magnolia rouge

Hunter Valley wedding by Jac & Heath

Jun // 19

I have such a treat in store for you today with this beautiful Australian country wedding from Jac & Heath Photography! I recently stumbled upon their work and I’m loving the natural beauty that their work reveals. Georgia and Nick got married in the Hunter Value – Roberts Restaurant to be precise. Whilst Georgia says she has “never been that girl who has planned her wedding in advance“, once they were engaged, it was clear to them that a quaint country style wedding with a relaxed vibe was what they were after. The venue was “beautifully romantic and picturesque and even though it rained in the week leading up to the wedding, and on the day, this venue held its own, and the rain merely added to the whole day, creating a sense of soft carefree romance.

The general vibe of the wedding was to be vintage and eclectic, and effortlessly beautiful. Which in the end, it truly was. We also wanted to have the wedding outside of the Northern Beaches (which is where we are from), and to get our wonderful family and friends together for a whole weekend of special celebrations.

On the day, and due to the rain, we had to opt with Plan B, and had to make a few panicked decisions to find new places to have the photo booth and where to host the ceremony.”

“All the styling and decorating was DIY, and I thank my lucky stars that I had such generous family & friends who were there to help set up on the day, and assisted with hanging the photo booth (with its 50 x 3m long paper garlands attached to a piece of dowel), to hanging my aunt’s handmade bunting, to setting up gift tables and our special postcard signing area, to stacking vintage suitcases and placing 300 candles around the venue.

Flowers were always going to be a really important part of the day, and so I wanted to have a florist that matched my style, and who could come up with ideas that were unique, and which still kept that eclectic look and feel. Holly Hipwell did such a fantastic job, arranging and styling everything from the hundreds of small mismatched posy’s that adorned the 5 x long reception and bridal tables, to carnation heads strung with fishing wire above our heads during the ceremony, to the small bottles of baby’s breath, and jars of native flowers hanging from the ceiling and ceremony chairs. On top of her stellar work, Holly is just so fun to be around!”

“One of my favourite moments was when my two brothers walked me down the aisle, and not only was I able to see how all my ideas had come to life in their full form, I saw Nick’s lovely face waiting for me at the end, and had all the people I love smiling at me too. It was just such a special moment and everyone was just so happy.

We braved it in the thick mud and rain for photos (shoes off and all), and Jac & Heath were able to capture every special moment in the day, in such a naturally beautiful way.
There were a lot of happy tears on our wedding day.. the ceremony & speeches were all so heartfelt and special. I managed to find and keep all the bridal party and family speeches, so Nick and I can re-read whenever we want.

The dance floor, as led by the Baker Boys was the perfect way to end the night. The band added such a wonderful vibe to the day, and I remember at the end of the night, I was on the dance floor and looked inside and there was not a single soul in there. They were all out on the dance floor – including my 87 year old Papa and his 85 year old cousin who was swing dancing with one of the groomsmen. It was truly a testament to the band, and the amazing vibe on the day/night.

Nick and I didn’t want to leave, so we decided to scrap the formal bride/groom departure, and continue to kick on with all our family and friends. When we finally had to leave (ie – the venue was closing), all our family and friends grabbed a sparkler and created a pretty light filled tunnel for us to leave through.

It truly was the best day ever.”

Photography | Jac & Heath, Cinematography | Jordan Maddocks, Bride’s dress | Karen Willis Holmes, Bride’s shoes | Zomp Florals | The Flower Drum, Rings | Dracakis, Bridesmaids’ dresses | Alannah Hill & Grandma takes a trip

Jewellery | Family heirlooms, Groom’s tuxedo & shirt | Ron Bennett, Groom’s shoes | ZU, Groomsmen suits & shirt | Ron Bennett Ties | Zara, Venue & Catering | Roberts Restaurant, Cake | Smelly Cheese Shop,

Colourful Portuguese wedding by Brancoprata

Jun // 18

I love how European celebrations spill out into the street!! It just seems so festive and such a fun way to include your local community into the day. This amazingly colourful wedding styled and captured by my lovely friends André and Sofia of Brancoprata features in the current issue of Magnolia Rouge Magazine.

Joana and James wanted a small, cozy wedding that had a home- made and informal feel to it – a bit like a casual family gathering. Crucially it had to have a Portuguese feel to it. I’m sure you will agree looking at the images, it has just that! Held at the bride’s family home in the Minho region in Portugal’s north, it was a place filled with special memories for Joana, who spent many a family vacation there growing up. They held their ceremony in the house chapel, and had the village choir singing for them. It was made even more personal for them with Joana’s uncle performing the Mass, which was tailored to suit them.

To celebrate their Portuguese heritage, traditional regional flags – borrowed from family and village members – were hung on clothes lines for colourful decoration. Catering staff wore shirts of traditional costume, and the wedding favours were Portuguese soaps in embroidered bag. An outdoor seating area displayed pillows made with fabric from Alcobaça, and quilts from this region – some more than 100 years old – were hung from the outside walls.

Utilising the resources at hand in the village, the floral arrangements were all made from plants, flowers and fruit from local gardens and the family orchard. Trying to steer clear of anything too formal, they incorporated items like coloured corn cobs into the centrepieces.

Infusing more of their culture into the celebration was the regional group they chose to entertain their guests, which is customary for most parties in the region. With many of the guests joining in and learning new dances it created a fun celebratory atmosphere.

Photography | André from Brancoprata, Stationery | Sofia from Brancoprata, Venue | The chapel and orchard at the family farm in Bertiandos, north of Portugal, Bride’s Dress | J.Crew, Shoes | Zilian, Groom’s attire | J.Crew and Crockett & Jones, Jewellery | Bride’s Mother’s and the engagement earrings the groom gave in lieu of a ring, Hair | Natalia, our hairdresser in Bertiandos

Board#253: Mint & Ink

Jun // 18

Photos from top left: Mint dress | Cichic, Teacups | Prue Ruscoe | Pat Moyer Photography, Navy bridesmaids | Jen Huang

Shoes | Katelyn James, Ring | Corbin Gurkin, Plate | Alea Lovely

California wedding by Cameron Ingalls

Jun // 17

We’re off to sunny California with the amazingly talented Cameron Ingalls this afternoon. A women’s health club is not exactly where you expect to find true love but that’s exactly what happened to this gorgeous couple. Make sure you read on to find out more about their lovely story and big day. Oh and before I forget… the gorgeous bride surprised her groom with a flash mob at their own wedding – check out the film here.

“In college I became a group fitness instructor and started teaching yoga, kickboxing, dance, and resistance training at a local all women’s health club (not exactly a place most go looking for love). After working there for about a year, I found that the gym was being purchased by a buyer who would own and manage the club. Little did I know that the guy turning our little gym into Equilibrium Fitness would one day be my husband!
For the next year we flirted at work, but we both felt a true relationship between owner and employee wouldn’t be appropriate. Dave would come take the dance classes I would teach. It was very endearing to see him trying so hard, even after he accidentally spun into one of the other female participants. Finally, after weeks of talking on the phone for hours each day like high-schoolers, we went out on our first date. From that night on we were completely inseparable. We kept our relationship a secret for a few weeks, but after only a month, we knew that what we had was serious enough to go public! Five years later, we were married on the anniversary of that first date.

For Christmas Dave presented me with an invitation that said, “Please join me for an exciting adventure on December 31, 2011.” We live in the country and our backyard looks out onto several acres of vineyards. On New Year’s Eve day, Dave took me on a zip-lining excursion through those very vineyards. At the end of the final zip-line, he caught me as I landed, removed my bulky zip-lining gloves, and said, “Are you happy?”
I replied, “Yes!”
“Did you have a good day?”
“Yes!”
“Did you have a good adventure?”
“Yes!”
After asking me, “Do you want the adventure to continue forever?” he got down on one knee and proposed. I was ecstatic and shaking and in disbelief and so ready to start our new adventure together!”

What was the inspiration for your wedding? Immediately after getting engaged, Dave and I sat down and promised each other that we wouldn’t lose sight of what this wedding was about to us: celebrating our love with the ones we love most. We wanted to have a day that was sacred and meaningful, but also fun and joyous. Above all else, we wanted to use this day as a beginning to our new adventure, and we wanted to feel free to express how meaningful and monumental this was for us to start our life as a new family of two. Because of all of this, our wedding was incredibly personal to us. We wrote our ceremony and our vows, and hand-picked each song that would be played all night. It felt like a true expression of us as a couple and of our love. To be able to share that with our friends and family was incredibly special.

Any DIY/budget elements? Most of our wedding was DIY. We dedicated countless weekends to all of our wedding projects in the months leading up to the big day. Dave rescued some old fence boards from a structure being torn down and we created the signs that told the story of our relationship. We used the boards to create the escort card frame and then hung a clue for each guest. In order to find their table number, the guest had to find which clue best described them (it could be a memory, and inside joke, or description) and then flip the card over to find their table. I also hand-painted the names of seven special places to us on placards that Dave had made to serve as our table “numbers.” Dave took the rings from old wine barrels we had on our property, along with a few mason and antique jelly jars, to make the gorgeous homemade chandelier that hung above our sweetheart table. My mom’s best friend planted 68 succulents into pots for our favors, and picked lavender from her property to decorate the ceremony chairs. We also designed our own wedding invitations with the help of a friend who has her degree in graphic arts.

There were so many details that made our day so completely us. I loved our journal, which had our handwritten vows inside. We each wrote our vows inside the journal beforehand (making sure that we didn’t accidentally peek at the other’s entry before the big day). During the ceremony we passed it back and forth to read to our words to each other. Now we fill the journal with love notes and reflections on our marriage that we write to each other on special days.
I also loved my wedding gift to Dave, which was a flashmob in the middle of dinner. He loves Ke$ha (a fact which he gets teased about mercilessly), so I choreographed a dance that a ton of our friends learned in the weeks before the wedding to Tik Tok by Ke$ha. It was amazing that our friends took the time and effort to really perfect it for Dave. The look on his face when we all went up there was amazing (and watching all my girlfriends’ husbands try to dance was pretty great too)!

The ceremony was the most amazing event of my life. Seeing Dave for the first time after walking down the aisle, I couldn’t stop touching his face and wiping his tears away. We were both complete cry babies! To hear him read me the vows he wrote for me and to be able to share my heart with him was so incredible. Dave’s uncle was our officiant. Together, we created our perfect ceremony with him. His uncle wrote a sweet piece about each of us and why we belonged together which he read to us for the first time during the ceremony. We also had our mothers each write a letter that expressed their love for us and their wishes for our marriage, which they read to us for the first time during the ceremony as well. We felt our ceremony really set the stage for the rest of the wedding, and sharing our love so intimately and openly with everyone there felt like such a special start to our marriage.

I never expected our day to be so incredibly emotional. Dave and I were crying and laughing for pretty much six hours straight. We chose to have a fairly small wedding and we were so happy we did. We were able to connect with everyone intimately, and to be able to have each of those individuals there solely to celebrate our love was an amazing thing.

Dave’s father passed away when he was 26. He was there in spirit in many ways. Dave wore his father’s boots and we used his father’s wedding ring as Dave’s band. The ring had his parents’ wedding date inscribed on the inside, so I surprised Dave by inscribing our date, along with the words, “Let the adventures begin,” as a play off of his proposal.

Photographer | Cameron Ingalls, Videographer | Josh Morris with Rain Studios, Cake | Cookies from Cowboy Cookies

Donuts from SLO Donut Company, Venue | Lago Giuseppe, Dress Designer | Jim Hjelm, Shoes | J Crew

Jewellery | Bhldn necklace; vintage bracelet, Hair | Janina Cannon, Make up | Rhyan Townsend

Bridesmaids Dresses | Parker, Grooms Attire | Nordstrom, Caterer | La Donna Dolce Catering, DJ | Chris Clark

Wellington Wedding by Anna Munro

Jun // 17

Nikki & Mark met in a thoroughly modern way – over the internet. And the proposal was equally modern day to match – in bed, chatting about life, when a ring materialised and was popped on Nikki’s finger… love that! Their wedding was the blend of the bride’s South African heritage and the groom’s Kiwi upbringing. Nikki’s step-mother performed a traditional custom which involved sweeping the path with a grass broom, to clear the way for our futures together. What a lovely personal touch! The loved up couple were lucky to have Anna Munro along on their day to capture these special moments. And with Mindy from Twig & Arrow behind the gorgeous florals they were certainly in safe hands.

Tell us about finding your wedding dress: I had always known that I would not have a traditional wedding or dress. I found a beautiful designer dress that I completely fell in love with but we were on a tight budget so having a dress made by a designer was never going to happen. I ended up buying my dress online for a fraction of the price.

Any DIY/Budget elements? We were on a tight budget and I originally thought I would like to do it all myself. But as the months went by I realised that this would not necessarily make it cheaper. And it was so good knowing that certain elements of the wedding were someone else’s worry. All the stationary, favours, table decorations, vases and gold animals were DIY projects.

Describe your wedding flowers: Mindy, from Twig and Arrow did an amazing job with the flowers. We wanted our South African/Kiwi theme to come through strongly in the flowers we used. My bouquet was a soft mix of pink freesia, white avalanche roses, pink proteas and succulents. The bridesmaid’s bunches were a vibrant, eclectic mix of Calla lily, protea, crespedia, succulents, leucodendron, tulips. On the tables were succulents, cespedia, celosia flame, poppies, calla lily, roses, chrysanthemum, vines and fern.

What advise would you give out to a couple planning their wedding? I know everyone always says it, but dare to be different. Make the day about the two of you, personalise it as much as you possibly can. Follow the traditions that matter to you and ditch the ones that don’t! I wore my Grandmother’s 60 year old garter…no way was I going to throw that! It will truly be one of the best, most fun days of your life, relish in it! Things will go wrong, I am a complete ‘control freak’ and not only did I not notice but I was having way too much fun to care. I promise you no one else noticed or cared either!

Most memorable moments? My niece was one of the flower girls and she carried a sign saying ‘Sup Mark here comes your bride’ (That’s how they say hi on Skype- she lives in Australia) Mark said he was nervous until the moment he saw that.

2. My Dad’s face when he saw me in my dress (just like the movies!)

3. My Step-Mum performed a traditional African custom. Once we were married she sang beautifully for us and swept the path, with a grass broom, to clear the way for our futures together.