Ang and Narada’s Rustic Australian Wedding

Ang & Narada

Today’s rustic wedding is such a beautiful one, starting off with a traditional tea ceremony. The bride and groom gathered their friends  family together surrounded by decorations made by the bride and a warm Summer’s night filled with laughter and massive macarons!

Ang tells their story. “The first time we met was on a bus in yr 10. A friend of mine had met him by chance and wanted to ask him to our yr 10 formal but was too shy to ask so she asked me to ask on her behalf. So I did! After that we became acquaintances and saw each other occasionally through mutual friends, but we were never really interested in each other – at least not until 5 years later when we started spending more and more time with each other!”

Photographs today are by Matthew Mead who captures such raw, happy moments in his photography!

The day started with a traditional tea ceremony in traditional attire.

Ang wore a gown from Monique Lhuillier (style Scarlet) and shoes from Mario Bologna. “I bought my shoes  years ago and never wore them, and decided they were perfect for the wedding. ”

Ang started a wedding business on the side with her friend called Made By Ae so together they made the bouquets.

Ang and Narada chose Merribee, in Nowra as their wedding venue. Ang recalls “Merribee was the very first place we looked at for our wedding and we immediately fell in love with it. It was a blank canvas that we could build on and the house and dear gardens were so sweet and charming as was Lucy, the owner of the property. “

Ang walked down the aisle to “North of the Atlantic  played an acoustic version of one of our favourite songs by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, ‘Home’. ”

Of their photographer, Ang says “Matt is a long time friend of Narada’s and I think he was the first supplier we locked in for our wedding! We absolutely love all of Matt’s photography and had always said before we were even engaged that when we got married Matt would have to do our photos. His images are so special – they covertly captured so many intimate moments throughout our day and tell a real story.”

Ang loved “The perfect weather!! The weather last year was outrageous, the rain was constant throughout the months leading up to December last year and yes, right up to the day before the big day! Narada had hired a marquee 4 days before the wedding because he said it would rain, but I didn’t let them erect it in the exact lawn space I was hoping the wedding would be because I refused to believe it would rain. So I made them put the marquee on a different part of Merribee (that was my bridezilla moment!). You can imagine my absolute joy (and smugness) when I woke up on the morning of the wedding to clear blue skies and a perfect 25 degrees. It was perfect for our outdoor wedding under the sun.” The couple even bought old $19 doors from Reverse garbage and put them to use for the buffet.

Ang describes the day as “An elegant yet casual garden party, full of laughs, good music, flickering candlelight and beautiful food. “

The decor was arranged by Ang and her bridesmaids. She explains “I had all my friends and work colleagues collecting different kinds of jars and bottles for me to use as vases. The day before the wedding I went to the flowers markets and bought flowers. With my bridesmaids, together we arranged the flowers in the jars and bottles for centrepieces, made a hanging garland for the ceremony area and hand ties posies for bouquets”

Ang and Narada hired North of the Atlantic to play at the wedding . Ang recalls “We provided a playlist to the band (one of the members is a friend of Narada’s) and they learned all the songs that we wanted. They were absolutely fantastic and when I think of the wedding I always hear the songs in my head too.”

Ang handmade many of the wedding details. “I guess the special details as you can probably see in the photos, were all the little home made things that I did, starting from the hand stamped invites, the assorted collections of jars and bottles by all my thoughtful friends, the colourful mix of flowers, the eclectic and rustic mix of platters and dishes the food and desserts were served on.

Through a chance meeting, we met Ray who at the time was one of the chefs at the Observatory Hotel. We asked Ray to cater our wedding and he was more than happy to. We conceptualised the menu, look and feel of the dinner together.”

One of Ang’s favourite memories was the speeches which were spaced throughout the night. She remarks “The speech by my bridesmaids, they did a hilarious rendition of the “she’s MY best friend” speech that was in the movie Bridesmaids, complete with a song performance and a “sexy saxing” dance from my cousins too!”

Ang and Narada chose a table full of sweet delights. Ang explains “We didn’t have a cake, we had a delicious dessert buffet with all sorts of goodness! Earl grey tea macarons, mango and raspberry flavoured marshmallows, rose nougat, mini lemon meringue tarts, green tea cupcakes, candy bars, opera cake and mini pavlovas with fruit and passionfruit crème garnished with edible flowers We also had a giant green tea macaron! This was a birthday cake made especially for one of my bridesmaids. Her birthday was the day before the wedding, and I knew weeks before that it would be impossible (time-wise) for me to get her a great present, so I asked our pastry chef to make this giant macaron cake in her favourite flavour – green tea! It was absolutely delicious!”

Congratulations Ang and Narada! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us! Thank you also to Matthew Mead for sharing today’s images!