Andrew and Lauren

It was a really special day sharing in our love with 130 of our closest family and friends. We were married on a sunny Saturday on March the 31st 2012 at the beautiful Poets Lane in Sherbrooke. We fell in love with the Dandenongs when we went to view Poets back in September of 2010, 3 months after Andrew proposed in Langkawi Malaysia. We loved the beautiful garden settings and the fresh air of the Dandenongs and we knew it was the right place for us. We chose to get married in the chapel as well as having our reception there as we really liked the same location.

I wore a Martina Liana strapless silk ivory dress with french tulle and a crystal belt around the waist. It was the first dress I tried on and I fell in love it with straight away. My jewellery was by Swarovski from which I chose a bracelet and a pair of drop pearl earrings. I wore my grandmother’s wedding ring as my something old and I chose soft pink strapless knee length dresses for my bridesmaids from Myer (Seduce).

Andrew wore his MacRae cuff links all the way from Eilean Dona Castle in Scotland which were very special and his shoes, belt and suit were from Hugo Boss. He chose a light grey suit which looked amazing in the photos and he had it tailored to get the perfect fit.

My flowers  from Jaclyn Roma Floral Design were a gorgeous bouquet of scented creamy white David Austin Roses with some silver suede foliage. I just loved the fullness and softness of the roses and that’s how I chose them. The girls also had the David Austin’s with some pink and peachy tones to match their dresses.

We had little bottles of Bailey’s and American Bourbon Whiskey individually named with sweet little tags for each of our guests. My mum also made all of our invitations and place cards and she did a fantastic job. Myself, mum and my brother’s partner Natasha made the wrist corsages for the ladies. I couldn’t say that I have ever sewed a flower onto a ribbon but it was a great learning experience and they ended up looking really fantastic. I loved the fact that they can now be kept as a memory of the wedding day instead of having to be thrown away.

Andrew and I thought it would be great to include our siblings in the ceremony so we had Andrew’s sister Traci do a reading and my older Brother Matt and Traci as our witnesses. My younger twin brothers Andrew and Lindsay handed out the orders of service.  I was very emotional before the ceremony started and it was a mixture of nerves and excitement. Even my dad was a little nervous which doesn’t usually happen. I walked down the aisle to The Rose by Westlife which began our perfect ceremony. It was short, sweet and beautiful all at the same time and exactly what Andrew and I wanted. Our celebrant Micheal Barnes did a small poem about us. He got a few laughs when he spoke about Andrew doing the dishes and me doing the cooking which was a great way to create the relaxed atmosphere we were after.

Beth from Immerse Photography really captured the special, fun and silly moments of our day and we loved getting photos in the beautiful gardens of Poets Lane. There were some great shots done of Andrew and the groomsmen getting ready and also some good ones of the girls. The girls got ready at my parent’s house and it was great to get some outdoor photos in our beautiful backyard.

Our first dance was to “You and Me” by Lifehouse and we had been learning a choregraphed dance for 6 weeks prior to the wedding. Our beauitful bridesmaid Kathryn spent hours perfecting our moves but on the night we missed the start of the song and were behind! We caught up and it all worked out in the end.

Our 3 tiered cake was by Sweet by Nature and consisted of white chocolate and fruit cake with cascading roses. Many guest were so full after our dessert buffet that they took a piece home for the next day.

We stayed over night in the honeymoon suite at Poets Lane. We did not have to travel far after the reception which was lucky as my poor feet had just about had enough. The next morning the majority of the guests were up and ready for a cooked breakfast although the same can not be said for two of my brother’s who were a little under the weather.

Photography by Immerse Photography

Ms Gingham says: Gorgeous cake and a very sweet (pardon the pun!) wedding. Congratulations Lauren and Andrew.

Lauren says: “My name is Lauren and I’m 27 years old. I love to travel especially to warm places such as QLD and anywhere that has a beach. I am a big animal lover and my 16 year old cat is adorable.I try not to take myself too seriously, I can be silly and I can always have a good laugh even if it’s on me.”