Autumn Adelaide Hills Wedding

Happy Monday folks! It’s less than three weeks until I jump on a plane with hubby for our two week roadtrip in the US! I have SO much to get done before I go, so I’m hanging out to just get on that plane and relax. South Australian photographer NICOLE CORDEIRO has shared Celeste & Richard’s beautiful wedding with us today. Celeste always dreamt of having a ééòsecret garden’ wedding; a place of love and laughter, where magic happens, and this became the inspiration behind their big day. One of our favourite Australian florists POPPIES FLOWERS, created some ééòto die for’ bouquet full of luscious dahlias in rich berry tones.

Tell us about your proposal: We had just moved back to Adelaide after living in Brisbane for several years and I was swamped with uni assignments so he suggested we go away for the weekend and evade family visits. I truly believed it was a study break as he had taken me away many times before. We stayed in a little cottage in the middle of a Lavender field in the Clare Valley – reminiscent of out time in Tasmania. His plan was to be kneeling down behind me before beginning his proposal. Unfortunately I turned around as he was preparing himself, his reaction was to thrust his arm towards me and blurt out “Marry Me” – I started laughing. I was completely humbled to be offered Richard’s mum engagement ring (she had passed away a few years earlier) as his parents love for one another was something out of a fairy tale.

Tell us about finding your wedding dress: I had planned to do the traditional thing and take my mum and bridesmaids out with me, but it wasn’t meant to be. I was out having breakfast with my Maid of Honour and we thought we would take a peek at The Vintage Bride Boutique. Sarah my MOH actually picked out my dress and though I couldn’t pull it down past my bust, I was totally in love with it. I called my mum and asked if she could come down and look, but she couldn’t, I felt completely at odds as to whether I should by the first dress I had tried on , which didn’t fit- I took the risk. The final dress is a replica of the original as my mum remade it to fit me, taking off all the original lace and attaching it to a new slip.

Describe your wedding flowers: I didn’t really know what kind of flowers I wanted except that I had to have Sally and her team at Poppies create my bouquets. We decided on autumnal foliage and seasonal flowers such as dahlias, david austins and love lies bleeding in peaches, creams and pops of raspberry to compliment the bridesmaids dresses. The only request I had was to include a few twigs of lavender, to represent the lavender field where Richard had proposed

Favourite detail of the day: I have two, the morning of the wedding I received a pearl pendant from Richard, fashioned with gold in the shape of Cradle Mountain. Myrtle the vintage coffee van that arrived just as the evening chill filled the air – it was perfect timing.

Most memorable moment? My mum was meant to read the only poem during our ceremony; several words in she started crying and couldn’t continue. My 10-year-old nephew promptly jumped up, with a grin from ear to ear he read the entire poem beautifully. After everyone’s applause he ended with ééòyou will have a wonderful marriage, even with a crying mother”.