Real Wedding – Milla & Aaron, Toowoomba QLD

Blissed-up beauty, classic romance, and a stunning sense of style encapsulate Milla and Aaron’s wedding celebrations. With every darling detail curated to perfection, the dreamy day unfolds like a modern fairytale, with an extra dose of feel-good fun.

Sweeping Gabbinar Homestead creates its own magic moment, against which a theme of creamy clouds of blossoms elevates fresh white decor, accented with subtle touches of muted blush. Masses of candles and breathtaking backdrops of fairy lights escalate the vibes as the sun goes down.

Milla is a contemporary princess in her divine dress, a ballgown silhouette with chic high neck, clean lines and beautiful brocade fabric, giving timeless glam with a classic touch. Not to be outdone, Aaron rose to the occasion in an all black Boss suit, cutting a sleek figure next to his glowing bride.

Every elegant element is captured to perfection by photographer extraordinaire Leah Cruikshank. Scroll on to see every sweet moment through her illuminating lens.

The meeting.

We started dating over 11 years ago now. We lived in a small town and went to different schools, but we knew of each other throughout high school. It was just after I finished high school that Aaron got my number and asked me on a date. He walked to my front door to pick me up. He took me to the movies, and after the movie, we went for a drive around town. These are two of our favourite things to do to this day.

The ‘one’.

We realised very soon into dating that we had found the one. We immediately clicked and quickly became each other’s favourite person.

The proposal.

We had already picked the ring together, so I knew there was a proposal to come. What I didn’t know was that Aaron had planned a whole trip to America without me knowing (he contacted my work to organise my leave and everything). I suspected he would take the opportunity to propose on our holidays, and he did. We went out to a beautiful dinner in Manhattan, and afterwards, we went for a walk where he got down on one knee in Columbus Circle to pop the question. Aaron managed to grab the only other person around to capture the big moment on video. Afterwards, we had some celebratory drinks at a rooftop bar; it was the perfect night.

Planning process.

We had been searching for our perfect wedding venue for a couple of years. We planned holidays in line with potential wedding destinations; however, nothing was pulling on our heartstrings. We took the opportunity to view Gabbinbar Homestead, and from the moment we drove down the beautiful tree-lined driveway, we knew we had found our place. It took minutes after driving away from Gabbinbar that we were on the phone securing our date. We booked a couple of years in advance, so we had plenty of time to plan. It wasn’t until six months out from our wedding that Covid-19 had other plans for us.

Months out from our wedding, there were Covid mandates that were put in place, which limited the number of guests we were able to have attend. Gabbinbar was incredibly graceful and allowed us the option of keeping our original date and significantly reducing the number of guests, or postponing. We knew we wanted to share the celebration of our commitment to one another in front of all our loved ones, so it was an easy decision to postpone. Gabbinbar and all our wonderful suppliers worked with us to secure our new date.

We secured our new date exactly one year from our original date. As the year went on, there were many lockdowns, and border restrictions, which we were hoping would ease up in time for our big day. Everything was going to plan until days before our wedding when Brisbane went into a snap lockdown. A handful of our closest family and friends were from Brisbane, along with a number of our vendors, so this threw a spanner in the works.

The lockdown lifted at 4pm on our wedding day. Luckily, we had the support of our wonderful family and friends, and those that were in lockdown were able to travel through on the afternoon of our wedding and be seated just in time for the reception. Our family and friends moved mountains to be there for us, and we will be forever grateful to all of them.

We couldn’t have been happier with our special day, we were constantly reminded how lucky we were to have each other and the support of our loved ones and the day couldn’t have been more amazing.

Style inspiration. 

We knew we wanted a romantic and warm setting for our ceremony and reception. Gabbinbar was the first box that we ticked for this feel. At Gabbinbar, you have the estate to yourself, and you and your guests are made to feel at home.

To add to the already stunning estate, we envisioned our styling incorporating plenty of florals and candles and Poppies for Willow exceeded all expectations. The styling was muted, modern, luxe, ethereal and sculptural.

The ceremony.

Our ceremony was under the pavilion at Gabbinbar Homestead, and the weather was beautiful. We were beyond grateful to finally share our special moment with our closest family and friends. There was some family that couldn’t attend due to the state border closures, so we had live-streamed our ceremony for them to watch and felt their love and presence on the day from afar. It was so surreal to finally stand in front of our loved ones and exchange our personal vows that we hold so close to our hearts. We were overwhelmed with love.

The look. 

Since my dress was going to be a surprise to Aaron, he wanted to take the opportunity to surprise me with his suit, so I wasn’t involved in dressing Aaron and his brother/best man, Isaac. I loved this idea; as the main wedding planner, I knew every intricate detail of the day, so it was great to have an element of surprise. Aaron and Isaac wore Hugo Boss suits and managed to find exactly what they were looking for in one day.

My wedding dress and veil were custom-made by Brad at Darb Bridal Couture. Brad worked closely with my mum and I to design my dream dress, with the main elements being the high neck and Italian brocade for texture. I was lucky enough to have my mum by my side throughout the dress-making process. We made the most of our trips to Brisbane to see Brad, moments we will cherish forever. Brad is so talented and made the whole experience so simple.

Favourite moments.

The whole day and night was a dream come true. Our favourite moment of the day was exchanging our vows, we had both written our own vows, so it was very special to hear the beautiful promises that we were committing to. We were so proud to be standing up there together, celebrating our love.

Meaning of marriage.

Marriage to us is the commitment to a lifetime of love, laughs and adventure together. The commitment to show up as the greatest version of yourself for each other every day, to encourage, support and celebrate one another and to share in all life has to offer, with your best friend by your side all the way.

Wedding soundtrack.

Aisle: Just Breathe by Pearl Jam

Reception entry: What Is Love by Haddaway

First dance: Tenerife Sea by Ed Sheeran

Funny stories or near disasters.

As we were cutting the cake, we were surprised by the fireworks that were set off from the top of the conservatory. We had no idea that was going to happen; my (Milla’s) parents had secretly organised that for us. It was a beautiful surprise.

Planning a wedding during a pandemic made for many challenges; we are so thankful for the endless support we received from our family and friends, Gabbinbar and all of our chosen vendors who went above and beyond to make it the perfect day.

Planning surprises.

Aside from the element of surprise that a global pandemic had in store for us, there wasn’t much that we didn’t expect in terms of planning. We were very organised, so it was such a fun process planning and working with amazing businesses and their talents to bring everything together.

Words of wisdom.

We really enjoyed our wedding planning process. We would say take great pride in what you can control but don’t let the unexpected things get in the way of enjoying the journey. If the planning process becomes overwhelming, remind yourselves of the real reason why you’re marrying in the first place.

Loving Milla’s glam gown moment? We have gathered some of our favourite jaw-dropping dresses, big on the wow factor and super stylish, here on the blog.

MILLA & AARON’S VENDORS

We utilised Instagram and real weddings to find out which suppliers would work in with our dream wedding. Once we found the suppliers on Instagram that were popular around South-East Queensland, we were then able to narrow down our search to find the perfect ones! We also reached out to Gabbinbar; they were able to provide us with a list of reputable suggestions.

Ceremony& reception venue: Gabbinbar Homestead, Toowoomba. Gabbinbar Homestead is a stunning venue with exceptional service. Gabbinbar made us feel at home from our first viewing. Gabbinbar’s planning team were wonderful to work with, and nothing was too big of an ask. The grounds are stunning, the food is amazing, and the staff are wonderful. They went above and beyond to work with us through the pandemic, and we could not recommend them highly enough.

Celebrant: Mitch Sargent. Mitch was wonderful to work with. He was fun, heartfelt and charismatic. Mitch allowed us to work closely with him to customise our ceremony how we envisioned it. Mitch goes above and beyond; he even stuck around after the wedding to help coordinate the group photos.

Photography: Leah Cruikshank Photography. Leah is the photographer everyone needs! Leah is extremely talented; she has captured our love, joy and happiness in photos that we will cherish forever. Her style is soft and romantic, and she was so amazing to work with.

Videography: White Lace Films. Tanya and Bruce beautifully captured our day in video for us to rewatch and enjoy forever. They were so friendly and made us feel so comfortable while filming.

Styling & florist: Poppies for Willow. Bec and her team exceeded all expectations in styling our ceremony and reception. Poppies for Willow has an extraordinary talent for bringing together beautiful blooms, colour and texture.

Hair: The Hair Artist Collective

Make-up: Mirror Mirror Makeup Artistry

The dress & veil: Darb Bridal Couture. I worked with Brad to design my dress, and he was wonderful every step of the way. He has a real eye for beauty, and his gowns are timeless.

Shoes: Sophia Webster

Rings: Milla’s rings, Facets. Aaron’s ring, Michael Hill.

Suits: Hugo Boss

Catering & bar: Gabbinbar Homestead

Favours: Macarons from One Last Bite

Cake / Cake topper: Impressions on Scott

Stationery / Signage: Wedding Traders

Entertainment: Premier DJs

Honeymoon: Cairns, Qld