’s case, transition to a hair-up!), the memory-making specialists behind Ministry of DJs were there to set the dancefloor alight – see it all through the talented lens of Ryal Sormaz and TW films.
The meeting.
We met nearly eight years ago through our best mates. At the time, I was warned by our friends to stay away from Lachie because he was known for not ‘settling down’. But that’s secretly what every 19-year-old girl wants to hear, and it wasn’t long before we were inseparable.
The ‘one’.
We just wanted to be around each other all the time, and life was better together. It felt very natural. We both felt completely and totally safe with each other, like we were at home as long as we were together.
The proposal.
We were setting up festoon lights in our backyard, getting ready to host a New Years Eve party the following night, when we took a break from hanging up the lights and sat down. It was sunset and the festoon lights were on. Lach said he had a surprise for me and told me to close my eyes. When he said I could open them, he was down on one knee with the ring. We told some of our friends and family over Facetime, and then surprised others with the news when they came over on New Years Eve. To make it even more special, my best friend lives interstate and Lachie made sure she was in town when he proposed. That NYE celebrating with our closest friends was the best!
Planning process.
Lachie has a cool, calm, care-free nature about him and I’m the stressed, organised one in our relationship. So, naturally, I did majority of the wedding planning. We were originally supposed to get married six months earlier but had to postpone the wedding due to health reasons. The decision to postpone our wedding shattered both of us, but in the end, it was the right decision… it did mean we had to plan two weddings though!
We wanted our wedding day to be elegant, yet fun. A stress-free wedding day was the ultimate goal, and we chose our venue and vendors accordingly. I used a spreadsheet to keep track of all of our spending and budgeting, as well as the guest list, dietary requirements, etc.
Style inspiration.
Provenance has hosted some beautiful weddings, and the wedding photos we liked the most always had a lot of candles. We loved the idea of a moody, candlelit ceremony and reception, and the black bows really helped set that scene. I saw photos of a wedding at Stones of the Yarra Valley that had purple flowers and lots of greenery and we thought that would work really well at Provenance. I’d already chosen baby blue as the colour of the bridesmaids’ dresses, so I thought that adding in white and blue flowers would tie everything together. I sent a lot of inspiration photos to our florist, Erin, and had complete faith that she would create something that worked for the venue.
As far as inspiration, I loved looking at Ivory Tribe Real Weddings the most. In the beginning, we looked mostly at the ones held at Provenance, to get an idea of what was possible at the venue. Once we had a rough idea of the style we wanted, Pinterest and Instagram were helpful to scroll through. I created a moodboard on Pinterest and a slideshow on Google slides with my favourite photos from Pinterest and Instagram (highly recommend this).
The ceremony.
Our celebrant, Kahani, was the major non-negotiable for our wedding. She has this unique ability to make a wedding ceremony feel relaxed, fun and wholesome as hell. The Grand Hall can be an intimidating space, but we wanted everyone (including ourselves) to feel comfortable and enjoy themselves, and Kahani was instrumental in achieving this. We were both really nervous about the ceremony and being the centre of attention (we considered eloping multiple times throughout the planning process – who doesn’t?), but Kahani turned our ceremony into our favourite part of the day, which neither of us expected. She told our story so beautifully, and she really spent the time getting to know us, which showed when she spoke about us. She also proofread our vows and gave us all the tips and tricks to write them.
We brought the Grand Hall to life with lots of candles, black bows and flowers. Erin Cusack (Florette) was our florist, and she was just as excited as I was to decorate the Grand Hall and achieve an elegant, candlelit scene with lots of greenery and pops of white, dark purple and baby blue. Our ceremony backdrop was an absolute dream; she nailed it! Lachie and I still can’t believe how incredible it looked.
Acoustic duo Tom and Georgia sang and played guitar for our ceremony. Georgia is the sister of one of my best friends (and bridesmaid), so having her sing me down the aisle was extra special.
We also had one of our best mates (and bridesmaid), Vic, pronounce us husband and wife. Kahani told her what to say, and it’s something neither of us will forget.
The outfits.
My dress was by Kyha and Lachie’s suit was from Eddy Elias. It took a couple of trips up to Melbourne to pick my dress, I even paid a deposit on one dress and then changed my mind. But I ended up choosing the dress I saved on my phone when I first started looking.
Lachie always knew he wanted a velvet suit jacket. It was one of the first things he told me when we started planning the wedding. Everyone just wanted to hug him all night, it felt so soft!
All of the groomsmen’s suits were from Eddy Elias, and we couldn’t fault our experience there at all. They fitted and tailored all of the boys’ suits and made the whole process very easy.
The bridesmaids’ dresses were from Bec and Bridge. It was really important to me that the girls felt comfortable in their dresses, so once I’d chosen a colour, they had free reign to choose whatever dress style they wanted.
Favourite moments.
It’s actually too hard to narrow it down to one moment. We want to say the ceremony because it was so special. But dancing the night away together, with our friends and family, was so much fun.
Meaning of marriage.
A commitment to spend the rest of our lives growing and supporting each other through whatever life throws at us. A promise to love each other no matter what and bring out the best in each other.
Wedding soundtrack:
Aisle: The One You Love (Passenger feat. Kate Miller-Heidke)
Signing: Can’t Help Falling in Love (Elvis Presley)
Exit ceremony: Here Comes the Sun (The Beatles)
Bridal party entrance: Set My Heart on Fire (Majestic, The Jammin Kid, Celine Dion remix version)
First dance: I Love You Always Forever (Donna Lewis)
Funny stories or near disasters.
I nearly didn’t have a wedding ring on the day. My dad went and picked it up at midday (the ceremony started at 4pm). Long story short, our rings were custom made and there was some confusion about the way the diamonds were supposed to be set in my ring, so when I went to pick up the rings a month before the wedding, we realised it wasn’t right and it had to be melted down and completely re-made within four weeks.
Planning surprises.
I don’t think there was anything that didn’t take us by surprise. The detail required in planning the day was so much more than either of us anticipated. The budget blow-out is real. But everything was worth it.
Words of wisdom.
Try to enjoy the planning process and remember why you’re doing it. Don’t let family or friends tell you who to invite – it’s your day. If one of you is doing more planning than the other, ask for help when you need it.
LAURA & LACHIE’S SUPPLIERS:
Maddi (make-up), Kahani (celebrant) and Tiana (cake) we already knew, so they were locked in straight away. Ivory Tribe and Instagram were our biggest resources for finding florist, photographer, videographer, etc. Recommendations from friends and family also guided us.
Ceremony & reception venue: Provenance Wines – Provenance is a perfect, picturesque venue for a wedding in every month of the year. Not having to worry about an outdoor ceremony was a huge relief. Sarah was our wedding coordinator at Provenance, and she was one of the main reasons we chose the venue. We trusted Sarah and Provenance so much, and they didn’t let us down. The effort they went to was insurmountable,e and they made us feel so special. We just never wanted the day to end.
Celebrant/Officiant: Kahani Celebrant – Our celebrant, Kahani, was the major non-negotiable for our wedding. She has this unique ability to make a wedding ceremony feel relaxed, fun and wholesome as hell. Kahani turned our ceremony into our favourite part of the day, which neither of us expected. She told our story so beautifully, and she really spent the time getting to know us, which showed when she spoke about us. She also proofread our vows and gave us all the tips and tricks to write them. Kahani also MCed our reception, and we can’t recommend having her as a celebrant and MC enough. She kept the vibes high and knew exactly how to run the show. Plus, she stayed on well past her finish time, just to party with us!
Photography: Ryal Sormaz – Ryal Sormaz was our photographer and he just oozes cool, calm and fun energy. Likewise with our videographer, Josue Torres. The two of them worked seamlessly together and we had complete faith in their creative visions and time management to get as much footage in as little time as possible. We didn’t want the whole day to feel like a photo/video shoot, and Ryal and Josue were so efficient!
Videography: TW Films
Florist: Florette – We can’t speak highly enough of Erin. She absolutely nailed the brief and created the most perfect wedding ceremony backdrop. We felt like we were standing in a little wonderland of greenery and flowers up there. She was so easy to communicate with, and we trusted her completely.
Ceremony Hair & Bridesmaids’ Hair: Alex Fielding – Not only is Alex an incredible hair stylist, but she is also the most beautiful, kindest soul and on the morning of the wedding, she made us feel so excited yet calm at the same time. Alex did my ceremony hair, and it was flawless. She did all of the girls’ updos. They just showed her some inspo pics on the day, and she worked her magic. She truly is an artist. One of my bridesmaids actually slept with her hair up, and it still looked incredible on the recovery day.
Reception Hair: Jessica Burtt – I’m someone that will tie my hair up the first chance I get, so I knew that once I started dancing, having my hair down wouldn’t last. Jess has been my hairdresser for years but has drifted away from doing weddings. She made the time to come and put my hair up for the reception, though. It took her about 10mins to put my hair up into a textured pony-tail, and it was perfect.
Make-up: Maddi Nicholls – There aren’t enough compliments in the world for Maddi (her personality and her talent). She is the sister of one of my bridesmaids and has been doing my makeup since I was a teenager, so there is nobody I trust more than her. She is an absolute vibe, and she loves hyping you up while she does your makeup, which we could all use sometimes (especially on the morning of your wedding!). Her and Alex created such a warm, fun, happy atmosphere; we had the best time getting ready. Our makeup lasted all day and all night.
The dresses: Ceremony gown and veil Kyha Reception look: Shona Joy
Shoes: Stuart Weitzman
Rings: Custom-made by Lili Fine Jewellery (Torquay)
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Bec and Bridge
Suits & ties: Eddy Elias
Cake: Frosted
Stationery & Signage: Signed With Love
Acoustic: Tom and Georgia of Geelong Entertainment
Transport: Wedding Jaguars of Geelong
Décor (Fairy Lights): Elderberry Events
Honeymoon: Fiji
