Tom and Katie wanted their guests to have a lot of fun at their wedding, and what says fun more than lawn games? Croquet and boche and badminton had guests mingling and enjoying themselves at the Yandina Station wedding on the Sunshine Coast. CL Weddings and Events provided the lawn games gear, which was a real hit with all the guests, young and young at heart! 

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The pretty vintage styling included a lot of DIY by the couple and their families, with the rustic country venue lending itself to the theme quite nicely. In fact, Yandina Station is a very versatile location – it was also the place we chose to have our Mexican Wedding Fiesta styled shoot in Volume 3 of The Bride’s Tree free online bridal magazine. We love a wedding on a working Australian cattle station, it’s surprisingly romantic! 

Love these images by Jeremy Beasley. 

The amazing Nicola Daly from Hair by Nicola weaving her magic

“For Tom I secretly stitched a little message on a handkerchief that he carried on the day and sent a little love letter to his cabin the morning of our wedding.“

“Tom and I met at dinner at a mutual friends house.I had just learnt how to solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than a minute.  Tom sat down beside me and asked if I could teach him how to solve it too.  We spent the rest of the night next to each other solving the Rubik’s Cube.  By the end of the night Tom had a set of instructions and my phone number.“

“The whole wedding was the creation of what I had dreamed of for many years (and had pinned on my Pinterest board.  I had heaps of ideas, Tom chose the best ones and my Mum and Dad helped make them a reality.  All of our friends and family were involved in the planning by collecting vintage bits and pieces in the lead up to the wedding.”

“We knew very early on that we were going to get married – we probably decided about six months in but knew we had a lot of growing and learning to do first.”

“During the signing of the registry, Tom’s two sisters sang for everyone and between the ceremony and reception our friends from church provided wonderful live music for everyone to enjoy.”

Wedding lawn games for a fun garden party, hired from CL Weddings and Events

Wedding Secrets Revealed

Bridal gown: Made by a local friend, Lisa Cox. My Mum and I designed the dress and chose the lace and satin together.  We bought the material from the Fabric Collection 

Accessories: My earrings were from Myer, I made my own hairpiece with fresh flowers and my garter (original venetian lace) was borrowed from a lovely friend who wore it on her wedding day.

Shoes: My shoes were little blue heels (my something blue) from eBay.

Bridesmaid dresses: Casar Elegance in Queens Street Mall 

Bridesmaids’ accessories: Earrings from Myer and shoes from eBay also. Clutch bags were handmade by me and cardigans were bought from a small shop somewhere…

Flower Girl accessories: Dress and shoes from Light in the Box  and hair piece from Summerblossom

Groom’s suit and shoes: The boys bought their suits and shirts from Roger David at DFO (big savings!) and used their own belts and shoes.  We bought their ties and personalised cufflinks form DFO also.

Rings: My stunning engagement ring and our wedding rings were designed and hand-crafted by my Uncle, Peter Drane, who owns Diamonds of Distinction in Buderim.

DIY: Our styling, all flowers, table decorations, signs, table centrepieces, doily bunting, wedding favours, stationery, and cake. For their bombonieres, Katie made macarons in three flavours and packed them in stamped glassine bags from Etsy.

Number of Guests: 90

Total Cost of Wedding: $20,000+

“We replaced a traditional dance with a game of badminton in our wedding attire.”

“I had my sister and my two best friends as bridesmaids and my youngest cousin as my flower girl and Tom had three of his best mates as groomsmen.“

“We share many values – we share the same faith, we love friends and family, we love sharing food and we love a great bottle of red wine.”

“Our priority when planning our wedding was the commitment we were making too each other.  We dedicated a lot of time to pre-marriage counselling and spent many hours with wonderful couples who have been married for many years.  We tried (and continue to!) soak as much wisdom out of these couples who have been through so many joys and struggles in their lives.“

“I wanted to use as many of the items that I already owned as possible.  I love collecting eclectic vintage pieces and already had a large collection of jars, cameras, books and nick-nacks before we were engaged.  We were after a young, fun, relaxed, vintage vibe which we found really easy to create at Yandina Station.“

“At the reception, Tom presented a speech he had secretly written for me listing his ‘everyday vows’ which included letting me put pretty things up around the house, always saving the last TimTam for me and a promise to never leave his smelly soccer gear in our room.”

A-listers

Venue and catering: Yandina Station

Makeup Artist: Pru Edwards

Hair Stylist: Hair by Nicola

Rentals: Croquet, bocce and typewriter from CL Weddings and Events

Photographer: Jeremy Beasley / Gift registry: Myer / Officiant: Pastor Simon Ward from Arana Hills Church of Christ

Tom and Katie have almost everything they used to decorate their wedding for hire. 

The post Australian Cattle Station Wedding appeared first on The Bride's Tree.

Dan and Melika travelled all the way from London to have their wedding day in Queensland, Australia… in the rain! Who would believe it! However, they never let it dampen their day for a moment, even saying the rain added a certain touch of magic to their special day. 

Wanting to give their international guests a unique wedding to remember, they chose cattle station wedding venue, Yandina Station to hold their beautiful wedding for 101 guests. Yandina Station is beautifully maintained with luxury cottage accommodation, but also has a rad rustic old barn to hold wedding receptions in. This really gave their UK guests an Australian feel to the day, which was really special to Dan and Melika. 

You may actually recognise this good-looking couple, as we published their cute hinterland engagement shoot with Sunshine Coast wedding photographer, Matt Rowe Photography, who is also responsible for the beautiful images below. 

“Finding the perfect reception venue was important to us as we had so many international guests attending and we wanted it to be special; something we’d never forget. So we aimed for a unique venue, as we wanted to stand out as being different as a couple.”

“We met in London, my flat mate liked him so we naturally became friends as we saw each other every few weeks. I left England and we stayed in touch but I never knew he liked me until almost a year after meeting! It tookthree and a half years from meeting, to marriagefor us to finally realise that we couldn’t live without each other.”

“We both live in the UK so my family and friends played a huge part in getting the basics and some of the majors done, posting invitations, collecting old jars, making decorations, visiting the venue for us!”

“Being friends for two years, we were able to get to know each other without the complications of a relationship, especially since majority of the time we lived so far apart. Now we just love each other’s company and are always having fun together. Our love for travel is also a huge asset and helps when having family spread between two continents.”

“The rain added a certain magical touch to our wedding day. I didn’t have my wellies for our photos on location but thankfully my sister had a spare pair of flats! The wellies did come in handy for trips to the bathroom though and I even entered the reception as the new Mrs Cornelius wearing them“

Wedding Secrets Revealed

Biggest splurge: Flowers

Best bargain: Friends and family collected jars for the centrepieces

Bridal gown: Ian Stuart Bridal – London ‘Sancerre’ £1400 purchased from Amante Bridal 

Accessories: Single tier raw edge veil by Ivie White , Art Deco pearl earrings and bracelet by Katherine Swaine £100  ; Vintage art deco hair comb purchased from  Amante Bridal (gift £85 – also a one off design).

Shoes: Jimmy Choo – Ebay! £47

Bridesmaid dresses: Pink/apricot dresses by Warehouse – London. We bought them on sale so they worked out to be roughly £70 each

Bridesmaids’ accessories: Tulle and diamonte flower hair clip from Lovisa, $12 each. and Thomas Sabo freshwater pearl bracelets £30 each 

Groom’s suit and shoes: Navy 3-piece Travel Suit £750 & tan Brogues shoes £120, both Paul Smith

Groomsmens’ suits and shoes: Petrol Blue French Connection Suits £175 each and the boys wore their own belts & shoes. 

Bombonieres: We collected English tea cups for each female guest so these were purchased from charity stores across West Sussex, England

DIY: Decorated jars, table floral arrangements, chalk boards, wooden signage, popcorn snack bags, paper pom pom decorations, seating plan, bombonieres, thank you cards

Number of guests: 101

“Our reception venue was an old barn, so we wanted a Shabby Chic, vintage theme, with a touch of romance. It also ended up being quite Australian in a classy way, something our international guests and local ones too, absolutely loved.”

“We handmade the seating plan which combined of the thank you note and table name. We decided that thanking everyone in advance saved us a job once we were back in the UK. We strung three strands of brown string and pegged each name card in alphabetical order. Once guests opened their name card, the inside flap told them where they were sitting and finally once completely opened was our handwritten thank you note. Once guests arrived at the table – if they were a boy they found their name on a luggage tag tied to their napkin and if they were a girl they found their name tag attached to a gorgeous vintage English teacup with a posy of flowers inside. I strategically sat all girls in the centre of the tables with the boys on each table end to ensure their flowers only enhanced the centre peices, making the flowers and favours the focal point of the table layout.”

“My Husband’s aunt made 400 macarons for us and my mum bought a simple cake for us to cut. The macarons were a nice alternative and something everyone thought were luxurious and delicious! “

“We saved loads having family use their own skills! Between my family (my aunties, sister, mum and close friends) we used all kinds of decorations from vintage suitcases, candles, art work, mirrors, wooden boxes, old cameras, chandeliers to decorate and it looked amazing.“

Dan and Melika’s Hand-picked Team That Made It All Happen

Photographer: Matt Rowe Photography
Florist: Garden Gate Florist 
Caterer: Yandina Station
Macarons: Rachel & John Miller, London
Transport: Hired a blue Mini Cooper convertible from Hertz at Brisbane International Airport and used a friends Audi Q5 and BMW X5
Makeup Artist: Bride: Lisa Howson – Colorpop Makeup 2x Bridesmaids $50 Katarina Fettik-Davey – Mother of the Bride and 2x Bridesmaids $50
Hair Stylist:  Hair on First
Rentals: We hired our vintage lounge and provence arm chair from Splash Events  and Giant Jenga from  Yard Party
Entertainment: Amy Katrina sang a small set during our garden party   
Stationery Supplier: Morgan Media
Celebrant/Other Officiary: Ross Parker, registered with the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses
Wedding Planner: Crystal Lilly, USA

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