On the fifteenth of April, I married the love of my life.

Our day started at a cosy little airbnb in southern Adelaide. We opted to forgo traditions and spent the night before our big day together. Getting ready in the same space was extremely fun and it made things much easier for our make-up artist, hairdresser and photographer/videographer team.

It was an exceptionally relaxed morning. Ella’s bridesmen crew came over with beers and macca’s, my bridesmaid crew came bearing heels and cheese boards.

It was a chilly day, but not so warm that we couldn’t wander around in our little pj’s! I could ready surrounded by some of my closest gal pals and it was so wonderful to have them by my side.

My maid of honour Chelsea had come all the way from Darwin and one of my bridesmaids Jasmine had come all the way from the USA just for our big day.

Ella’s bridesmen crew consisted of two of her oldest friends Kimbo and Leigh, as well as her brother Ally and the ever hilarious Duncan – who came into Ella’s life as a friend right as our relationship started.

It’s funny, I had always thought I would elope instead of having a traditional wedding. However, having a traditional wedding with all of her family present was incredibly important to Ella and as it turns out, I loved it more than I ever could have imagined.

Despite getting our hair and make-up done together, we decided to actually get dressed in separate rooms and do a first look. Ella and I had made a conscious decision to not see each others dresses, which was incredibly hard! You have this person that you share everything with and then you hide something you’re super excited about? Crazy.

Despite it being hard to keep secrets, it was worth it for this moment.

Side note, not only was this our wedding day first look, it was also the first time I had ever seen Ella wear a dress, and actually, upon writing this blog many months later, it remains the only time I have ever seen her in one.

Despite April in Kuitpo not averaging much rain each year, the weather forecast leading up to our big day had been pretty stress inducing. Heavy rain was anticipated right around the time of our ceremony and for much of the night.

We had intended to have both our ceremony and reception outdoors, but this was of course, very much dependent on the weather. When everything started taking a turn I spent the week before running around to find clear umbrellas, sending emails to our guests to warn them, making a very big change to our reception and liaising with ceremony vendors to ensure we were okay to go ahead in the rain.

Of course, for the first time in history, the weather forecast actually ended up being spot on and it started torrentially raining during our ceremony. Despite the cold and the rain, the only thing actually dampened by the weather were my curls – which promptly disappeared when exposed to moisture.

Ella and I were both big balls of emotion throughout the ceremony and neither of us was able to get through our vows without crying, as is evident in the next photo.

The ceremony itself went by in a blur, as did the congratulations and family photos that followed. Eventually, our guests all went ahead to the reception whilst us and our bridespeople stayed back for photos.

The rain had finally stopped, so we spent quite a while smooching amongst the trees while our incredible photography team snapped away in the background.

Our reception location was nearby Kuitpo Hall. The actual hall is not the prettiest, the real appeal of the venue was the grounds which is where we had hoped to party the night on, however, there is also a barn on the property that ended up being a perfect wet weather plan b.

Having a sit down and formal wedding dinner just didn’t feel like us. We had a lot of guests coming from across the country and lots of people that didn’t know each other. We didn’t want it to be forced, stressful or high pressure for anyone. So we decided to dress our venue in an eclectic assortment of seating and tables and cater the evening with grazing tables and food trucks.

Despite some trepidation from our the DJ company that we booked with about my strong music choices, our dance floor absolutely kicked ass and we had people grooving with us all night.

                           

So many people told me that the day would go by incredibly quickly and boy were they right, I couldn’t believe when it was time to start packing down our venue and to say goodbye to all our guests. I had hoped our wedding day would be magical but it was so much better than I had imagined. I felt so much love for Ella and so much love for all our wonderful family and friends.

It was the perfect day to start the rest of our lives together.

THE LOWDOWN

Elle’s dress: Marquise Bridal via The Ivory Room
Ella’s dress: Made with Love Bridal via Adelaide Bridal Collective
Blooms: The Wild Flower Company
Rings: Pure Envy Jewellery
Ceremony location: Burbrook Forest
Reception location: Kuitpo Hall
Photography + videography: Wild Boho Weddings
Celebrant: Camille Abbott
MUA: Sally Axford
Hair: Jhai Finlay
On the day coordinator: Kendie Gador via Elisa Mae Events
Catering: Daisy Burger, Grazy For You, What the Croque + Heidelberg Cakes
Mobile bar: The Speakeasy Hotel
Dog sitting: I Do Paws
Styling + decor: Mase Events
Signage: The Ivory Scribe
DJ: Marcus Toop via Choons and Moovs