Real Wedding – Michael & Bronte, Newtown VIC
Bold, timeless, romantic, and luxe were the style words anchoring the vision for Bronte and Michael’s impeccably stunning celebration.
Against the deep tonal backdrop of Geelong’s Barwon Edge interiors, and the light-filled, lush garden surrounds, this thematic choice was realised with tasteful elegance by Laura of Weddings of Desire and the indomitable floral talents of our friends at Wild Flos.
Weaving in Michael’s Italian heritage through decor elements, limoncello moments and Italian tag lines accentuating the stationery and signage suite, was only one step in making this day as personal as it was beautiful.
Add the infectious romance between the newlyweds, a soundtrack by the talent at Hey Jack, their incredible community of family and friends, and a stellar vendor lineup, and you have a day steeped in sweet emotion.
See every vividly enchanting moment, captured as visual poetry by Katie Harmsworth and Love Soldier.
The meeting.
Online… so romantic! It was at the beginning of COVID, 2020, and cafes, restaurants etc. were all closed. So, during our work-from-home lunch breaks, we organised a socially distanced walk date. What was supposed to be a half-hour lunch break resulted in a two hour, 8km trek. After that, our relationship moved quite quickly as we decided to be in each other’s “bubble” and were lucky we could spend a bit of time with each other. So, COVID wasn’t all bad for us!
The one.
For Michael, it was the cliché, love at first sight. Straight after our first date, he called his mum and said he was in love. For Bronte it took a little longer. Thinking she ruined the first date by talking too much, it wasn’t until the next day when Michael dropped a coffee to her that she knew he was interested, and he won her heart. Ever since then, we have been inseparable.
The proposal.
The short version is that it took Michael two attempts to propose. We were in the middle of a six-week European holiday and were in the south of France, where Michael finally took charge of booking something and organised dinner in St Tropez. The night started with a ferry ride, into sunset walk around the harbour, followed by dinner – but no proposal as he had planned. After dinner and a ferry ride back to our hotel, we stumbled across a 20-minute firework display put on for the town’s Independence Day. The perfect setting for a proposal, if Michael didn’t succumb to his nerves.
The eventual proposal was much more relaxed and came the very next evening, a picnic dinner on the beach of Nice with a baguette and rosé at sunset, much more to Brontes’s low-key style!
Planning process.
Our planning process and lead up to the wedding was quite relaxed, which was great, as we had a bit of time up our sleeve. After getting engaged in September 2023, and wanting a Feb/March wedding of 2025, it meant we had about 18 months to plan. So, when enquiring with vendors, we were lucky to be able to choose our preferred vendors as none of them had been booked for our date yet.
The big one for us was securing Laura from Weddings of Desire to help us throughout the entire process, including selecting our venue! She was amazing in guiding our experience, and we don’t know what we would have done without her! Even though we had a good idea of what we wanted our wedding to be like, she helped manage the overwhelming number of suppliers and styling ideas and was able to bring our vision to life.
Style inspiration.
We knew we wanted a big family-filled party, and that’s exactly what we had. We are both from big, close families, and Michael has an Italian heritage, so we wanted the day to feel super warm and fun and be a true reflection of us as a couple.
In terms of styling, we were after a bold, timeless, romantic and luxe style. Because our wedding was at the end of March, we wanted to incorporate darker, more moody tones to reflect the autumn colours of the venue’s surrounding landscape. This meant richer tones of burgundy, pink and deep oranges reflected in the flowers and stationery. We also had a bit of an Italian theme as a nod to Michael’s Italian culture with elements throughout the day to reflect this, such as limoncello spritz on arrival and Italian tag lines on our stationery.
We used a lot of Pinterest and Instagram inspiration, however, we found this quite overwhelming as there are so many differing styles and options that are literally limitless with what you can do with weddings! So, we leant on Laura, our stylist and planner, to help guide our styling process and create something special that was just ours and reflected us as a couple, which was important for us. We really learnt through the process that no two weddings are the same, so to trust our gut and select elements that we liked and felt right for our wedding, as opposed to what was ‘trending’.
The ceremony.
We wanted a very intimate, family-oriented ceremony and one that reflected us as a couple. For us, it was important to have a celebrant who knew us as a couple, a longtime family friend of Bronte’s family. Throughout the ceremony, we had family member involvement, which was super special, particularly Bronte’s grandma reading a poem for us and Michael’s nonno handing us our rings.
Bronte is also fortunate to have two special men in her life, her dad and step-father, so having them both walking her down the aisle was incredibly special and something she had always dreamt about.
Writing our own vows was also really important to us, so there was a lot of laughter and tears during the ceremony!
We also loved that our ceremony was the same venue as our reception, so it meant our guests could walk from the ceremony location to the canape hour and then straight into the reception. We were fortunate with the weather, because the grounds of Barwon Edge were so beautiful, it was really special, we could use the whole venue.
The outfits.
Bronte: I think, like a lot of brides, I fell in love with and purchased a dress that was everything I didn’t go looking for. My list of ‘no-goes’ included a strapless, tight-fitting dress, and that’s exactly what I got. After trying on countless dresses, I fell in love with this style, but found a dress at Jane Hill that offered both. The dress I chose had the drama of a big skirt for the ceremony, but it was detachable, which meant I had a built-in ‘second look’ gown that I could dance in (very important!). But overall, I knew I wanted something classic and timeless that I could look back on in years to come and still love, which is exactly what my dress is to me.
Again, probably also like most brides, I spent the good part of eight months before the wedding second-guessing my choice, but as soon as I put it on again the day of my wedding, I felt silly for ever questioning it!
Michael: Being in a job that means I wear a suit every day, I wanted something a little special and a bit different to a black suit. I found a dark charcoal double-breasted tuxedo from Hugo Boss, which looked great and stood out next to his groomsmen in all black tuxedos.
Favourite moment.
How can we pick just one?! The whole day exceeded our expectations a million times over. Everyone told us it would be the best day of our lives, but you don’t really know until you’re in it just how special it is! But probably our favourite combined moment of the day was our first dance. We chose to get lessons about six months out from the wedding and had a dance created to LOVE by Nat King Cole by the amazing Tammy at Ballroom Baby Geelong. The whole process of learning our first dance was so much fun, and the dance on the night was just so fun to show everyone what we had been practising. The dance was performed on a black and white checkered dancefloor under the stars (and festoon lights!) with our friends and family watching. It was fun and silly, capturing us as a couple and the theme of our wedding perfectly.
Meaning of marriage.
To us, marriage is as simple as allowing us to keep doing what we already love, but with the security of a real commitment. It’s a constant desire to be around each other, travelling, creating memories, laughing at silly things, and simply showing up for and supporting each other on both the good and bad days.
Marriage isn’t about changing anything; it’s about protecting our love, growing with it, and continuing to make even the ordinary moments feel like something special. So, declaring this in front of our family and friends and promising to uphold the vows we made to each other was really special.
Wedding soundtrack.
Aisle (bride): Can’t Help Falling in Love – Elvis Presley (played acoustically)
Recessional: Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles (played acoustically)
Signing: Bloom – The Paper Kites (played acoustically)
Reception entry: Sunlight – The Magician ft. Years & Years
First dance: L-O-V-E – Nat King Cole
Funny stories (or near disasters).
Michael had two groomsmen living in London at the time, which made suit shopping entertaining. The guys went into a suit shop in London to get themselves sized up, which didn’t translate to sizing back here in Aus. This meant we had to purchase suits from Australia and send them over for the boys to try on. However, because we didn’t quite get the sizing translated, there were a few different suits that spent a couple of flights back and forth between London and home before the sizes were settled on. It also meant that the boys bought their shirts for the wedding at 4pm Friday, just an hour before our rehearsal.
Planning surprises.
We were surprised by how difficult it is to organise a seating chart! We thought we nailed it so many times, but then, after asking our parents to quickly review it, we realised it was much harder than we thought! We are now so appreciative of any wedding we have been invited to since ours, as we know the effort and thought that goes into this!
Words of wisdom.
No two weddings are the same, and nor should they be. They should be an absolute reflection of you both as a couple, and this is so special. So, do something that suits you as a couple, and don’t worry about pleasing everyone else. It truly is the best night of your life and goes so quickly, so make sure you plan it to how you would love to celebrate your love.
We also had our photos taken before the ceremony, which was the best decision! It meant we could really be present during the day and be with our friends and family. The day goes by so quickly, so this was great in ensuring we got the most out of our wedding. It also helped calm the nerves by seeing each other before the aisle.
Love Michael and Bronte’s romantic yet impactful colour palette? See similar, also captured by Katie Harmsworth, in the style and decor of Lotti and VJ’s Cape Schanck celebration.
MICHAEL & BRONTE’S VENDORS:
Ceremony & reception venue: Barwon Edge, Newtown, Geelong VIC. We loved having our wedding at Barwon Edge. Nestled amongst the trees and adjacent to the Barwon River, it felt like we could be anywhere, but in reality, only 10 minutes from home! We loved being able to use the entirety of the grounds, too, as we had both our ceremony and reception here. It was so fun walking up from our ceremony to the canape hour outside and then into our reception from there. The restaurant’s interiors were also beautiful and perfectly complemented our wedding style. The staff at Barwon Edge and the process leading up to our wedding was so seamless, and they were really flexible with what we, and Laura, had planned for the space in terms of bringing in furniture, etc. On the day, they were also exceptional. The staff and service were amazing, and the food was incredible.
Celebrant: Marion Church (family friend). Marion is a friend of our family, and it was really special to have her marry us! She made sure the ceremony reflected us as a couple, and because she knew us, it meant the ceremony was really warm and intimate, which is exactly what we wanted.
Photography: Katie Harmsworth. Where do I begin!? Katie was absolutely incredible to work with, and we felt so lucky we were able to have her capture our wedding day. I first found Katie on Instagram many years before we were even engaged, and I said to Michael, “When we get married, we are having Katie photograph us.” So, it was a no-brainer choosing her for our wedding day! From the first meeting with her until now, she has gone above and beyond to ensure we had the best experience and ensured she captured everything we wanted. Katie gave us advice on where to have our pre-wedding photos taken, even came to the house prior to scope lighting/locations, and was so helpful on the day, guiding us, as well as our families and bridal party, into positions so nothing felt awkward or forced. Katie just has such an amazing and infectious energy that she made the day SO fun, and everyone we spoke to mentioned how great it was to have been photographed by her. The whole experience felt so personal, and I haven’t even mentioned how incredible our photos were! She captured our wedding so perfectly, reflected us as a couple and perfectly captured the day and everyone’s emotions. Could not recommend her more highly!
Videography: Love Soldier. We absolutely loved working with Stu and the team at Love Soldier for our videography. Stu had such a calm, low-key presence on the day, like a fly on the wall in the best possible way. He captured all the moments that mattered without ever feeling like he was in the way or directing the flow. We really appreciated that he let our photographer take the lead during the main events and just worked seamlessly around everything. It meant we could stay in the moment without feeling like we were being staged or watched. The footage he delivered was beautiful, thoughtful, and genuinely us and he gave us so many precious moments and memories that we will cherish forever. Couldn’t have asked for a better experience with the whole team.
Styling & Planner: Weddings of Desire. We honestly couldn’t have done our wedding without Laura and her team! We engaged her early on, and from the get-go, she brought a calm, no-fuss energy that made the whole planning process feel so much more manageable. She gave us so much advice and help along the way, including offering advice on wedding venues before we had officially ‘hired’ her. She has a sharp eye for design and listened to all of our ideas, gave clear, honest advice, and just gets things done with no drama or overcomplicating. She brought to life our perfect wedding whilst managing our ideas, preferred suppliers and budget. We trusted her completely and leaned on her more than we expected we would! The day came together seamlessly, with so many compliments from our guests on how professional and organised our day was, and that was all thanks to her. There is so much more that goes on behind the scenes, both in planning a wedding and on the day, far more than we realised, so she made the whole process so easy and fun for us, which we are so grateful for. Laura is an absolute pro, and I couldn’t recommend her more highly to anyone looking for a planner and stylist!
Florist: Wild Flos. Nat at Wild Flos was truly amazing in what she created for our wedding. She absolutely nailed the brief, being autumnal, moody, dark flowers that were a statement, and she delivered! She went above and beyond to ensure she created floral arrangements that were striking and suited the overall vibe of the wedding, and she did just that! The flowers at our wedding, from the bouquets to table arrangements were incredibly stunning, and our guests still talk about them today. Flowers of my absolute dreams!
Stationery / Signage: Studio Sorella. I actually did the stationery for our wedding myself and LOVED the process so much I have launched my own business! So, what started out as a DIY project has become a passion project now, and I am loving creating more beautiful stationery for other weddings!
Hire: Friday Hire, Tent Society. Both Friday Hire and Tent Society were absolutely fantastic to work with. Everything was seamless, from communication and logistics to the quality and style of the pieces. They completely got the vibe we were going for and delivered exactly what we needed. They were reliable, professional, and just really easy to deal with. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.
Décor: Weddings of Desire & Friday Hire.
Hair: Bree Graham. I have been seeing Bree for over five years so it was a no-brainer to have her do my hair and the bridal party on the day. She was amazing and absolutely nailed what I was after for me, my bridesmaids and the mothers! She made it such a fun morning getting ready, too!
Make-up: Maddi Nicholls Makeup. Maddi is absolutely the best! I saw her countless times before the wedding to get the right make-up look, and she was so patient with me, always changing my mind, even on the morning of the wedding! She is so professional and listens to what everyone wants, as she knows everyone wears their makeup differently. We had the best morning getting ready with her, and we all felt so beautiful!
The dress & veil: Jane Hill.
Alterations: Pearls & Roses Bridal
Shoes: Amina Muaddi (bride), Gucci (groom)
Rings: Cartier
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Bec + Bridge
Suits & bow ties / ties: Hugo Boss (groom), Peter Jackson (groomsmen)
Catering: Barwon Edge
Bar: Barwon Edge & Zonzo Limoncello
Favours: Homemade limoncello
Entertainment: Hey Jack (acoustic & DJ)
Transport: Coastal Chauffeurs
Honeymoon: SALA, Koh Samui Thailand
Dance: Ballroom Baby Geelong
