Given most of their guests were coming from overseas, Joel and Annie were excited to find John Gehrig Wines – a unique VIC winery wedding venue where they could create a celebration worthy of the miles they’d travelled.
“[John Gehrig Wines] was the charming blank canvas we were looking for. We were able to make the venue very much our own with our styling and accessories…plus, the delicious wine certainly was a positive”, says Annie who also kept a few friends by serving gin and tonic gelato for dessert.
Check out their entire day captured by Katie Hillary Photography below.
In a nutshell, how would you describe your wedding day?
One intimate international party! Being from opposite sides of the world our guest list was incredibly varied and we put so much of ourselves into our special day, having it all come together as planned truly was magical.
What did you expect was going to be your favourite part in the lead-up? What did it end up being?
My favourite part was as expected – standing at the top of the aisle in the vines holding Joel’s hand and looking out feeling so honoured that our guests had travelled so far (Scotland, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Perth and Darwin to name a few) to share in our magic.
However, opening the dance floor really took me by surprise – as a bit of a wallflower I was nervous about rocking out to King of Spain by The Tallest Man on Earth with all eyes on us! But we weren’t alone on the dance floor for long and from there, the night really kicked into gear! There were certainly some unique dance moves.
Did you write your own vows? If so, what made you decide to do that?
We did! The only way we could really tell each other just how much we loved one another was through our own individual promises, even if it meant promising Joel to support St. Kilda for the rest of my days!
What was it about your wedding venue that made you choose it?
When we walked in to check out John Gehrig Wines as as our potential venue, we fell in love with its charm and amazing scenery. Meghan and Ross made us feel so welcome from the beginning and nothing was too much effort. Their beautiful venue was the charming blank canvas we were looking for. We were able to make the venue very much our own with our styling and accessories and utilise the stars as our disco lights with the open air dance floor.
Now that you’re married, what’s your best piece of wedding-planning advice you can share?
Don’t let the stress of planning take the fun out of the biggest day of your life. There will be some hiccups along the way and even on the day – but when you walk down that aisle with your new forever those hiccups are so insignificant. Enjoy every part of the ride.
If you had your time again, is there anything you’d do differently?
No, we wouldn’t change a thing. Other than invent a time machine to do it all again.
Finish these sentences:
My partner is…
Annie: The kindest, most caring person I’ve ever met. He’s my safe place.
Joel: My everything, my inspiration and my reason for being.
The best thing we did at our wedding was…
Take the time to suck in all the love! Our walk up the hill during ‘golden hour’ just with each other, glass of champagne in hand, as a new Mr and Mrs gave us the opportunity just to enjoy each other for a moment before returning to our beautiful guests.
We splurged on…
Photography, videography and food. It was important to us to have our day captured without the poses or the usual staged shots. We just wanted a true reflection of our day. We are major foodies so having Pinchos Andiamo cater was so important to us – where else would you be able to get a gin and tonic gelato for dessert?!
We saved on…
Accessories and styling. We took on lots of DIY projects ourselves and we are so glad we did as they made it unique. Joel’s mum sewed up napkins, groomsmen built the arbor, giant Jenga and limbo. We used the splash back tiles from our newly built home as favours/place names. We hunted through op shops for jars and other unique styling pieces. All of these little touches made our day our own and saved us some cash too!
CREDITS: Photos Katie Hillary Photography // Videography Bottlebrush Films // Flowers The Real Florist // Ceremony and reception John Gehrig Wines // Catering Pinchos Catering // Cheese tower Rhys Blackley // Stationery Etsy // Bridal gown Amy Kuschel via Bluebell Bridal // Bride’s shoes FRANKiE4 // Bridesmaid dresses Pilgrim // Bridesmaid gifts Homebodii, Mon Purse and T2 // Groom and groomsmen’s suits Sportscraft (pants and shirt) and Trent Nathan (coat) // Groomsmen gifts Thread Ettiquette and Solid State // Ties The Tie Bar // Rings Mikola Jewellers // Hair Hair by Sherryn // Makeup Kristy Morgan // Music DJ Marcus // Celebrant Yvonne McPhie // Transport Lodges Coaches.
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