Ingrid and Anthony’s Rural Spring Wedding

Ingrid & Anthony

A country wedding, marrying right beneath the shadow of a beautiful Victorian mountain is the ticket for today. Ingrid and Anthony chose Mt Sturgeon Homestead, Dunkeld for their wedding. With the incredible mountainous backdrop it provided the most beautiful setting for Ingrid and Anthony’s country wedding.

Ingrid tells of how they came to be. “After an innocent comment to a mutual friend about wanting to one day live in the country, the city girl bride and country farmer groom were introduced by a very enthusiastic matchmaker (who even predicted a January 2012 marriage!). It was love at first sight and after an initial long distance relationship Ingrid moved to the country to be with Anthony.”

Matt Reed captured the light, bright and candid moments of Ingrid and Anthony’s wedding.

Ingrid chose a gown by Collette Dinnigan. Ingrid recalls “The bridesmaids made and designed the bride’s engagement ring and both our wedding rings, and their friendship and talent created stunning reminders of the vows we made that day. “

Ingrid loved “Spending time with our close friends preparing for the occasion. The bride, bridesmaid’s and flowergirl all got ready together in the Homestead and the flowergirl loved getting ready with the “big girls”. Our hair & makeup artist did such a flawless job in helping us prepare for the day, and made the whole process so relaxed.  “

Ingrid and Anthony chose Mount Sturgeon Homestead for their wedding ceremony. Ingrid remarks, “We were married against a truly romantic backdrop -­‐ the mountains, and the historic bluestone homestead, surrounded by loving friends and family with live music, together creating the perfect atmosphere.

The beautiful wedding day flowers were created by Victoria Whitelaw, of which Ingrid says “Our florist, Victoria Whitelaw, used garden inspired tones in creating the bridesmaid’s bouquets of lavender, butter David Austin roses and small spinning gum. The bride’s bouquet was massed gyp, with the length of the stems wrapped in antique lace with pearl tipped pins. Victoria had put lemon geranium leaves around the edge of the bouquet, and I can remember how amazing it smelt as I walked down the aisle.”

Ingrid chose a heartfelt song for the processional. She remembers, “We chose “Say You’ll Watch Over Me” (Bernard Fanning), was played by two musicians. Listening to the guitar start to play the song as we waited behind the door of the Homestead, getting ready to walk out onto the verandah and down the sandstone steps to the lawn, was a truly memorable moment”

Ingrid’s bridesmaids wore gowns from Fleur Wood, her flowergirl wore an ensemble from Tea Princess.

Ingrid describes the wedding as “An energetic, heartfelt and relaxed country celebration with our family and friends that was so intimate, so special and true to our own sense of style and an enduring love.”

Ingrid remembers, “After the ceremony we walked down a track and, following a creek, stumbled upon a wheat field where a number of our photos were taken. It was a lovely way to celebrate and capture the country and farming lifestyle that is part of both our lives.”

Of their photographer, Ingrid says, “Our photographer, Matt Reed has an impeccable sense of detail. His photos have captured not only the spontaneous, quiet, hidden moments of the day but also the vibrancy, colour and exuberance of the celebration. Neither of us like being in front of the camera but Matt made us feel so comfortable, that most of the time we actually didn’t realise he was there taking photos, so when we saw the first pictures we were literally floored.”

 

The reception was held at the Royal Mail Hotel. Ingrid explains “The reception was a short distance away, at the Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld. We really wanted to show off the natural beauty of both locations, so we kept things simple but also picked up on the colour and themes of the locations. It had an elegant, vintage, country feel with great food, great wine and great friends and family.”

Anthony’s mother made the wedding cake.

Favors were a sweet touch of humor and a nod to the farming heritage. Ingrid explains “We found lovely old, traditional open pollinated seeds of Forget Me Not and Sweet Pea and put them in personalised printed calico bags to keep green. To keep thumbs busy and as an adorable keepsake for our family and friends. The bride and groom also folded and put together all the “cootie catchers” which were used as placecards for each guest and contained questions about the bride and groom.”

Ingrid says “There were small themes which were picked up on throughout the day – for example the delicate femininity of lace – from the bride’s dress, bouquet (wrapped in antique lace) and bangle (lace cast in solid silver, by Madame D’Or) to the lace tied around the flowers in eclectic glass jars at the reception to the lavender in the bouquets and the lavender coloured sashes which the bridesmaids made themselves.”

The first dance had some unrehearsed, but very fun for guests, Ingrid recalls. “Our first dance, to “Then” (Brad Paisley), was unrehearsed and spontaneous. The song was played by the Baker Boys Band, who were also fans of the song. The kids at the wedding couldn’t resist and eventually joined in our dance! For us a CD was no substitute for a live band – the combination of drums, guitar, bass, keyboards and saxophone created the party atmosphere we wanted and got all our guests up and dancing with us.”

Guests were entertained by The Baker Boys. Ingrid remarks “Music is important in both our lives and having a live band really tied the whole night together and was, simply, just so much fun. Dancing surrounded by the glow of fairy lights and lanterns and looking back across the room to see no one still seated and everyone on the dance floor, was amazing.”

Congratulations Ingrid and Anthony! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us! Thank you also to Matt Reed for sharing today’s images!