Portobello Bride Real Wedding- Hollie & Jimmy

When Danielle from White + White Wedding + Events sent me details of Hollie and Jimmy's wedding she worked on recently, I fell in love immediately with the simple, natural styling and manner in which this beautiful couple were married.

Married under their favourite gum tree by the dam. Glass jars hung from tree branches, as well as a sweet vintage bird cage with wooden letters of theirs and their sons initials. 

Surrounded by their family and friends, Hollie and Jimmy with their young son, were married in a ceremony full of love and sentiment, with Hollie's brother reading an adaptation of a Sanskrit reading called "greet this day with love in your hearts".

Guests then participated in a pebble toss, where they took a black river pebble, made a wish for the couples future together and tossed the pebble into the dam in the act of sending their wishes to the greater universe.  

After the couple exchanged their vows, the celebrations continued with Fever Tree lemonade, Ginger Ale and Indian Tonic water served with white paper straws. Freshly shucked Pristine oysters were served on ice in a vintage wash tub with a beautiful mustard vinaigrette. Spanish Montadito with Jamon were served on wooden boards.

A gorgeous long exposed timber table with long bench seating for their 50+ guests, was set beside the creek under the trees. A simple piece of white cheesecloth ran down the centre of the table. Decorated with vintage drink carriers filled with bottles of still and sparkling water, french inspired tin centrepieces dotted the centre table, each holding eight small tins filled with fresh herbs, asparagus, broccoli, kale and sea holly.

Each setting was made up of a simple white napkin on top of the plate with a fresh green pocket size apple and brown card with typewriter style lettering of each guests name as the place card.

A blackboard hung from a tree with the days menu handwritten on it, a rustic bench seat was placed near the waters edge with a brown paper notebook for guests to leave the couple their warm wishes in.

For lunch, guests were served a share style meal, with several plates passed between them of lamb rack with rosemary and soft white polenta, whole baked Queensland reef fish, caught by Jimmy's Dad in the days leading up to the wedding, seared scallops with cauliflower puree, roast root vegetables with lentils, fennel salad and potato gnocchi with truffled pecorino. 

The children were seated at their own table setting of a white table top with timber plank seats and an apple tree coming from the centre of the table and up over the children. The place settings were hand drawn with crayons and each child had their own coloured plates and cutlery set. An early childhood carer was arranged to be their to supervise the children with games and craft. 

All images by Vivid Photography

The day progressed with a natural flow of children dancing, families playing kick to kick with the soccer ball around the paddock, games of totem tennis and general light hearted mixing with each other.With no official first dance the couple just enjoyed their day as it happened, and concluded their wedding celebrations with a bon fire and camp oven dinner. 

Thank you Danielle, for sharing Hollie and Jimmy's simple, romantic winter wedding with us.

Portobello Bride Real Wedding - Ruth & Ben

Today's wedding looks like it has come straight out of any one of our favourite glossies. The fashion is simple and stylish, the setting relaxed and beautiful, the props very preppy and the bridal party are gorgeous. It is in fact the very sweet DIY wedding of Ruth and Ben which was photographed by one of Australia's coolest photographers, Glen Allsop. To read all about their wedding, visit one of the must read bridal blogs, Once Wed for all the lovely details.  From Ruth making her wedding dress, and her bridesmaids dresses, to the floral decorations and my favourite part, the relaxed moments that saw them even fitting in a game of Tennis. Love it!

Does it get any better than this-Love it!

Thanks to Glen Allsop for sharing your beautiful photos of Ruth and Ben's wedding with us. I look forward to sharing more of your weddings in the future.  

Photography by Glen Allsop, further details on Once Wed

Portobello Bride Real Wedding - Amy & Dan

I thought this wedding was a perfect way to start the week. It's bright, happy and full of fun. 

I know I have written a lot on this feature, but I just LOVE it. I couldn't leave out any of this gorgeous couples wedding story.

Hailey Barthomlew of You can't be serious! the newest member of Portobello Bride's Boutique Wedding Guide  captured Amy and Dan's relaxed wedding with her signature style of creative and emotive imagery, in other words really awesome photography! 

Amy and Dan met whilst backpacking in London. They quickly knew the direction they wanted their life to go in. Welcoming their little boy Jack into the world in October 2008. It wasn't long after that Amy received a romantic "it's in the glove box proposal". Dan knew Amy would be on to him if there were any romantic plans made, so he thought by popping the ring in the glove box and asking "babe can you get the street directory out of the glove box" was the perfect solution. How cute is that?  

The couple decided to have some fun shots taken before the wedding, Hailey choosing an old dilapidated skate rink as the back drop. I love the colours and the props and of course Amy's stunning smile. How happy and relaxed they are! I love it. 

It was really important to Amy and Dan that their wedding suit their style perfectly, nothing formal with a feeling that any thing goes. How very 'Portobello Bride!'

They chose a relaxed venue in the Sassafras Cafe in Paddington, Brisbane. With its eclectic mix of furniture, nic knacks and warmth the old weatherboard cottage created the perfect setting.  Special handmade touches decorated the venue, from jam jars as candle holders tied with white grosgrain ribbons and a myriad of glass vases collected from various second hand stores were filled with white florals. The vases had tags woven through white satin ribbon with their names and wedding date on them. To keep the children amused through out the celebrations they were given their own gift bags filled with toys and crayons leaving the mums and dads to party on!

I think by far my favourite detail is how the ceremony took place. 

"We had a very relaxed "party" style  wedding so we were lucky enough to mingle with our guests before the ceremony, sharing nerves and laughs and of course a few drinks. When our song 'Sweet Disposition' by The Temper Trap came on Dan and I shared a secret look as no one else knew that this signaled the beginning of our life as a married couple. Our amazingly warm celebrant Justine Wells gathered our guests and they all looked on as we shared our personalised vows with each other. It was a short and sweet ceremony filled with lots of huge smiles and laughter leaving as much time as possible to spend with all our amazing friends and family." 

Amy and Dan decided not to have a bridal party as they wanted every one to have fun, and  be part of the party. The dress code was relaxed, as Amy put it, "after all the bride was wearing a white satin strapless mini dress!" 

From the moments captured by You can't be serious! it looks as though a fabulous night was had by all. As Amy wrote "We were able to have a day full of face splitting smiles and laughter because we chose a style of wedding which fitted us perfectly." What more could you ask for!

 

A photo booth was set up by You can't be serious! giving the guests an opportunity to pass on a message written on a blackboard which was then used in their photos. Amy and Dan loved this heartwarming touch, which personalised their wedding photos ensuring they have a photographic record of all the warmth ad laughter felt on the day.  

And my absolute favourite photo of the day...

To Amy, Dan and Jack thank you for sharing your sweet wedding day with us, and Hailey from You can't be serious! thank you for sharing your amazing photography.