Australian Summer Wedding

This wedding sent from across the seas by Australia’s Samm Blake has just what we need to add a little pep to our day — a gorgeous country setting, pops of bright pink, and of course a gorgeous wedding gown. Newlyweds Tilde and Gavin had a garden ceremony under the trees followed by an outdoor, weekend-long celebration with friends and family.

From the bride, Tilde: We wanted our wedding to be a relaxed weekend away for our friends and family. The whole idea was to “make a weekend of it”!

For the day itself, we wanted an outdoor garden ceremony under the bright green plane trees with a full dance floor under the stars and festoon lights (wired and installed by friends). Good food, wine and music. The celebrant was an old friend of my husband and we were surrounded by wonderful friends. We planned our wedding to take place over the Australia day long weekend. As all of our guests had travelled for the occasion we had four days of celebrations! On Australia day, Thursday, we organised a day of lawn bowls, cricket and of course a BBQ.

The wedding day was a continuation of the relaxed weekend and the country and friendly vibe made for a fun night of eating, drinking and dancing under the lights.

We would describe our wedding as country, pretty, pink, aqua, floral, antique, fresh air, HOT (it was a steamy 39 degrees well into the night!). Stormy night sky (but luckily without the rain) and live music. A friend and I made the tablecloths (we cut doona covers in half that I found on sale online at Anthropologie) and we had a large amount of wonderful flowers. Those two things and the lights were the only decorations.

Any advice for brides planning their weddings now? Try and get everything finished at least a week before the day and reserve the morning of the wedding to spend relaxing with friends and family.

Wedding Music:
Processional: “The Luckiest,” Ben Folds
Registry signing: “Hard Sun,” Eddie Vedder
Recessional: “I Would Do Anything For You,” Foster the People
First Dance: “Fly Me to the Moon,” Frank Sinatra

Wedding Location: Euroa, Victoria, Australia / Ceremony Venue: Euroa Butter Factory / Wedding Photographer: Samm Blake / Florist: Georgie Campbell / Wedding Dress: Collette Dinnigan / Shoes: Miu Miu / Hair: Matt Dallas / Makeup: DIY / Jewelry: earrings from groom’s mom / Bridesmaid Dresses: Silk dresses by Ginger and Smart / Groom’s suit: Zegna / Band: The Baker Boys Band / Caterer: Euroa Butter Factory Amazing food (our main requirement) local, free range product where possible. They even picked the figs from the tree in their garden for the salad. We had canapes and cocktails in the garden following the ceremony. We had roasted lamb shoulder with honey and pistachio, barramundi with mango salsa, fig and buffalo mozzarella salad, pumpkin and green beans. / Dessert: We had a dessert table to finish – homemade campari and champagne jelly, old fashioned trifle, meringues, fruit tarts, salted caramel cheesecakes and the cake – home made by Cat, one of my bridesmaids. Chocolate cake with raspberry and chocolate ganache, then citrus with white chocolate ganache and a traditional fruit cake on the top. The cake was then hand painted by my mum. / Wedding invitations: Designed myself and then given the finishing touches and letter press printed by The Hungry Workshop