BON & BEN'S FESTIVAL WEDDING

Bon & Ben’s Festival Wedding

Bonnie first contacted me through my website back in late October/early November, asking for a quote for a few things for her wedding in Feb. She sent me through some inspo photos both from our website and from Pinterest of how she envisioned her wedding reception to look.

‘the vision for the wedding is a big, whimsical, boho luxe party at home. We are getting married on the cliffs of Point Cartwright (because hubs loves the beach) and then back home for the reception. We have hired 2x tipis from Tipi Luxe, we are having food vans (so think festival, street style food), and everything is going to be really relaxed’

I was so excited by this idea– however, in the back of my mind I knew that more often than not brides that are planning big awesome weddings are often planning two weddings – one inspired by Pinterest and the one they can ACTUALLY afford! So I didn’t want to get my hopes up!

BUT she had already hired the AMAZING tipis by #tipiluxe – so this already had me thinking this girl had style! She asked if I could just help her style her wedding.

‘How much are you just to hire because I feel like I'm out of my depth here lol. I've been stalking your website hard and I loooovvvee what you do.’

I tell you what, she didn’t have to ask me twice -I was defiantly on board for this one! (though to be honest – she was not out of her depth – she actually did an INCREDIBLE JOB at planning her wedding)

‘That's all I need girlfriend - a mad good stylist to help me bring my ideas to life! I'm too much of a control freak to completely relinquish the reigns #issues lol.’

So we started planning, emailing back and forth – slowly putting together a list of the items we would need! She decided from the very beginning to put vine ladders up under the TipiLuxe tipis

‘For the hanging pieces I would LOVE the ladder look that's what attracted me to them (the Tipis) in the first place so if you're happy to do that with some of the copper lights woven in that would be amaaazing.’

She wanted all the glassware – tumblers, wine glasses etc., and lots of fairy lights. She also hired the ‘Tipi under the stars package’. From there we decided to add a photo corner with the peacock chair – which she told me I had ‘free reign’ of how I was to style this pocket of the yard! – This made me pretty excited- firstly, because she trusted me enough, but having a blank canvas is pretty exciting…and daunting! Bonnie also convinced her Hubby-to-be that we NEEDED to include the gold lounge suite

‘And also...I convinced Ben to let me get the vintage lounge set (he's not big on the colour but I said it's really going to suit everything else so he's given in….who's wedding even is it? I swear he's just invited? Lol kidding 😉’

oh this made me laugh out loud! I’m sure so many brides to be can relate to this! I know my hubby didn’t want to get in the way of my own wedding planning…

As we went along, we modified the invoice to take off the glassware – as she and I both agreed as it is ‘festival style’ paper and plastic is the way to go! We also added on festoon lights, a cake table with macramé and driftwood arbour backdrop – which looked amazing in the photos!

We also had an arbour, chairs and signing table for the ceremony at Point Cartwright. We changed the chairs from the metal chairs to the wooden ones as we were worried that the quests would burn their butts if they were sitting out in the hot summer sun, and added the white peacock chairs and table instead of the cream signing table.

Bon had our arbour decorated with a fresh garland by a lovely florist at the point cartwright ceremony.

‘how's I don't even give the ceremony even 1 ounce of thought and that's what it's all supposed to be about lol sorry Ben I forgot I'm actually gonna be your wife, just plannin meself a nice party!’

By January we had everything pretty well sorted – with only 7 weeks until her wedding at this stage. It was all smooth sailing apart from the ever present bride issue…

‘I ate too much and my wedding dress is very fitted so if u need me I'll be eating iceberg lettuce by the handful’

‘That invoice is bang on, let's just sign, seal and deliver it! Thank you so much again girl, legit saving my life! I just showed my sister, sister-in-law and mum-in-law and we're all hyperventilating. I'm legit gonna build a shrine and worship you forever #creeper.’

Over the next few weeks Bonnie made a tassel wall and a huge vine lattice backdrop with fairy lights! (which is now available for hire through us) …and the countdown began for her big day

On the Thursday before the wedding, Daniel and I took a load out to her property and had a brief meet and greet. Though it honestly felt like we had already met. Daniel and I worked through a hoard of mosquitos (which were absolutely relentless that evening) and set up the naked teepee and lights before calling it quits for the night and going back home as it was too dark (and I felt like scratching my skin off!).

Bonnie and Ben also went to a lot of work –building a GORGEOUS love swing from a big old tree in their yard that is covered in vines and Ben also dressed the whole tree in fairy lights! They built in bathtubs to make huge rustic eskies and placed cable reel bars around the yard.

The following day we packed up our trailer again and arrived at the glasshouse at around 2pm. Onyx came this time to ‘help’ with the setup. Daniel moved all the heavy items while I began styling the photo area and tables under the teepee. Onyx enjoyed playing with Bonnie and Bens little girls Rosie and Poppy on the love swing while we set up. I wanted to set up as much as I could on the Friday so it would put Bonnies mind at ease for her wedding day (though we prayed and prayed it wouldn’t rain over night – and it didn’t- hallelujah). We came back on the Saturday morning quite early and put up the festoon lighting and did the final touches. Bonnie was looking quite calm and collected though she assured me her emotions were like an iceberg and what I was seeing on the surface wasn’t true of what she was feeling! I think this is pretty normal for any bride on their wedding day – meltdowns, anxiety attacks and racing emotions are pretty much a given.

There were quite a few people there on the wedding morning doing all the final touches – it really did look amazing! We met the photographer and the florist before we headed up the coast to drop Onyx off at Grandads so we could continue on to the ceremony spot at Point Cartwright on the Sunshine Coast.

I must admit The set up at Point Cartwright was not my favorite. It was hard work! Parking with a trailer was a nightmare for unloading, and the slog from the drop off area to the ceremony set up area was around 200m. Carrying the items wasn’t too bad though my main concern was we were unable to see the items from point A to point B so we had a bit of a tag team trying not to leave our items unmanned.

It was blowing a gale up on the hill, so we decided we needed reinforcements for the arbour, so Daniel set off in search of a hardware to ensure the arbour or the peacock chairs wouldn’t blow off the cliff! The first hardware was shut, so he was gone for quite a while – and as any ‘loving, calm wife’ does – I only called him around 20 times;) I wanted to stay for the ceremony as I was DYING to see Bonnie in her ‘Grace loves Lace’ dress (I also wore a GLL for my wedding) however, Daniel told me to stop being so nosey – so we went for a walk to find a coffee shop – though they were all closed – well all that were in walking distance.

As I suspected Bonnie looked absolutely STUNNING – as you can see in the photos I have attached. The ceremony went off without a hitch.

During pack up of the ceremony we ran into a few problems though with an illegally parked car parking in our trailer! I phoned the police to get them to move it. However, in the meantime Daniel had ran around the whole of the parkland asking everyone who the car belonged to – he ended up having a group of 40-year-old men use their muscle power and maneuver the trailer out of the curbside so Dan could hook up the trailer! What champions!

By the time we got to Dan’s parents at the Sunshine Coast we were both utterly exhausted – I went upstairs to put Onyx to bed and fell asleep within the first 5 minutes!

The next day was all about packing up the reception! Bonnie was up but feeling worse for wear – which is a sign that she had a GREAT night. She said it was the best day/night ever and everything rolled perfectly! That in itself was so rewarding to us.

We were all packed up in a few hours – I remember getting in the car and looking at Dan and giving each other a high five ‘we did it’. It was such a nice feeling driving home knowing we helped make their wedding a success. That was the biggest wedding we have done so far – and we pulled it off! Not that we thought we couldn’t;) We worked pretty hard from Thursday through to Sunday night including packing and unpacking. So Monday night we vegged on the couch before we were to do another big festival wedding the following weekend!

I was so proud of us but also of Bonnie – what a champion she is! I know only too well how much planning and preparations go into a wedding – even if you are hiring out people to do their parts – she was behind it all making sure it all came together!

Now I must mention something else! After the wedding was all over and I began writing this blog, I came to the realization that the wedding she had envisioned from the start (the inspo photos she sent me) had come to life!!!!! The tipis, the lit up tree, the vintage ladder, the whole festive style! So there you go guys- with the right budget and planning …and the help of Berry Vintage your dream wedding can become a reality!

Dan and I really had the best time setting up this wedding, and I know not every bride will be this amazing, but it sure makes me love my job! …and somewhere along the line I’m pretty sure Bonnie became my friend (Dan calls it a 'bride crush' but I think he's a just little jealous;))... I am forever thankful for Bonnie and Ben for Believing in us and choosing us to style their AMAZINGl day xxx