Inspired by travel, festivals and the outdoors the wedding of Brooke and Chris definitely has a personal touch to them as a couple, and displays exactly what they wanted from their wedding. This relaxed festival themed wedding at the beach gives lots of inspiration for a laid back, natural approach to your big day and it’s swoonworhty! Here we catch up with Brooke who tells us all about how they met and how they created their festival themed wedding, their way…
How Did You and Chris Meet?
“We were actually matched together by a mutual friend playing cupid. I had finished working on a site in WA and had moved to Sydney. Two months after I had moved a work college contacted me to let me know he had just met the male version of me! He sent me his Instagram details and told me to contact him, which I refused to do. This friend was also insisting Chris get in contact with me.”
“Eventually we became social media friends, silently following each other on Instagram, with an occasional heart here or there for each other’s photographs. One day I shared quite a personal post about my past struggles, and things I have overcome in life to be where I am today. Chris read it and his heart said “I need to meet this girl!” He sent me such a lovely message the day he read the post, that melted my heart and we began to message daily.”
“Over the course of a month we began to talk on the phone and eventually it became daily Facetime calls. My Dad worked on the same site as Chris and met him before I did; I still remember the day he phoned to give me his stamp of approval. We have been inseparable since the day we finally met in person.”
The Proposal
The proposal was at sunrise at Sealy Lookout in Coffs Harbour on Good Friday. It was followed by a weekend of romantic activities which included staying at the gorgeous Establishment Hotel in Sydney and watching Tash Sultana live. We had three whole days to ourselves in our little bubble of love before we announced the proposal to anyone.
Planning The Wedding
Coachella was our initial inspiration. We wanted the two days to feel like festival, a celebration. To be honest we didn’t want anything to feel like a Wedding, initially we both weren’t even interested in having a cake. It had to be outdoors and natural.
The Dress
“Finding my Anna Campbell dress is actually a story of fate! I had created a ‘Wedding Dress Inspo’ album on Pinterest and I had pinned a photograph of the Anna Campbell dress design ‘Sydney Dress’ but at that time I didn’t know who the designer was and hadn’t looked into it further.
“A few months later my Aunty and I decided to meet in Melbourne for my birthday, I thought it would be the perfect time to look at wedding dresses. So, I went straight to Google and typed in ‘Melbourne Wedding Dress’ as I scrolled through judging bridal boutiques by their names, there was a link for Anna Campbell, the tagline read ‘bohemian bridal’, just what I was looking for to suit our Wedstival themed day. Scrolling through the design gallery I found the dress from my Pinterest album! The ‘Sydney Dress’ I booked my appointment right then and there for the Armadale boutique.”
The Best Part of the Day
“It was actually later in the evening, I stepped back and I saw all the glittery faces around me, every single one of our guests was smothered in glitter and I just smiled. It warmed my heart to see everyone had embraced our vision, however different and weird it was, everyone joined in and for two days they were free spirits with us.”
Words of Wisdom
“Enjoy the wedding planning process, savour it. This is a time that really reveals you and your partners ability to work together. I was working on a remote mine site for 10 months of our planning period while Chris was travelling working/surfing in Chile and we still planned our perfect wedding.”
The Team – Coachella Inspired Festival Themed Wedding At The Beach
Wedding feature thanks to: Giant Invitations
Dress: Anna Campbell @annacampbellbridal
Makeup: I am a qualified makeup artist so I applied my own makeup, my bridesmaids all work in the fashion, modelling and makeup industries so they also applied their own.
Hair: Studio Luxe @studioluxehair
Shoes: Windsor Smith
Accessories: Mimco
Bridesmaids Dresses: Shona Joy
Grooms Suit: Zara Man
Cake: Grooms Mother, Anka Crooke
Food: Smokey Dans @smokeydans
JJ’s @jjsatthemarina
Wandering Wood Fire Oven @wanderingwoodfireoven
Merciers Gelato @merciersgelato
Flowers: @liliesandlaceweddingsandevents
Photographer: Nathan Lapham @nathan.lapham
Venue: The Woods of Jervis Bay, Tomerong. @thewoodsfarm
Looking for more real wedding inspiration? Check out our online magazine BOND BRIDE
