Maleny Retreat Archives | The Bride's Tree

Liana loves Matt | Maleny Wedding Festival Full of Colour

Sally Townsend — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 09:13:32 +0000

A traditional white wedding was never on the cards for Liana and Matt. They wanted a wedding venue, where they could add plenty of colour and personality. Bride, Liana, shares how they designed their very own wedding festival at Maleny Retreat.

Wedding Priorities

Making sure we had the wedding we wanted to have and not be tied down by the traditional wedding structure. We wanted the day to be filled with fun, happiness, colour and love and we wanted all our friends and family to leave having had a great time.

Biggest Challenge

When we first got engaged we were both very overwhelmed with the whole wedding thing and initially planned an elopement to Iceland as it seemed like a less stressful option. It became clear that we wanted our family to be there (and they also really wanted to be there) and so our elopement turned into a small destination wedding and in the end the logistics of that became too difficult. So we decided to keep the date but do it back home.

The hardest part was knowing where to begin, it seemed like such a huge task, but once we got the ball rolling everything just started falling into place.

Our DIY Reception Venue

Our wedding was never going to be traditional and we didn’t want to be held back by the typical wedding structure, so a DIY wedding was very attractive to us. It meant more work, but it also meant we got the wedding we wanted. When we foundMaleny Retreat we loved that it was a one stop shop, no needing to move around to different locations. We loved that our friends and family could stay the night in the glamping tents.

Images by Brody Grogan Photography

Witness Raffle

Our ceremony was my favourite part of the day, and I will never forget that both Matt and I picked each of our closest friends in our raffle draw for our witnesses. We thought someone must of rigged it, but it was just a crazy coincidence.

Most Emotional Moment

Honestly the whole day was so emotional. We definitely needed a holiday after just to recover. The most emotional moment was probably when we read our personally written vows to each other. That was pretty special and I will never forget it.

The Proposal

Despite pestering Matt for months about getting engaged, the proposal came as a surprise. We were in New Zealand on a family holiday, and we had a night to ourselves in Auckland. We were staying at a fancy hotel and had dinner booked in at Sky Tower. We were getting ready for dinner in our hotel room and only had 5 minutes before we had to leave, typical me always running late was doing my hair in the bathroom.

I called from the bathroom that I was unsure if it looked okay, and Matt said to come out and show him. I came out to him on one knee with a ring. He asked, “Will you marry me?” Tears started forming in my eyes at the same time as I blurted out, “F**k off, you’re going to make me cry, and my make up is going to run, and we have to go or we will be late.” Matt asked, “Is that a yes?” and my response was, “Of course!”

We celebrated with a bottle of champagne at dinner, headed to the casino afterwards and managed to win the cost of the evening including our accommodation at three card poker. It was a pretty fantastic night.

Wedding Secrets

Biggest splurge: Definitely my wedding dress. I am a very colourful person and knew a white dress wasn’t going to cut it. Vanessa at When Freddie Met Lilly helped me design my gorgeous pastel dress. It was absolutely stunning with all the hand-sewn embellishments on the bodice, it was super comfortable and made me feel amazing. When I was trying it on for alterations I included getting a sparkle layer of tulle added, which meant having to take the whole skirt apart, but it was worth it.

Best money-saving decision: Having cocktail style food. The Pizza Fusion woodfired pizza was a huge hit and quite affordable compared to sitdown style food options we looked at, plus it suited our wedding style much more and was delicious. Who doesn’t love pizza!

Bride’s dress: When Freddie Met Lilly

Accessories: Flower hair piece from Ginger Lily & Rose

Shoes: Ceremony shoes were from Irregular Choice (rainbow gnome heel). Reception shoes were aqua and lilac glitter Doc Martens.

Groom’s suit: When Freddie Met Lilly

Accessories: Custom tie made by my mum, cuff links from Etsy (wooden with embossed duck)

Shoes: Brown boots from Wild Rhino

DIY: Friends and I made a million colourful pom poms which were used as the basis for the decorating theme. I also made our wedding invitations (with the help of a graphic artist friend and my sisters and mum). I made the welcome sign which was also a timeline for the day. I got my graphic artist friend to design the Bar Menu sign, which I printed out. I made a signing board from a custom drawing of hubby and I in our wedding gear, that I got it printed on a canvas. I made the glitter bar for our guests to sparkle themselves up for the reception. I made our card box for wedding gifts, which was a white letterbox with decal stickers.

Honeymoon: Bedarra Island Resort

Number of guests: 75

Wedding budget: Approx $50,000

Actual cost of wedding: $62,000

The Dream Team

Thank you for supporting our A-list Vendors below, who were instrumental in making this colourful wedding a dream come true…

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Zoe loves Zac | Fun Wedding in Maleny

Sally Townsend — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 01:08:48 +0000

Zoe and Zac love their local region of the Sunshine Coast (we’re with you there, guys!) so much. Having moved from Rockhampton, they fully appreciate all the local beauty they’ve come to call their home, so marrying here was a no-brainer.

Zoe shares her experience planning their unconventional, super fun wedding at Maleny Retreat…

Fun Times

“The whole day was all smiles and laughs, however our stand out fun moments were the jumping castle, the dancing all night – even before dinner. Walking back down the aisle to You Make My Dreams having rainbow bio degradable confetti was also a very fun highlight of our day.”

The Proposal

“We were down at Gold Coast for the weekend as I (Zoe) was competing in an F45 comp. Being spontaneous as always Zac decided to surprise me with sunrise hot air ballooning which I had always wanted to do. Being distracted with the competition on that weekend Zac was able to surprise me with a proposal just after we touched down at the end of our flight, it was perfect. This was followed by a champagne breakfast!”

The Perfect Fit

“Who wouldn’t want to marry their best friend? Zac has so much personality and can make any moment more fun than what it already is. He offers so much to our relationship and treats me with so much respect.”

Images by Coastal Love Collective

The Venue

“Originally both being from Rockhampton we wanted to embrace how beautiful and grateful we were for now living on the sunshine coast by getting married here. Our venue complimented all our needs, it was a one stop place for the whole day, it provided accommodation for our family and friends who had to travel, and it was topped of with the most unreal views.”

Advice for Future Brides

“Once its the wedding day let the stress go, it’ll all fall into place. Take time to take in the moments.”

Wedding secrets

Biggest splurge: The band and flowers. It was Zac’s aim to have a band groovy enough to have everyone dancing the whole night and that’s exactly how it went. We wanted to keep the day simple and our flowers were our way of making the simple features of our day stand out. Our stand out piece was the hang floral arrangement above the dance floor.

Best bargain: My dress from Spell Byron Bay. I found it perfect in every way and was able to keep in under $1000.

Bride’s dress: Spell Byron Bay

Earrings: Samantha Wills

Bride’s shoes: White heels – The Iconic, white sneakers (reception) – Seed

Bridesmaids’ dresses: Zimmerman

Bridesmaids’ accessories: Rings – Samantha Wills, Bracelets – Linden Cook, Earrings – Mimco

Bridesmaids’ shoes: Lipstick Shoes

Groom’s and groomsmen’s attire: Roger David

Flowergirl’s dress: Arabella and Rose

DIY: All our signs, candy bar and reception set up was DIY.

Honeymoon: New Zealand

Number of guests: 100

Wedding budget: $20, 000

Actual wedding cost: $30,000

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Katie loves Clint | A Marquee Wedding at Maleny Retreat

Sally Townsend — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 11:53:48 +0000

Katie and Clint decided to do their wedding right. The ceremony was kicked off with the groom and his groomsmen arriving via helicopter, while the bride and her maids spent the morning being pampered good and proper.

108 of their guests descended on the expansive Maleny Retreat to leave the world before and celebrate in the happy couple’s love, as they said their I Dos overlooking the breathtaking Glass House Mountains.

After the official proceedings, the couple and their bridal party of eight joined their photographer from Moments by Frankie for wander around the pretty grounds of Maleny Retreat for a short photo shoot. Fortunately this hinterland venue provides many pretty spots for photo ops, so they were able to quickly rejoin their guests for the party. Under the twinkling starlight and fairy lights adorning the clear marquee ceiling, Katie, Clint and their closest family and friends danced the night away to their 7-piece jazz band and devoured delicious delicacies by Sunshine Coast caterers, First Class Functions.

In-between all the dancing and visits to the dessert table and cigar bar, some tear-jerking speeches ensued. There was an awful lot of love in the room – well, marquee! Be sure to get your tissues at the ready when you watch the film down a little further. It’s super sweet and well worth a watch to see more of Katie and Clint’s amazing Maleny marquee wedding.

“I bought Clint a TAG Heuer watch and Clint bought me a bracelet from Tiffany & Co. Clint bought the groomsmen their custom made suits and I bought my bridesmaids their dresses and accessories.”

“The best moment of the day was saying I Do… Otherwise it’s too hard to single out particular details; as a whole we couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Wedding Secrets

Biggest splurge: The boys’ helicopter arrival.

Best money-saver: Supplying our own alcohol.

Bridal gown: Stella York

Accessories: Tiffany & Co. + Swarovski

Shoes: Tony Bianco

Bridesmaid dresses: Zimmermann

Bridesmaids’ accessories: Forever New

Groom’s and Groomsmen’s suits and shoes: John Harris Gentleman’s Outfitter

Rings: Gold Leaf Enterprises

DIY: Beverages

Honeymoon: Qualia Resort on Hamilton Island, we didn’t want a long flight.

Number of guests: 108

Wedding budget: $100,000

“We just wanted something lavish where our guests could really enjoy themselves without too many restrictions.” “We had delicious food, including a dessert table.” “Clint says enjoying a cigar with all of his mates at the cigar bar was fantastic.” “My best tip to future brides is to engage a wedding planner.”

katie + clint / maleny retreat from Matt Barwick Films on Vimeo.

Thank you for supporting our A-list Vendors, who helped make Katie + Clint’s big day happen…

Learn more about… Maleny Retreat + First Class Functions

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