Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…
Anne-marie – After working in corporate marketing and communications for about 10 years, about 2.5 years ago Taylor and I decided to start our own business.
I quit my job as Global Consumer Marketing Manager at a MedTech company just before the pandemic hit to pursuit my passion of marketing within the design and architecture industry with Taylor. I head up the marketing, brand and communications side of things while Taylor heads up the 3D visualisations side of things for our marketing agency, Escher Group.
Taylor – I’m fanatical about 3D and digital art both professionally and personally. I’m also absolutely smitten with the life and family Anne-marie and I have created together, which include our beautiful girls, Petal and Poppy, who are two crazy loafs of Pug. So, between my art, Anne-marie and our Pugs, there isn’t much I’d want to change about my life. Oh, and I’m pretty passionate about whisky.
How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?
Anne-marie – We officially met in Warrandyte for coffee August 2012. We were always friends online since about 2007 as we went to nearby schools, often just sharing music suggestions to one another as we were both heavily into music during school. We were always just friends during those years, and it wasn’t until about August 2012 where we met up in Warrandyte for coffee and hit it off. When we first met on this day, I remember he went bright red blushing and was so adorable and coy. That was probably the cutest first impression and every time I think back to that I can’t help but smile.
That time and the subsequent times we caught up, I was impressed by how easily we were able to speak about everything – values, goals, family etc and loved his refreshing sense of humour. We wanted to take things slow as we had both been in long-term relationships and started officially dating in Dec 2012
Taylor – After chatting for a gazillion years online from Myspace to MSN to Facebook, we got sick of being “digital friends” (even though we shared so many real-life friends, but somehow never met) decided to catch up for a coffee in Warrandyte in 2012. It was a great day until Anne-marie announced she was technically seeing someone, so that put our “catching up” on hiatus for a little while. Finally Anne-marie announced “there’s no more technicalities” and we were back on!
Honestly from day one it has felt like Anne-marie and I were universally meant to be together because there’s so many coincidences where our paths crossed over the years without our knowing… Oh and my first impression of Anne-marie was that she was way too attractive to be dating me.
When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?
Anne-marie – I never imagined us not being together. While we had to work at communication and a few rough patches earlier on in our relationship, Taylor is the one person in this world I want to share everything with. We are big believers in leaning in to things that ‘feel right’ and us being together is exactly that.
Taylor – That is a mighty tough question because it never really felt like anything else was an option… we put a lot of effort in at the beginning of our relationship to learn to communicate properly, but every time I think about the last 10 years I can’t think of a time when I didn’t think we’d end up together…
But if you really want a “sh*t, she’s the one” moment? Probably the first time I thought of a life without her.
Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…
Anne-marie – I had a feeling that Taylor was going to propose very soon as my dad literally called to tell me when Taylor asked for his permission! I didn’t dare tell Taylor as I felt so bad that he had gone to all this effort to try and keep the operation top secret and then my dad’s excitement blew the secret. Taylor did still manage to surprise me with the proposal itself by opting for an at-home proposal. After taking the dogs for a walk, I decided to water some plants out the front, got locked out, and when I finally got inside Taylor was waiting in the hallway on his knee with our song playing.
Taylor – There certainly was! We’d been together so long and she was pretty suspect about it coming, so I had to do something that she wouldn’t expect – that meant no fancy getaways, no fancy dinner and no fancy fire. A good ol’ fashioned “Lock her out of the house until I’m ready and then let her in and propose in the hallway moment”.
It started with Anne-marie going out the front to water plants, so I locked the front door and made her only option to enter the house through the garage. I started playing “our song” (Calling You by Blue October) on the speakers, got a couple glasses of red wine ready on the bench (was pretty confident), got on my knee at the end of the hallway (strategically positioned near the garage door) and waited. Only issue was she got distracted by the neighbours new puppy so the waiting took a while and a few song restarts occurred. Finally I heard her cursing at the locked door and storming through the garage to where I eventually proposed. Needless to say I’m pretty sure she was surprised.
Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding…
Anne-marie – I always wanted an outdoor wedding on green grass so when Taylor’s parents offered to have our wedding at their home, we were both over the moon. It was so special to be able to celebrate our special day where Taylor grew up and where we could have the dogs running around because they are so familiar with the property. We always said we wanted a small wedding of no more than 50 guests for an intimate dinner and overall day. In terms of styling, we wanted something fairly understated, classic and elegant without detracting from the beautiful setting we were in.
Taylor – My vision was Anne-marie’s vision. Just kidding, we both knew we HAD to have an outside wedding, we wanted it to be small and very intimate and have the dinner celebrations feel like a giant family dinner. Also, having it at my parents property was a high priority as it was quite sentimental to both of us. As for the style and mood, Anne-marie has an amazing eye for these kinds of things, so most of that was up to her.
What was one element you were happy to splurge on?
Anne-marie – From the start we wanted to make sure we didn’t compromise on our photographer or food. We’ve known Ashleigh Haase from a lifetime ago, so she was always a no-brainer, we literally chose our date based on her availability. Regarding food, we only reached out to Blakes Feast as we wanted a family-style dinner where people can help themselves and share plates of amazing quality food without the typical fish/beef/chicken alternating arrangements that didn’t feel like our vibe. We had an early dinner so we didn’t need to leave for photos and could just enjoy the time with our guests – I wouldn’t change a thing.
Taylor – For me it had to be great food and good alcohol shared with the people we care about the most. Our photographer was also non-negotiable.
Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?
Anne-marie – When all of us girls were getting ready at our house, the florist opened the door and boom, Petal ran out because she was so excited and could probably sense the energy. I must say that was so stressful because she had never done anything like that.
The funniest thing from the day is probably when Petal and Poppy peed on our gorgeous flowers mid ceremony. Everyone was laughing and we loved how the ceremony was just the reality of us in my in-laws backyard. The whole day was perfectly imperfect.
Taylor – One of the things I think about and chuckle is both dogs peeing on our flowers mid-ceremony.
Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?
Anne-marie – I don’t feel like there is a big back story to our outfits. I was looking for a minimal dress that didn’t cost an arm and a leg and found one on the iconic that I loved and felt good and comfortable in. I always wanted black dior slingbacks for my wedding shoes, so that was easy.
The colour scheme of the day was mostly monochromatic with a few neutral/peachy pops of colour in the floral arrangements, so the bridesmaids (both pregnant at the time) wore beautiful black maternity dresses and the boys all wore black suits with white shirts. Taylor wore a tux and accessorised with a Longines watch gifted to him from my father for his 30th birthday.
Ceremony+ Reception location: Private Residence / Videographer: Down The Road Weddings / Photographer: Ashleigh Haase / Celebrant: Love Leah Celebrant / Entertainment: Spotify / Hire: Place Settings / Flora: The Petal Edition / Catering + Beverages: Feast & Co Melbourne Grazing ‘Feast Table’ / Catering + Drinks: Blakes Feast (alcohol purchased from Dan Murphys) / Cake: Bride / Stationery: Bride / Audio Guestbook: At the Beep / Bride Attire: Matron Gown from Chancery via the Iconic / Grooms Attire: Hired from Ferrari Formalwear / Bride’s custom engagement and wedding band: Bert Jewellery / Groom’s wedding band: Engraved promise ring couple got about 8 years ago that he wanted to use as his wedding ring. / Bride’s Shoes: Christian Dior Black Slingback pump / Groom’s Dress Shoes: Hugo Boss / Bride’s Earrings: A.B Ellie / Bride’s Makeup: Elly Liana / Bride + Bridesmaid Hair: Totally Pampered / Bride’s Fragrance: Loewe Women 001 / Groom’s Fragrance: Loewe Man 001 / Bridesmaid Attire: Ripe Maternity
