Real Wedding – Madeleine & Jono, Macedon Ranges VIC
In the serene surrounds of Lancemore Macedon Ranges, Madeleine and Jono’s garden-themed wedding unfolded like a beautiful dream. They wanted to create a timeless affair for their friends and family to enjoy, so decided to take inspiration from Madeleine’s Eisen Stein gown. Their styling combined tantalising textures and warm, golden hues with floral accents darted throughout.
The ceremony took place amongst the enchanting secret garden with lush hedges enclosing the space, making guests feel as though they were entering a magical world, extended by celebrant Megan Thompson, who crafted an intimate, warm and light-hearted ceremony that captured Madeleine and Jono’s love to perfection.
Tess Follett and Moon and Back Co were there to capture each joy-filled moment in their signature candid styles before finishing the evening on a high with the team from Hey Jack delivering a dance floor where everyone shimmied the night away. It was the perfect ending to an evening that marked Madeleine and Jono’s new beginning.
The meeting.
One night during COVID, my friend Caitlin and I decided to download Hinge as something fun to do! Little did I know that that same night, I would match with Jono. I think I deleted Hinge the very next day, so I guess we lived up to their motto of “the app designed to be deleted”!
The ‘one’.
Jono says he knew on our second date (such a romantic). After initially saying that I wasn’t looking to make any commitments, it became apparent to me very quickly that Jono and I were made for each other; our lives fit together seamlessly, we wanted all of the same things and we made each other so happy.
The proposal.
At an incredible lookout near the Blue Mountains. We were the only two people there, and Jono got down on one knee and asked me to marry him – it was so special. I was totally surprised. Jono had actually planned to propose a few days earlier; he didn’t even know this lookout existed until we got there. But it ended up being more magical than he (or I) thought possible!
Planning process.
The planning process felt quite natural and easy really! Once we selected the venue, everything kind of just fell into place from there. We were really lucky to have a few trusted friends who work within the wedding industry, and lots of friends who had been married recently, so we generally just followed their recommendations with suppliers, which made it much easier than going in blind and having to do the research ourselves. Like everyone, the lead-up to the wedding was a bit crazy, and the to-do list seemed to be never-ending, but it’s all part of the fun!
Style inspiration.
The style or ‘theme’ of our wedding was Black Tie Garden Party. We knew from the start that we wanted black-tie, as we’d been to other weddings with this dress code and just loved that polished look, especially the boys in bow ties! The garden party element came from a combination of the flowers on my dress, and the ‘secret garden’ ceremony location at the venue. We wanted the styling to be soft, warm and timeless, and we think the neutral colour palette plus all of the greenery achieved exactly that!
Real weddings on Ivory Tribe were so useful and really helped to generate ideas. I used so many photos that I found from either real weddings on Ivory Tribe or on Instagram and TikTok to show our florist what we wanted, and even to help write lists of what we needed to prepare and bring for the weekend. Sometimes the small details you would spy in someone else’s photos would give you a helpful reminder!
The ceremony.
For us, the location of the ceremony made it so special. It was held in the ‘Secret Garden’, down the back of the property, where big trees had grown in a square shape, with just a small entrance. As you walk down towards it, you can’t see what’s inside – we loved that element of surprise! It also made the ceremony feel so intimate and magical. Many of our guests described it as feeling like entering a different world, and that’s exactly how it felt to us!
The outfit.
I know this definitely isn’t the case for everyone, but finding our outfits was quite easy. I knew that I wanted something textured and something a bit different; preferably with flowers tied in somewhere, to link to our Black Tie Garden Party theme. I came across the Wonder Gown by Eisen Stein at Maelle Bridal (after seeing someone try it on in a TikTok – one of those ‘come wedding dress shopping with me’ videos), and basically had my mind made up before I even tried it on! I tried on a couple of other dresses (just because I felt like I had to), but I’d found ‘the one’.
The second dress was a little tougher, but in the end, I chose a dress from Oroton that I loved and wanted a reason to buy anyway!
For our rehearsal dinner, I was so lucky to be able to wear my Mum’s second wedding dress, which she had worn 44 years ago! It meant so much to her.
Favourite moments.
It’s so hard for us to pick just one, but saying “I do” and being pronounced husband and wife! We were so excited and so, so happy. It really was a moment we will treasure forever.
Meaning of marriage.
Marriage to us means being a team – making decisions together and working hard together. It’s also so important to both of us that we support each other’s individual hobbies, passions and achievements – saying, “I’ve got this” so the other can go and do something that they love. It means blending our worlds and treating and embracing each other’s family and friends as our own.
Wedding soundtrack.
Aisle: Pure Shores by All Saints; although Jono mixed our own instrumental edit of the song to suit the length that we needed. He did such an incredible job, and it’s so special to feel like we have our own version of the song!
Signing: Cornelia Street by Taylor Swift (Instrumental) and I Love You Always Forever by Donna Lewis
Recessional: Just The Way You Are by Milky
Reception entry: Love at First Sight by Kylie Minogue
First Dance: Turn Around by Phats & Small
Words of wisdom.
Choose suppliers that you trust and where you can say, “Do whatever you think” or “I’ll leave it up to you!”. There are already so many decisions to make when planning a wedding it can feel overwhelming. Having suppliers that you trust and love the work of means that you can save yourself stress and time and let them do what they do best!
Madeleine and Jono entrusted their wedding with an incredible team of suppliers. If you’re on the hunt for the best of the best in the business then look no further than our directory to help your wedding dreams come true.
MADELEINE AND JONO’S VENDORS
Ceremony & reception venue: Lancemore Macedon Ranges – We found Lancemore Macedon Ranges through the Easy Weddings website. They offered a service where you could speak with one of their planners, and they could suggest wedding venues for you, and book in viewings. It was so helpful! As soon as we visited Lancemore Macedon Ranges; we loved it. We loved the ‘secret garden’ ceremony location, where all of our guests could stay on-site in their own rooms, all of the different locations we could use for our rehearsal dinner, hair and make-up or an after-party, and the stunning views. Jess, the venue coordinator, and her team were so lovely and went above and beyond to make sure everything went smoothly for us over the weekend. All of the food was delicious – from our rehearsal dinner, to the reception, and the recovery breakfast was exactly what our post-champagne heads needed, and such a nice way to debrief with our guests and say goodbye!
Celebrant: Megan Thompson – Megan was recommended to us by our photographer Tess and another celebrant whom we had reached out to. And did we hit the jackpot! The moment we met Megan, we felt like we had known her for years. Megan created a ceremony that captured our story perfectly and that both we and our guests adored! It was intimate, warm, funny and emotive – everything we could have asked for. Megan was a huge part of what made our ceremony so special and the favourite part of our day.
Photography: Tess Follett – With Tess being a long-time friend (sister of one of our groomsmen!), and having seen her incredible work, we always knew that we wanted her to photograph our wedding. We actually picked our wedding date based on Tess’ availability; she was a non-negotiable, and she did not disappoint. We are so incredibly happy with our photos. We wanted them to be relaxed, emotive, and not too ‘posed’, and we ended up with photos that did exactly that and so much more. We can’t believe how beautifully Tess captured the happiness that we felt on the day. We will treasure our photos forever!
Videography: Moon & Back Co – Another super easy decision for us, with the Moon & Back family being long-time friends of Jono. Dannika, who filmed the day for us, is incredible; she is able to capture the tiniest moments that mean so much. We don’t know how she does it – she’s somehow everywhere, capturing everything! Our video is so special – every time we watch it, it transports us right back to the day, and we feel all of the love again!
Florist: Flowers St. Germain – We saw St. Germain’s beautiful work at our friends’ wedding. Sonia was so lovely to deal with from the very beginning, and she understood the vision that we wanted straight away! I found flowers to be one of the tricky parts of the wedding planning process, but when we reached out to St. Germain, Sonia created a mood board and plan for us that really helped to see how everything would come together. Our flowers on the day were so beautiful; the large urns were the perfect backdrop for our ceremony and one of our favourite decisions.
Hair & make-up: Tonic – My sister-in-law recommended Tonic after using them for her wedding, and when I reached out I couldn’t believe how seamless it was! With nine of us girls needing hair and make-up, Tonic were able to work through the timings with me, and the number of hair and make-up artists we would need. Casey, Kim and Hayley were so much fun on the day, and had the knack for making us all look like ourselves, but on our very best day!
The dresses: Maelle Bridal – The team at Maelle Bridal were amazing to deal with, from start to finish. It was always so lovely visiting their beautiful store for fittings, and they were always so accommodating. The designers at Eisen Stein did the most incredible job; every tiny detail of the dress had been carefully thought out and created to perfection. For such a big dress, I couldn’t believe how light and comfortable it was to wear. I can’t thank the team at Maelle Bridal and Eisen Stein enough for creating the dress of my dreams!
My second dress was a gold mini from Oroton. It was so fun to change into and meant that I could properly embrace the d-floor! I’m so excited to wear it again one day!
Veil: Maelle Bridal – I was really nervous about making sure that my veil was the right tone, as my dress was a mix of white, nude and blush layers. The Maelle girls knew exactly the right one and it complemented the dress perfectly.
Shoes: Forever New – I found finding the right shoes really tough! Because of the garden ceremony, they needed to have a block heel, but they also needed to be comfortable and just the right white! I ended up stumbling across them in Forever New, and they were so perfect that my bridesmaids also got the same ones!
Rings: JMS Diamonds – Jono had designed my engagement ring with Jason from JMS Diamonds, so we were excited to go back to choose our wedding bands, which were so beautifully made. In a funny coincidence, when we got our bands back, that were engraved inside with ‘JMS’, we realised that those would also be our married-name initials – Jono Madeleine Simko. Meant to be!
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Lovaan Studios – I searched everywhere for the perfect bridesmaid dresses! Again, I knew I wanted something a little bit different; preferably with an A-line skirt, something that the girls would be comfortable in, and a cream/yellow colour that would match the tone of my dress. I came across Lovaan Studios on instagram, who were a newly launched brand at the time. The dresses were such beautiful quality, I loved the pleats, the colour was perfect, and the bow at the back was the cherry on top!
Suits: Oscar Hunt – One of our closest friends works for Oscar Hunt, and knowing of their high quality and service, it was an easy decision for Jono, the groomsman and Father of the Bride. Jono knew that he wanted a classic black tux, but he still had so many options and additions to choose from. Having the suits made-to-measure meant that they fitted the boys perfectly – they all looked so handsome!
Bow ties: Oscar Hunt – The boys’ bow ties were all from Oscar Hunt too! The self-tie bow ties created some last minute panic apparently, but so worth it!
Favours: For our favours, we wanted something that would be a bit of fun. We ordered little bags from Etsy that said “We hope you get lucky tonight” and inside we put a scratchie. Unfortunately (as far as we know), nobody won $10k!
Cake: Rach Bakes – Rachel, a beautiful friend of my sister, made our wedding cake and it was divine! Vanilla and raspberry cream, perfect piping, and covered in fresh raspberries – perfection. Rach put so much love and care into every detail of our cake; and it showed.
Stationery / Signage: We actually designed our stationery and signage ourselves, and had the printing done at a local printer. My sister in law Penny is an incredible drawer, and she drew a range of different flowers for us, based on the flowers on my dress, for us to use on our signage and stationery, which was really special!
We also wrote newspapers for our recovery breakfast the morning after the wedding, which were so much fun to put together! We adapted a chic-minimalist template from Esty store TheWeddingVibe, and then had them printed via Newspaper Club in the UK, who were amazing!
Entertainment: Hey Jack – We’d heard and read great things about Hey Jack, and they lived up to it all! We selected their DJ/Band Hybrid; Christian on the decks and Keidan on the sax – they were the perfect combination! Christian nailed our brief and Keidan was the perfect dance floor addition. We were so nervous about getting the music right, but Christian and Keidan had the dance floor packed from start to finish! The team at HeyJack who organised everything were also so prompt and helpful which made everything so easy for us!
Honeymoon: Instead of a Honeymoon, we went on a Friendsmoon to Bali! This was actually already planned prior to us booking the wedding, but it worked perfectly and it was so special to continue the celebrations with ten of our closest friends.
