A peek into our Venue Manager's Wedding Day

Want to know how a wedding coordinator, wedding stylist & venue manager plans her wedding day when she's worked in the industry & seen hundreds (or is it thousands!?) of weddings? Take a little peek...

We wanted our wedding to be not only a celebration of our love for each other, but also a celebration of the beautiful venue that we both work at and are lucky enough to live at as well! We opted for a late morning wedding ceremony, and a mid afternoon reception. 

I absolutely love all the little details of a wedding, so during our 15 month engagement, slowly pieced together the wedding of our dreams; from invitations, to jewellery, to my dress, Nick's suit, the flowers, and everything in between. 

We are big food lovers, and we worked with our caterers Private Chefs of Brisbane to bring together a hearty winter menu, ensuring no one was hungry at any point throughout the day! 

I'm a big sweet tooth, so when it came to dessert I wanted to have all bases covered. We chose Petal + Peach for our cake and chose a selection of mini desserts too - these were so popular, I don't even think our photographers Figtree Pictures got a chance to take a snap before they were all gone!

We celebrated with over 80 of our closest family & friends (and of course our family's 2 German Shepherd's!). Our ceremony was at 11am, and although a little sunnier than a normal afternoon ceremony, it was beautifully warm for a June day. I wanted something a little different to the arbour we usually use for our weddings, so Nick built two floral stands that could be covered in blooms - my cousin is a florist and put together the most beautiful array of flowers.

My Pinterest board was filled with flowers and I think one of the hardest decisions I faced was choosing the colour scheme for my flowers! I gradually narrowed it down to dusty pinks, pops of peach and tones of toffee, with maple leaves being a big feature throughout. I made every single rose petal cone myself and even had personalised stickers with our names made for them; it's these tiny details that I absolutely love! 

I wanted our reception space to feel soft & luxurious, filled with blooms and most of all, for guests to take in the beautiful views over the bay - I see hundreds of weddings, and often guests only get to enjoy the view for an hour or so - this was a big factor in us choosing to have an earlier wedding. I painstakingly hand dyed muslin table runners, had my cousin create the table signage and place cards in a frosted acrylic & then hand painted the names in a soft pink; literally every detail tied in with one another. Nick and I love candles and particularly scented ones, so I went on a mission to find the perfect scent and lined the candles with a 'Peony & Gardenia' scent as well as vanilla scented tealight candles - honestly, this was a game changer and I can still smell how the room smelled! Each place setting had a sprig of greenery, hand tied napkins with a leather tie and menu's that I did myself.

We split our photography session into two sections - one after the ceremony, then another after lunch and speeches to make use of the sunset. One super big tip I have is to engage suppliers that you feel comfortable with - you want these guys to feel like old friends as you spend a big part of your day with them! Nick and I were so happy in our choice of Figtree Pictures and Mitch Birchall Studios - if you have the room in your budget, 150% engage a videographer - we made a last minute decision to book Mitch, and would not change it for the world!

Although I love the tiny details that make up a wedding, I think it's important to take a step back every now and then from the planning process and reassess exactly what the day is about - it's easy to get caught up in all the details and trying to make everything perfect, but a wedding is more than that; it's about celebrating the love of two people and sharing that with your family & friends. I look back on our wedding day with such a happy heart - it was an absolutely incredible day & I just wasn't prepared for the amount of love that I would feel - it is really something else to experience that amount of love in one day!

Venue: Rainforest Gardens
Photographer: Figtree Pictures
Videographer: Mitch Birchall Studios
Florist: Belinda Nave
Signs/Place Cards: Scout & Sonny
Stationary: Designed by Bride, printed with Vistaprint
Dress: Augusta Jones from White Lily Couture (currently for sale on Still White)
Suit: MJ Bale
Bride's Jacket: Bubish Luxe
Hairdresser: Sarah Neill Hair
Makeup Artist: Tanielle Jai
Earrings: Molten Store