Adam and Ashleigh said their “I Do’s” with 170 guests in attendance at their Abbotsford Convent wedding in Australia. The couple actually met on an airplane on the way to Thailand as she was on a girl’s trip and he on a boy’s. They remained friends for many years and eventually what started off as friendship led to the most beautiful love story and wedding years on. There were so many unique and glam elements to their wedding day. Lots of color, lots of fun, lots of greenery. No white and green styling in sight. Everything had to be really vibrant and colorful.
From Coordinated Bride Ashleigh
How They Met: We met on an airplane on the way to Thailand. I was on a girl’s trip and he was on a boy’s trip. We ended up staying at the same hotel on the first night and then traveled the entire 3 weeks with their group and became great friends for many years. We were friends first and only started seeing each other many years afterwards. I thought he was pretty annoying when we first met and we didn’t really ‘click’ at first.
The Proposal: He proposed in Noosa (Australia) at our favourite restaurant. He had hidden the ring in his pants for a huge walk beforehand so that I wouldn’t suspect anything in his pocket.
The Wedding Gown: I wanted it to be quite fitted, but also have a really long train with embellishments without being too traditional. My brief was ‘no lace’ so instead we used a range of appliques and different mesh materials to get a more modern take on a traditional dress style.
The Wedding: A lot of the styling was DIY, we were very hands on! From the beginning, I came up with all the concepts and then my mum and I brought them all to life over the next few months. My mum was amazing, she is really talented and so she hand-wrote all the place cards and table numbers, she hand-painted 80 sets of oyster shells as makeshift salt-and-pepper shakers and trawled the internet for weeks just to find the right vases for our table settings.
We also got a bit DIY with the menu and asked the venue to create one canape that was my favourite food (fish tacos) and another that was Adam’s (hot chippies). We then made little toothpicks that either said ‘from the bride’ or ‘from the groom’ on them. Also my Aunty, Uncle and cousin were incredible. My uncle runs a family nursery so he arranged the shipment of about 16 Oak Trees into the venue. The ceilings were really high and the room was massive so we knew we needed a bit of height in there. We wrapped them all with fairy lights and the end result was just incredible. Also, because I had created most of the styling myself, I couldn’t be there on the day to set up so my talented cousin managed the entire bump in and bump out including styling a huge 2.4m tall flower wall which formed a backdrop for our DIY photo booth.
Our first dance, definitely was the most memorable part of the wedding day! We love to have fun and we are always the last ones on the dancefloor together so that was a moment that truly represented us. We danced to Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars and the energy was just so electric and upbeat – our guests literally jumped into the dancefloor halfway through to join us.
Advice for future Coordinated Brides: Don’t get too caught up in the styling of it all. People can go way, way overboard with it all but at the end of the day if you can nail all the big ticket items like the ceremony, the speeches, food and the music, no-one is going to remember what colour the tablecloths were, or whether there was Aesop soap and heaps of candles in the bathrooms or not. It’s really easy to get so caught up in the detail, but on the day, none of it even matters.
Keep laughing (with your spouse), don’t let things get too serious. Communication is so important, and listening to the other person and respecting their point of view, even when you don’t agree, is also pretty pivotal.
Images by Darin Collison submitted by Adorn Invitations.
Vendor Collaboration
Dress: Helen Manuell || Makeup: Tre Dallas || Hair: Sarah Caporale || Accessories: Ichu Jewellery
Bridesmaids Dresses: Finders Keepers || Grooms Suit: P Johnson Tailors || Photographer: Darin Collison || Personalized Wedding Gift: Adorn Invitations || Plants: Warner’s Nurseries || Wedding Invitations: BWedding Invitations || Creative concepts and styling: Papermill Media || Styling: Party Plants
Cake: Cherry Tree Bakehouse || Food: Bursaria || Flowers: Botanics of Melbourne ||
Ceremony Venue: Abbotsford Convent || Reception Venue: Abbotsford Convent Rosina Room
