A WEDDING WITH A RELAXED VIBE

Taryn: Highly organised, has a spreadsheet for everything | Drink of choice: Gordon's Pink Gin
Nick: Loves to leave things until the last minute & goes with the flow | Drink of choice: Jack Daniels & Coke

Tell us about yourselves!

We've been together for a while, celebrated our 8th anniversary in April. Met during our early 20's through a mutual friend and have been having such a fun time ever since - in 2021 we bought our first home and are now so excited and focused on getting married.
We have an incredibly naughty cat and an angelic dog who are the best of friends, we spend our weeknights and weekends hanging out with them. We're the entertainers house so our friends and family are often over - they will also always bring their pets so we like to refer to our house as a circus because there's animals running around everywhere you look.

How did you meet?

We went in 2014 at our friend Jeremy's house party. There wasn't a reason for the party, our friend just felt like catching up with everyone he knew. It was a fun evening of beer pong, food fights and video games, we felt like friends instantly and went on our first date the next weekend.
Jeremy is still one of our closest friends and he's part of the wedding party which is really special to us.

How did Nick propose?

Turns out there had been a few foiled plans due to Covid but in the end we went for an off grid camping weekend in Gordon Country with a group of friends, something we often do and really enjoy.
We were out for a day of 4WDing and stopped at a beautiful lookout, Nick pulled out the ring after suggesting to take some photos at the lookout. Then he also pulled out a bottle of champagne and plastic glasses he'd hidden in his friends ute prior to the trip.
It was really nice to be able to celebrate it with close friends and have the time to ourselves whilst we were away before we came back and shared the news with everyone.

How did you choose your wedding venue?

We live in the Redlands and our favourite place to camp is at Stradbroke Island so that felt special to us that it was closeby and we could see our favourite place. When we first walked into Rainforest Gardens it felt very welcoming and soft spoken. Neither of us wanted an over-the-top wedding with styling installations etc - we wanted the natural beauty of the venue to do the work and Rainforest Gardens is perfect, we love the open plan pavilion and relaxed vibe it gives.

What was your main goal for your wedding day?

To have fun with each other and our loved ones. We wanted to have everyone up and dancing as soon as possible, as that's the thing we enjoy most about weddings. Our big focus was on spending as much time with our guests as possible, having the chance to mingle between the ceremony and photos at Rainforest Gardens, then later on we wanted to be right in amongst everyone, with no separate bridal table - we wanted to be seated with everyone.