Botanical Australian Barn Wedding

Just one glimpse of this Lara Hotz wedding and I was immediately floored. With the romantic styling of She Designs at Tocal Homestead paired with how lovely Cindy and Robert look together, this wedding blew me away. The venue is the epitome of a beautiful Australian farm, and Cindy and Robert chose to play upon its strengths by incorporating lush greenery and ivory-colored blooms around the ceremony area and in the reception barn. The addition of copper laced into their table centerpieces was just brilliant. See for yourself how everything came together to be such a romantic setting.

From the bride, Cindy: As the reception was in a barn, we loved the natural wood structure of the barn and wanted the décor to reflect the natural materials of the venue. We also wanted the décor to have a wonderfully lush greenery feel to it so that it would feel like there was an element of the outside inside. The beautiful grounds of Tocal Homestead was also an inspiration. It was so difficult to pick any specific theme. We wanted it to be beautifully green and being held in a barn, it was natural that the theme would lean towards a rustic barn theme. We also had a “tiki” bar area at the heritage barn site for the guests to have some nibbles and drinks in between the ceremony and entering the reception barn. The tiki bar was a nod to our Hawaii engagement and we had Kona beers which we loved when visiting the Kona Brewing Company on Big Island (which only arrived into Australia the day before the wedding!) in our “beer bath”. The bar was also littered with fresh mint, lemons, limes and artichokes for a farmers markets feel.

We wanted the wedding to be a big party and it was certainly that. We were lucky to have the most amazing vendors who knew exactly what we wanted and who fit our style perfectly. Apart from the day itself, one of the best parts of the wedding was booking out the cosy bed & breakfast at Paterson and having all the bridal party and their partners stay there on the night before the wedding as well as the wedding night. Having a dinner together also allowed everyone to get to know each other so by the time the day came, everyone knew each other enough to muck around and it made for the best day and night!

The Chinese tea ceremony was held right before the main ceremony and was a lovely way to acknowledge our parents, grandparents and uncles and aunts. The ceremony then went off with a few slip ups with the vows and Rob’s father was extremely nervous to be acting as celebrant that day, but it made for many laughs and the whole ceremony was more light hearted and fun because of it. The guests then headed off to the heritage barn where there was a grazing table and punch station. We added a “tiki” stand with a beer bath full of Kona beers from Hawaii to reference our Hawaiian engagement. We had some time to mingle with the guests before heading off to take some photos with our bridal party while the guests then headed to the reception barn for dinner, more drinks and merriment!

Any advice for couples planning their weddings now? 1) Choose the vendors that you want, not that you think you should have. 2) You may start to think that this day is about only you two and start to become stubborn just for the sake of being stubborn. You may not want to listen to what anyone else has to say (e.g. your mother!) but don’t be too stubborn just for the sake of it. If it is not hurting anyone and does not bother you too much, what is the harm in listening, and say, inviting an extra couple of guests on her side? It will not matter at the end of the day. On the day: 3) Eat as much as possible, it will still be less than you think you will have! 4) Don’t stress too much about not speaking to every single person. They understand that you are being pulled in 100 different directions.