Sam + Carly

07.01.2022

Both ceremony and reception held at the beautiful Chateau Dore winery. Pancakes and champagne to start what would be the best day ever. As soon as I linked arms with dad and heard our aisle song I became teary and snotty. Dad gave me some motivational words as we were walking down and I held it together again by the time I made it to Sam. Georgia our celebrant instantly made us feel at ease and the ceremony just flowed like somehow we’d done it before. Everyone afterwards asked if we had known Georgia because she sounded like she had known us both for ages! We wrote our own vows, short and to the point of why we choose one another each day. Photo time was super fun and easy with Jim our photographer and Brenton the videographer. They guided us around the property and we just walked and talked (and climbed some fences) and got some amazing shots. Like so amazing. Reception was epic, romantic and simplistic theme with lots of gold and glassware and some beautiful large flower arrangements that Sam’s mum and Aunty made. The dance floor was full the whole night along with the photo booth. The sparkler send off was a beautiful ending. Although it didn’t exactly end there, we kept the party going until 4am at a bar in the city. My dress is in good condition considering what I put it through

How did they meet?

We locked eyes at a nightclub and Sam had seen my Facebook as we live 20 minutes away and small country towns everyone knows everyone. So he messaged me and we talked a bit, went on a few dates until Sam moved to the NT for work. About 6 years later we were walking down the Main Street of Darwin and said a surprising hello and he then messaged me knowing I was in the same state.. and the rest is history

The proposal story.

Sam has been super stressed being final term of school for the year. We had been pretty flat out, I’d been doing lots of overtime and we hadn’t had a date in a while so he organised a surprise dinner. He took me to a secluded beach where a huge picnic set up with cushions, fairy lights, a platter, drinks, music etc was prepared. I still had no idea as my friends partners had been doing these particular picnics by a company recently as a date night. He went to “do a wee” in the bushes and I turned around as I heard him behind me and said “did anyone catch you?” And he was on his knee. He said all these lovely things about why he wants to marry me which I completely phased out as I was just crying and hugging on him. He hid our friends good camera and pulled it out after. Only one dog walker walked past luckily and he turned into full photographer mode and took some epic sunset shots

Fav part of the day?

Honestly can’t choose. Either holding Sams hand at dinner and looking around at how lucky we were to have all these people in our lives. Or the dance floor!!

Advice for couples planning their wedding.

Don’t stress about how everything will go, it’ll all just flow. Get people to stick their photo booth photos in a guestbook and write a memory-it’s great to look back on especially as the night progresses and more drinks are consumed. Take a moment in the chaos to take a look at all your loved ones and appreciate what you have.

Tell us about your vendors!

Each vendor made the day the most amazing ever. The venue Chateau Dore was absolutely stunning and Nicole works hard to make the day go perfectly, she doesn’t miss a single thing. Georgia our celebrant could not have been any better. We met a couple of times pre wedding for coffee dates and we all instantly clicked. I feel like she would click with absolutely everybody. She was always up for meeting when we came back to Vic and was super flexible. She was incredibly helpful, we had no idea about anything and she helped us find our wonderful videographer Brenton. He is very easy going and has some great fun ideas to make for the perfect video. He put so much time in to get the best shots. Jim the photographer was all that we could ask for and more. We had no idea how weddings work and we hadn’t really been to the venue so we needed a lot of direction. Jim makes you relax, and always looking for the best shots. You could see in his head all these ideas ticking over as he looks around for the best backdrop, best light, best setting to get incredible shots. And my god are they incredible.

Vendors:

Photographer |

Videographer |

BGS Video Productions

Florist |

Ceremony Venue |

Reception Venue |

Bridal Apparel |

Embrace Bridal Geelong

Veil/Headwear |

Embrace Bridal Geelong

Bridesmaid Apparel |

Forever New

Grooms Apparel |

Grant Rule Menswear

Bow Ties/ Ties |

Grant Rule Menswear

Groomsmen Apparel |

Grant Rule Menswear

Hair Styling |

Be Beautiful by Jess

Make Up Artistry |

Pure Makeup and Beauty

Rings/Jewellery |

Hoskings, James Allen, Pandora

Caterer/s |

Bar Service |

Wedding Cake |

Watts Cooking

Stationery/Signage |

Vorfreude

Entertainment |

No Plans Band

Hire Items |

Articulate Arches

Celebrant/Officiant |

Transport |

Organs Buses

Other Secret Weapons |

Invitations by Gemu Designs. Smile Time photo booth

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