I detta blogginlägg ska vi få ta del av Amy och Bronsons bröllop som gifte sig på hemmaplan i Australien efter att ha bott utomlands i ett par år. Tillsammans med sina nära och kära tillverkade brudparet de flesta av dekorationerna själva i sann DIY-anda. Det är verkligen inspirerande att se hur mycket energi och omtanke som lagts på detaljerna, vilket vi har äran att få skåda genom de vackra bilderna från Briars Atlas. Vi lämnar över ordet till Amy som berättar historien om frieriet och den långa jakten på den perfekta klänningen.

Så gick frieriet till:

We had been living in the UK for 3 years, traveling, working and generally loving life. We had decided a couple of months before we were due to move back home we would visit paris one last time. We loved paris, and being only a 1 hr flight, it was almost too easy! Anyway, We had just spent the night walking the streets eating nutella crepes when Bronson lead us into a quiet secluded park (little did I know at the time, but it was the park we went to the first time we visited Paris together) and asked me to marry him. After I said an emphatic 'YES OF COURSE!' Bronson then asked me if I recognised the ring. I didn't, and had no idea what he was taking about. So Bronson proceeded to tell me I had actually tried it on many years ago in an antique shop in Sydney. Evidently he had purchased the ring 3 years earlier just before we left to move to the UK!

Upon further questioning about the ring, the full extent of Bronson’s dithering became clear. It would seem that this beautiful ring was quite the jet-setter, joining us on pretty much every holiday we took together for the past 3 years. It had been to Prague, Budapest, Germany, Slovenia, Morocco, Spain, Italy, France and probably many more. Turns out Bronson was just looking for that PERFECT moment. He found it in Paris. Eventually.

Bruden berättar om jakten på den perfekta bröllopsklänningen:

I started off with the usual dress shopping with girlfriends and my mum. Overall it was a good experience in that I was able to try on various different shape dresses and decide on the one that was most flattering for me. However I didn't find the actual 'shopping' experience particularly welcoming. I found some of the assistants in the dress shops quite pushy. I was shopping for the dress 9 months before the big day and many of them said I was 'leaving it to the last minute' After 2 failed days shopping in both Melbourne and Sydney, trying on 20+ dresses, and hours spent trawling bridal sites online, I still didn't have that holy grail 'this is the one' moment.

I remembered a conversation I had with a friend of a friend at a wedding a few months before and she said if I decided I wanted to get my dress made she could give me a recommendation. At the time I thought I'll never need it and didn't think I'd end up contacting her. I thought I'd have my 'the one' moment... Little did I know. I eventually contacted her and she gave me the number of a girl who made her dress 5 years earlier. Her name was Yulia. I did a bit of research on her and gave her a call to set up a meeting.

Turns out meeting Yulia was my 'the one' moment. Not because of the dress, but because of the person. She was so lovely and welcoming, and helpful. She knew her stuff, but at the same time was so down to earth. She patiently sat and listened to what I wanted, drew it up, gave me her professional opinion on what will work and then when I told her the date of my wedding (now thinking it was very last minute) she said 'no problem, that's plenty of time'! I'm convinced she is an angel disguised as a dressmaker!

Amy berättar om valet av vigselplats och tema:

Because we got married at my parents property, we never really looked into other venues. I always knew I'd get married there, it was just so lovely to (literally) feel at home the while day. We decided early on to allowed the beautiful location and venue define the aesthetic of our day. With its georgous olive grove, pomegranate orchard and fully functioning vegetable garden, the day felt very 'farm to table' with a twist of Mediteranian. We were heavily influenced by our travels overseas and incorporated our favourite elements e.g. sitting down at long tables of Spanish tapas, sipping on Italian aperol spritzers in the sun and the scent of Moroccan orange blossom in the air.

Brudparet valde att inkorporera en fransk tradition i firandet:

The french tradition is where the children from the local village would hold up lengths of ribbon infront of the bride and groom symbolising the obstacles they will face throughout marriage and the couple have to cut through them together. My friend had raided my mums sewing box for a pair of sturdy scissors the day before, all was prepped and ready to go. When it came to the ribbon cutting Bronson took charge, grabbed the scissors and proceeded to cut through the ribbons. Little did we realise, not only were the scissors right handed, but my friend had chosen shearing scissors (the zig zag kind) which looked great, but Bronson, having never used zig zag scissors before, and being left handed found it very tricky to cut through. Not to mention the pressure from 80 pairs of eyes looking at us! We had to work together to get through the ribbons - he was holding the ribbons taught, while I cut through each one. Pretty poetic really when the the meaning behind the tradition is symbolising how we will over come life's obstacles throughout our marriage.

Livemusik, plockmat och spel för stora och små höll stämningen på topp innan middagen. De 80 bröllopsgästerna slog sig sedan ned vid uppdukade långbord och avnjöt spanska tapas tillsammans med italienska drinkar.

Amy listar alla DIY-projekt som de gjorde tillsammans innan bröllopet:

Stamping Napkins.
Stamping confetti bags (in fact even making the stamp).
Picking, drying and stripping thousands of stems of lavender for confetti.
Creating hanging ivy and floral chandeliers.
Cutting, sanding and oiling wooden table runners. Celebration sticks for ribbon cutting ceremony.
My veil hair crown worn for the ceremony.
Flower crowns for flower girls.
Button holes for page boys.
Ceremony backdrop (Bronson and I made together the week before the wedding) .
'Welcome to our wedding' sandwich board.
Signs along the road to the ceremony site.
Save the date video.

Parets bästa tips till dig som planerar ditt bröllop:

We love love LOVED having a week off before the big day. Hanging out with family and friends and throwing ourselves whole heartedly into creating our day together to make it feel like our own.

I would also say there comes a point where you both need to realise you can't do it all on your own, its never going to look like a pinterest board and you have to allow people to help. There will be lots of people that are happy to help out - some you might not even expect. They will be doing things the best way they know how even though it might not be how it was in your head. At the end of the day we loved having our friends and family heavily involved in the day and thank our lucky stars we have such supportive (and may I say talented) people around us.