I think we also knew we’d spend our lives together earlier than usual relationships due to the fact that four months in, Matt was deployed as part of his defence force job. Being away from each other for seven months definitely had its challenges but it also solidified our commitment to each other and that we could face any other challenges that could come our way.
Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…
I am a pretty average 24-year-old, Registered Nurse currently working in ICU and my newly wedded husband, Matt, works in the defence force. We both work quite unpredictable and busy jobs, especially the last 12 months which made it even more special to end 2021 on a high with our wedding.
Our schedules are always changing, and we definitely don’t work the typical 9-5 pm Monday to Friday workweek. I love being able to spend a lot of free time with friends and family, particularly adoring and spoiling our Australian Bulldog, Winnie, who is the light of our lives and essentially “our child” for the moment. I love going out with friends for drinks, dancing and all-around having fun, could be playing pool or making our way around bars at Howard Smith Wharves, it’s all great fun. I love going to the beach with Matt, we would live at the beach if we could. We both enjoy being outdoors, taking our dog to the dog park and I have a current love for swimming and jogging, especially around our local area by Brisbane River. We also enjoy spending our weekends relaxing indulging in a good Netflix movie or two, going out for date nights at our local bars and simply spending quality time together in our beautiful apartment with our dog. Matt can spend up to a couple of weeks away at a time so quality time is very important to us, because of this I am also very used to being independent. Although Matt spending time away can be challenging or me simply working a lot of weekends given the nature of shift work, we make it work and it makes spending time together that much special.
How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?
We met through mutual friends in 2016, the day after I turned 19. He was out with friends and one of my friends was dating one of his best friends. He coincidently went to an all-boys high school next to mine, his younger sister was in the year below me at my all-girls high school. Unknowingly we grew up streets away from each other. My first impression of Matt was that he was cute, had pretty blue eyes and was polite and friendly. I didn’t think he was that interested in me as he didn’t really talk to me much, he recalls that he was but didn’t think I was interested in him haha
When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?
Not long after I met his family, specifically his parents, they showed such adoration and pride towards their son and I knew he was someone special. When I met his family, I knew instantly that I would love to be a part of his family and share so many wonderful memories. They have similar humour and values to my family which made it so much easier when introducing the parents to each other. I knew fairly early in the relationship that I wanted to be with Matt for good, we got to know each other quite quickly. I found this easy as Matt is quite an honest, loyal, caring and open guy. I think we also knew earlier than usual relationships due to the fact that 4 months into our relationship Matt was deployed as part of his defence force job. We knew this was most likely going to happen from the moment we started being together. Being away from each other for 7 months definitely had its challenges but it also solidified our commitment to each other and that we could face any other challenges that could come our way.
Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…
Yes! Matt booked a night away at a cottage at Maleny, Sunshine Coast region for a night not long after new years day in 2021. He booked it early in December 2020, I didn’t think much of it at the time however, I did initially think because he talked about it and booked it so quickly that something was up there. I worked all through December 2020 so never thought much about it after that. We had seen his brother and sister and their partners earlier that day at the beach. I sensed when they were smirking when we said goodbye and that we were off to Maleny that they knew something (which I found out later, Matt had told them his plans for New Year’s Eve and showed them the ring).
We arrived at the Maleny cottage that afternoon, then went to our favourite picnic spot around sunset, where occasionally in the past we would drive to on a Sunday for burgers and enjoy a quality catch up time away from the busyness of work. He was very quiet, which is very unlike him in the car on the way to this picnic spot. I had a feeling he was either lying about feeling unwell or something was up. I remember we sat on the picnic rug and he told me something along the lines of ‘you know I want to spend the rest of my life with you’ – we had spoken about marriage quite openly for a while and this wasn’t new to hear – and I remember saying ‘yep I know. He scrambled around for a minute or so and brought out the most beautiful trilogy engagement ring that he had designed uniquely for me. He then asked me to marry him, the poor guy was so nervous so I didn’t leave him hanging and immediately said yes and we gave each other the biggest hug. It was a moment I’ll always treasure and so special to us both.
Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding…
I really wanted a timeless, classic and natural rustic style for the wedding. I loved the idea of having classic black suits and black silk bridesmaid dresses. Matt really wanted to go for a James Bond vibe which aligned very well with the classic black bridal party attire I was after. My first thought about having black and white for the bridal party is that it is timeless, especially when it came to looking back at our wedding photos in 10 to 20 years time. Black for the bridal party came with so many style options for the bridesmaids that suited their body shapes so they could feel beautiful and comfortable as well. I personally wear a lot of darker colours myself, particularly black, I do have a lot of LBDs (little black dresses) so I found it aligned well with my personality. When we envisioned our wedding it came a lot from our personalities and usual style. We ultimately wanted the wedding to be true to our personalities and taste. The venue was something that we set our eyes on very early on even before we were engaged, we had been to Spicer’s Retreat Hidden Vale for a relative’s birthday and knew it would be the dream to get married there. I love the restored Queenslander style and views of the countryside, our apartment is styled like that. Although we don’t have countryside views, we would love to one day. One of our favourite shows is Yellowstone and we dream to live in a home much like the main homestead which boasts stunning scenery. Spicer’s venue is very similar to that style, with quite a modern rustic elegance to it with the luxury cabins.
What was one element you were happy to splurge on?
Photography & florals. We discussed this quite early on when we were engaged and even before we set a wedding date. Photographs and videos is something that comes with us in the future for years to come. We found it was definitely a worthwhile investment for us as a couple that one day wants to have a family and show our future children and also our extended family. In addition, we enjoy reminiscing about our wedding day all the time and I think a lot of that has to do with the extensive amount of photographs we have from Feather & Finch. They exceeded all expectations and took so many photographs in those in-between moments that we didn’t notice at the time as the day went by super quickly. It’s capturing those memories that are so important to us moving forward together as husband and wife, especially to look back on during the inevitable challenges of life and think what a joyful, positive and happy time that was.
Florals were more so my decision to splurge on, I love flowers and I wear a lot of florals, some of my favourite dresses are covered in florals. I love having plants and flowers around our apartment, whether they are real or not, they do bring me a lot of joy and peace. Matt was happy to compromise on this and understood that the florist was more than just doing our buttonholes and bouquets, they styled our ceremony arbour and reception area which was absolutely breath-taking and more than I could have dreamed of. For me, personally, it was a meaningful investment, I know other brides may not splurge too much on florals but I think a lot comes back to what you and your spouse’s interests and values are. Working with New England Co was super easy, they had a lot of suggestions which was beneficial for me as I’m not a stylist or designer by any means so a lot of the credit goes to them. Where we had our reception, at the barn, we really didn’t need overload on styling, we liked that it was more stripped back and not all-consuming or overwhelming with flowers and foliage. We picked a really simple design for the long tables and candles as well, which were hired from Adorn Event Hire, to bring it all together and have that natural atmosphere. I have since dried out my bouquet so that has been so special to have that preserved and placed in our lounge room.
Did anything happen on the wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?
Matt and I were super nervous about the ceremony more than actually getting married. We both don’t tend to like being the centre of attention and I am a little more introverted. Looking back it was actually so simple, all the vows were written on the card and repeating after our celebrant, Sommer, for the exchanging of rings was easier than we thought. She was very kind and knowledgeable through the whole process, stating that if we weren’t that comfortable standing up in front of our guests it is perfectly okay to stand there holding hands facing each other. After a little while, I did turn and look at our guests more, but it was good to always feel comfortable during the ceremony and knowing that Matt was right there with me feeling the exact same. Looking back, although it contributed to a lot of the nerves that morning while I was getting ready, we find it funny how much we were so concerned about not stuffing up what we were saying and it ended up being so fine. Literally when we walked back down the aisle together one of the first things we said to each other was that we were glad that we did all the speaking without stuffing up.
Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?
As I have mentioned, Matt’s tux was hired nearby from a Myer Centre, which was great and convenient, we dropped all the suits back a couple of days after the wedding and got our deposits back. We didn’t have to worry about dry cleaning all the groomsmen’s suits which was a plus. Matt just wanted to wear a bow tie and look like James Bond so that was the perfect opportunity to do that. I loved that he enjoyed dressing up for the day and wanted to make sure he felt comfortable in what he was wearing, a nice change from his army cam uniform. He looked pretty good in a tux too if I say so myself. My dress was one of the first things I sorted for the wedding. I had heard horror stories of brides receiving their dress a week or so before their wedding and having to make loads of alterations very close before the wedding, even the day of. It was one of those things I wanted to prevent being stressed about as the wedding day approached very quickly. I purchased my dress from Luv Bridal, Slacks Creek store 6 months before the wedding and fortunately, they happened to have it in stock in the city warehouse, so I received it a few weeks later and was able to get it altered with plenty of time to spare. The assistants at Luv Bridal were a great help in the whole process, making me feel comfortable and providing dress styles that suited by body shape and embraced my curves. The dress was definitely very special to me and I was happy I didn’t have to search online or go to stores all over southeast Queensland to find it, I enjoyed the process of trying on all different styles of dresses. My seamstress used the leaves from the de-attachable sleeves that came with my dress to layer on my straps as the straps didn’t appear quite right on my shoulders. The leaves hand sewed added that extra element of uniqueness to the dress, I knew that no one would have a dress quite like mine and it suited me better having those little adjustments to the sleeves, it made me feel so beautiful. I am glad I stuck to what I wanted and my maid of honour and my mum were in love with my dress as well which was reassuring. Comfort was a priority of mine when it came to the dress, especially as we were having a summer wedding in Queensland. It ended up being a very humid afternoon until the rain poured during our reception and then it miraculously cleared up just in time for the dancing outside. For that reason, I made sure I could breathe in the dress and sit down properly, making sure I could dance freely in the dress was a definite must as well.
Ceremony + Reception location Spicers Retreat Hidden Vale, Grandchester / Videographer + Photographer Feather & Finch Photography. / Celebrant Sommer Saunder / Entertainment G&M Event Group / Styling Bride / Planner Penny Eccleston from Spicers Retreat Hidden Vale / Hire Adorn Event Hire / Flora New England Flower Co. / Catering + Beverages Spicers Retreat Hidden Vale / Cake Family friend / Stationery Spicers Retreat Hidden Vale / Confetti Cones & Cards The Whole Bride / Fresh rose petals for cones Northside Flower Market / Welcome sign & customised coat hangers Bizzy Designs / Name place cards for reception tables Etsy / Wedding invitations Zazzle Bride’s Dress Madi Lane from Luv Bridal Bride’s veil Luv Bridal / Groom’s Attire hired Ferrari Formalwear at Brisbane City Myer Centre / Ring/s McKim’s Jewellery Design / Bride’s shoes Nine West / Other jewellery/accessories mother in law’s pearl earrings that were a 50th birthday present from her best friend / Something old & Something blue I had two rings entwined into my boutique – Great grandmother’s sapphire eternity ring & my mother’s diamond engagement ring (diamond was originally my grandmothers who passed 30 yrs ago) Makeup Renee Jean Hair Mel from The Beauty Case / Fragrance Ariana Grande Sweet Like Candy Eau de Parfum / Groomsmen Attire hired – same as groom socials as mentioned / Bridesmaids Attire Chancery the Label, Billy J Boutique / Bridesmaids Pearl Earrings Love Isabelle Jewellery
