A WEDDING AT HOME - RURAL VICTORIA WITH A MEDITERRANEAN TWIST

This is a wedding from one of my favourite humans, photographing 2 beautiful souls.
I get such a sense of serenity and sincerity from these images, showing that Oli is truly a master of what he does.

Where & when was the wedding?:
We got married at my (Amy) parents property, and we never really looked into other venues. I always knew I'd get married there, it was just so lovely to (literally) feel at home the whole day.

What is your proposal/meeting story - or both?:
We had been living in the UK for 3 years, traveling, working and generally loving life. We had decided a couple of months before we were due to move back home we would visit paris one last time. We loved paris, and being only a 1 hr flight, it was almost too easy! Anyway, We had just spent the night walking the streets eating nutella crepes when Bronson lead us into a quiet secluded park (little did I know at the time, but it was the park we went to the first time we visited Paris together) and asked me to marry him. After I said an emphatic 'YES OF COURSE!' Bronson then asked me if I recognised the ring. I didn't, and had no idea what he was taking about. So Bronson proceeded to tell me I had actually tried it on many years ago in an antique shop in Sydney. Evidently he had purchased the ring 3 years earlier just before we left to move to the UK!
Upon further questioning about the ring, the full extent of Bronson’s dithering became clear. It would seem that this beautiful ring was quite the jet-setter, joining us on pretty much every holiday we took together for the past 3 years. It had been to Prague, Budapest, Germany, Slovenia, Morocco, Spain, Italy, France and probably many more. Turns out Bronson was just looking for that PERFECT moment. He found it in Paris. Eventually.

Are there any significant stories behind why you chose any of your vendors?:
We decided early on to allowed the beautiful location and venue define the aesthetic of our day. With its georgous olive grove, pomegranate orchard and fully functioning vegetable garden, the day felt very 'farm to table' with a twist of Mediteranian. We were heavily influenced by our travels overseas and incorporated our favourite elements e.g. sitting down at long tables of Spanish tapas, sipping on Italian aperol spritzers in the sun and the scent of Moroccan orange blossom in the air. Without a doubt our photographer Oli Sansom was an absolute standout! From the moment we met him in his studio in Richmond, we felt like we had known him for years. I'm not great in front of a camera, but he made us feel comfortable and was able to capture us and our guests candidly. Also he was a wealth of knowledge when it came to weddings and gave us some pretty solid advice.
Special mentions would also have to be Nathan Kaso for putting his body on the line on the D-floor in order to capture some great footage for the vid, Renee from Tobi Music for her Ah-mazing singing talents and Gaye Jenkins for creating an unforgettable ceremony and perfectly articulating what we wanted to say but did't know how.

With regards to the dress....From the get go I knew that deciding on what I was going to wear would to be the most difficult decision of the whole planning process.
For me the combination of working in fashion and, more importantly, being an increadibly indecisive person, it was bound to be a tough process.
I started off with the usual dress shopping with girlfriends and my mum. Overall it was a good experience in that I was able to try on various different shape dresses and decide on the one that was most flattering for me. However I didn't find the actual 'shopping' experience particularly welcoming. I found some of the assistants in the dress shops quite pushy. I was shopping for the dress 9 months before the big day and many of them said I was 'leaving it to the last minute'
After 2 failed days shopping in both Melbourne and Sydney, trying on 20+ dresses, and hours spent trawling bridal sites online, I still didn't have that holy grail 'this is the one' moment.
I wasn't getting what I wanted in the shops so I went in search for a dressmaker.
I remembered a conversation I had with a friend of a friend at a wedding a few months before and she said if I decided I wanted to get my dress made she could give me a recommendation. At the time I thought I'll never need it and didn't think I'd end up contacting her. I thought I'd have my 'the one' moment... Little did I know.
I eventually contacted her and she gave me the number of a girl who made her dress 5 years earlier. Her name was Yulia. I did a bit of research on her and gave her a call to set up a meeting.
Turns out meeting Yulia was my 'the one' moment. Not because of the dress, but because of the person. She was so lovely and welcoming, and helpful. She knew her stuff, but at the same time was so down to earth. She patiently sat and listened to what I wanted, drew it up, gave me her professional opinion on what will work and then when I told her the date of my wedding (now thinking it was very last minute) she said 'no problem, that's plenty of time'! I'm convinced she is an angel disguised as a dressmaker!

What does your marriage mean to you?:
Family. Friendship. And a lifetime of adventures with the one I love.
And checking the 'married' box on my tax return! hehe

Any 'holy shitballs, I didn't see that coming' moments?:
We decided to include a ribbon cutting ceremony as our entrance into the reception. My friend had raided my mums sewing box for a pair of sturdy scissors the day before, all was prepped and ready to go. When it came to the ribbon cutting Bronson took charge, grabbed the scissors and proceeded to cut through the ribbons. Little did we realise, not only were the scissors right handed, but my friend had chosen shearing scissors (the zig zag kind) which looked great, but Bronson, having never used zig zag scissors before, and being left handed found it very tricky to cut through. Not to mention the pressure from 80 pairs of eyes looking at us! We had to work together to get through the ribbons - he was holding the ribbons taught, while I cut through each one. Pretty poetic really when the the meaning behind the tradition is symbolising how we will over come life's obstacles throughout our marriage

The bits that stand out the most - that you remembered (before seeing your photos!):
In the weeks leading up to our big day there was a heat wave, 35 degrees plus every day! Then.... the day before our wedding the heavens opened up, the mercury plummeted, and the rains came. Being in the country and subsequently a very dry summer, there were mixed emotions. One the one hand my parents, although concerned that it may rain on the day of the wedding, were also pretty happy to have some water in the tanks. I, on the other hand, experienced my first (and may I add only) moments of wedding planning stress. The whole day was planned as a summer outdoor wedding so I had to start thinking of plan B's.
The big day came and was forecast for only 18 deg and overcast with a slight chance of rain, pretty cold for summer in central Victoria! It was even drizzling in the morning. But thankfully it stopped drizzling for the ceremony and when the reception started and we all took our seats, the sun came out from behind the clouds and at that moment we both felt like we were back in italy, sipping on aperol spritz and feasting on antipasto platters, surrounded by friends and family. This was definitely our favourite moment, and I'll never forget it.

Bits you missed, but your photographer got!:
We had structured our day so Bronson could get ready at his mums, then visit he late father at the local cemetery before the ceremony which meant that Oli was darting from venue to Bronson's mums place, back to the venue, then to the cemetery - and in the country that about 15kms each way!

Anything you wished you'd done differently or definitely again?:
We love love LOVED having a week off before the big day. Hanging out with family and friends and throwing ourselves whole heartedly into creating our day together to make it feel like our own. I would also say there comes a point where you both need to realise you can't do it all on your own, its never going to look like a pinterest board and you have to allow people to help. There will be lots of people that are happy to help out - some you might not even expect. They will be doing things the best way they know how even though it might not be how it was in your head. At the end of the day we loved having our friends and family heavily involved in the day and thank our lucky stars we have such supportive (and may I say talented) people around us.

Please list all the amazing people who made your wedding the bee's knees.:
PHOTOGRAPHER: Oli of  Oli Sansom
VENUE: Providence gully http://providencegully.com.au/
VIDEO: Nathan Kaso http://www.nathankasoweddings.com/
FLORIST: http://www.farmyardflowers.com.au/
STATIONARY: Vista Print https://www.vistaprint.com.au
COFFEE: https://fatpoppy.coffee/
PROPS/HIRE: https://kynetonhire.com.au/
CELEBRANT: Gaye Jenkins http://celebrantsonline.com.au/gaye-jenkins/
MUSIC: Tobimusic https://www.tobimusic.com.au/