Kaitlyn + Ryan by Emma Macaulay - Together Journal

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

KL- I am a student midwife, I love everything about babies! I love cuddling on the couch and watching tv together at night to unwind from our days. Ryan loves American football, and pretty much all sports. He is currently studying as well but is doing his PhD in criminology.

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

KL- we first met through mutual friends, my friends from uni started talking to some of his friends and we were introduced and started talking. The first time we met, I was driving around with my friend and we spontaneously decided to go pick him up from his house. We drove for hours just singing in the car, getting food and getting to know each other. My first impression of him was that he was funny, charismatic, really attractive and a good singer.

When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?

I think we were both very lucky, we both knew really early on in our relationship that this was different. We just got along so well, and everything fell into place so perfectly. I don’t think we ever had a moment when we realised we would be together for the rest of our lives, I think we just always knew.

Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…

We were in New York for Christmas and New Years. We were in a hotel that had 180 degree views of the New York City skyline on the 41st floor. It was the most amazing room with the most amazing view. All week he had been pretending to get down on one knee and propose, so all week I kept thinking he was going to propose but it was a joke. On the night he proposed, we were lounging around in our robes and slippers from the hotel. We were standing at the window cuddling while looking at the amazing view. He was talking about how he couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life with me and how much he loved me and how special this day was. He then got down on one knee, but didn’t have a ring out. I automatically assumed this was another joke and started crying, saying it wasn’t funny and that I would break up with him if it was a joke. He then pulled out the ring and asked me to marry him… I said yes!

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding…

I wanted it to be romantic, intimate and rustic. I wanted warm tones, mood lighting, lots of pampas grass as well as a large floral arrangement. We were getting married in a barn which was perfect for us. I didn’t have any big plans, I just threw together what I loved and what I had in my mind for how I pictured our wedding day and it all fell into place – I had the most amazing vendors.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?

KL – my outfit had a very unique story. I went wedding dress shopping and had found the dress I wanted, I took all my friends and my mum to show them and we were set on this dress. My friend then told me there was only one bridal shop I had yet to go to and it was a must before I fully decided on a dress. I walked into Zanzis Couture with my good friend and as soon as we were greeted, Jennifer (the designer of the gowns) invites me upstairs to see her unseen 2020 collection (at this time it was 2019 before the pandemic). She wanted me to try a new dress she was designing on as she felt it would look perfect on me. I was a bit sceptical because I didn’t love the design off the rack, once I tried it on however, I never wanted to take it off! This was the first time I fully understood the saying “you’ll just know” it’s the right dress for you. I felt like a bride in this dress. I decided in a split second that this was the dress for me and I put the deposit down. The designer, Jennifer, said she couldn’t have imagined the dress looking as perfect as it did, she said seeing me in it really brought her vision and design to life, and she decided to name the dress after me – the Kaitlyn gown worn by Kaitlyn.

Ryan’s outfit was exactly what I imagined him wearing on our wedding day. It was quirky, not your everyday wedding suit, which fit us, and him perfectly. His was a beautiful cream plaid jacket from MJ Bale, with cream pants and Brown RM Williams boots (the boots were a wedding gift from me to him). Each groomsmen wore a different bow tie and matching pocket square – each with the print of their favourite animal on them – Ryan’s being the Rhino.

Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?

We both laugh about the fact that we had to postpone from October 3 2020. The weather on that day was awful, but somehow in the middle of winter in perth, it was a sunny 21 degree day with no wind in sight! We are very glad we postponed, we couldn’t have imagined a better wedding day.

What was one element you were happy to splurge on?

Videographer. When we first started wedding planning, we had no idea about the cost of vendors, in particular videographers. Both myself and my husband found it really important to splurge on this aspect of our wedding as it is something we will look back on frequently and show our children and future generations. We are very sentimental people so we wanted to capture our wedding day just as it was, not as an edited fairytale. We spent a little bit extra to know that what he was filming was exactly what we were feeling, not staged in any way.

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