Real Wedding – Mathew & Stephanie, Kilmore VIC

An epic festival-style party in their favourite place in the world? With that as the ethos of their wedding, Steph and Mat’s celebration was bound to be incredible. Add to that mix a community around them who love a project, a stellar vendor team and of course, the genuine joy-bringing blissed-up love between Steph and Mat, and you have a day no one is likely to forget.

Soft, rustic glam, remaining true to the idyllic farmland surrounding them, was their style vibe, while Twilight Events elevated their outdoor soiree with a gorgeous marquee and decor elements.

We love how organised these two sweet souls were in the lead in to their dream day. Steph and Mat share all their tips as to how to create a wedding from the ground up (literally) and still roll into the day feeling relaxed and radiant. Read on to hear all their tips and see the resulting wedstival vision through the impactfully stunning lens of Love Bomb Photography.

The meeting.

We were friends at high school, but didn’t start dating until we bumped into each other at a party years after we graduated. We hadn’t spoken in years but as soon as we started talking it was hard to stop, Steph chased Mat around the party for the night and eventually got the kiss she had been chasing!

The one.

There wasn’t a moment when we realised it, but as we spent more time together, it became obvious that we wanted to do life together because it is so much more fun.

The proposal.

We had agreed early in the year that we wanted to get married and even gone so far as booking a date without Mat officially popping the question. A bit untraditional, but it worked for us.

Mat enjoyed keeping Steph in suspense but decided that it was the perfect idea to propose the day before their yearly camping trip with the extended family at Easter time. After Steph threw a few curveballs at him, like sleeping in so they missed the sunrise and not wanting to go on the walk where he was going propose, Mat popped the question on the pontoon at the farm dam. A spot that was special to them as they spent lots of time there during Covid lockdown planning their future life together.

Planning process.

Before we even got engaged, we had asked Mat’s parents if we could get married on their farm – we spent a year during COVID living there, and it held a really special place in our hearts. A few people had warned us how much goes into setting up a wedding on the farm but the idea of having a day where everyone could share the place that meant so much to us meant we were up for the task.

The first step was locking in the marquee; finding a supplier like Twilight Glamping was incredible. I genuinely don’t think we could have done the event without them; having the lighting, furniture, marquee and glamping tents all from the same supplier saved us so much stress.

We really wanted people to stay overnight because of the location of the property, so we gave them the option of either bringing a tent or swag or hiring a Glamping tent.

When we were looking at suppliers, we really wanted to find people we’d actually enjoy working with. We had an introduction call or meeting with everyone before we booked them, and I think getting on the phone and building the connection with them built the trust from the start and got rid of a lot of potential anxiety! Our suppliers were all so brilliant and we had so much fun working with all of them, they were so amazing at their jobs it meant we could give them a high level vision of what we wanted and they just elevated it to the next level. I genuinely cannot emphasise enough how important these incredible people were in making our dream come alive for us and our guests!

There were also a few amazing app/platforms we we used to stay organised. We used the app Notion to set up a project plan and track our payments (free). I also used Miro as a place to store all my ideas, which was great when trying to explain things to family, and we also used websites for our invites and website (we paid a bit for this as there was quite a bit of information we needed to give to our guests!).

There were also some massive DIY projects and farm preparation weekends, which meant we could add some special touches to our day, all of which couldn’t have been done without our incredible family and friends. This included things like a sign painting day, where about 20 of us sat in the garden painting pallet wood, to actually mowing the paddock and putting the signs in, to Mat’s mum making the most insanely beautiful and tasty deserts. All of us love a project, so this formed part of the experience for me and was honestly so fun! We also had a family friend as a coordinator for us on the day, and because of her, the day went off without a hitch (thanks, Ebony!)

Basically, our day went well because of the amazing village of people who helped us bring everything to life!

Style inspiration.

The goal of our wedding was to have a big party/festival in one of our favourite places in the world, with the people we loved. We were so lucky that the location of the wedding was so stunning we didn’t really need to do much to it for it to be breathtaking! We wanted to keep the style relatively simple but with little touches that people could enjoy. This included things like the big sign we made with distances to the locations our family had travelled from made from pallet wood, to the arbour Mat made for us to get married under, or the log benches he made.

We used real weddings as our inspiration and preferred supplier lists from our vendors, I also had a Pinterest board going as well!

The ceremony.

When else in your life will you be surrounded by the people you love the most, pouring your heart out to the love of your life and making such a significant promise! We were gripping each other’s hands so tightly because we were so excited we were finally there. Our celebrant, Rob, really took the time to know us and, because of that, shared our story so beautifully. I was so grateful we chose him.

I was really glad we’d also included an introduction of the bridal party and our parents / grandparents at the start of the ceremony so everyone knew who they were!

It’s also got to be said that seeing each other for the first time as we locked eyes down the aisle was incredible, and despite a rogue veil almost flying into the dam, it was perfect.

The outfits.

Let’s be honest: everything starts with the dress! I went for the complete opposite of what I thought I’d get, I specifically wrote no beads on my bookings for dress viewings, and of course, I went for the most beaded one I could find! I just felt so stunning as soon as I put the dress on at Anna Campbell; there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. I was really happy I booked the tailoring service with them as well; we changed a few things on the dress, which just made me feel like a goddess when I walked down the aisle!

Mat’s suit and the boys shirts were from YSG tailors, we had an amazing experience with them, they made it so much fun for us and the boys! We ended up getting the boy’s accessories through Etsy, which turned out really well!

We chose sage green as the bridal party colour, with the girls dressed in sage green and the boys’ chinos in sage green.

Favourite moments.

This is a trick question.. all of it! Seeing each other for the first time down the aisle was incredible, and so was the sunset shoot with Hailey. It was such a nice moment to pause and just be totally loved up, and so were the speeches and dancing! My mum surprised us with a song she wrote that was just brilliant as well.

Meaning of marriage.

We could be happy and loved up without marriage; we could simply just continue counting. But we want to make a promise to each other that we have got this together, whatever life brings we will share in all the ups and downs.

Wedding soundtrack.

Aisle: Make You Feel My Love by Adele

Signing: What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong

Recessional: Love is in the Air by John Paul Young

Reception entry: What Dreams Are Made Of by Hilary Duff

First dance: You Got a Friend in Me by Randy Newman

Father-daughter dance: Into My Arms by Nick Cave and the Badseeds

Mother-son dance: You Raise Me Up intro into Footloose

Funny stories (or near disasters).

Torrential rain the night before meant that we were a bit worried about losing access to the farm or that people would just be completely drenched. We had a small dinner in the marquee the night before, all dressed in white, and everyone had mud on them before they even got into the tent. The night before, we just came to terms with the fact that we would be jumping in puddles all day, but the sun came out the next day, and we got incredible weather!

Planning surprises.

How much fun it was. Everyone kept asking us if we were stressed, and I kept wondering if we’d forgotten something. This definitely came down to the awesome people, have we mentioned how thankful we are for them!

Words of wisdom.

Try and enjoy the lead-up and the planning as much as you enjoy the day! It’s so much fun and such a nice way to spend time with family and friends.

To build your own team of incredible vendors, we recommend booking a date night with your fiance, settling in to the couch with your favourite take out and scrolling our directory – handpicked, ultra-talented and incredible at what they do, our vendors are the perfect beginning to your wedding planning.

MAT & STEPH’S VENDORS

To find our vendors, we mainly relied on word of mouth and preferred supplier lists, then went through Google reviews and sites like Ivory Tribe to see them in action!

Ceremony & reception location: Mat’s parents’ farm (Kilmore Victoria)

Celebrant: Rob Grave

Photography: Love Bomb

Florist: Buds and Branches

Hair: Valley Hair Agency (previously Valley Beauty Spot)

Make-up: Jacqui Ward Make Up Artistry

The dress & veil: Anna Campbell

Shoes: Forever Soles

Rings: Private jeweller

Bridesmaid’s dresses: Billy J Bridal Boutique

Suits: YSG tailors

Catering: Spitting Image Catering

Bar: The Little Happy Hut

Cake / Cake topper: Lisa Westphal (Mat’s mum)

Stationery / Signage: us!

Entertainment: Hey Jack – Revery

Hire: Twilight Glamping

Honeymoon: Tasmania for a mini-moon and then Europe.