Lisa & Lizi’s Colourful Wedding Festival

Lisa & Lizi

When you get a submission entitled “Wedding Festival” you know it’s worth a second look and Kangaroo Valley Bush Retreat provided such a stunning Australian bush backdrop to today’s beautiful wedding of Lisa and Lizi.

Lisa and Lizi tell their story. “We started as friends, going on long bike rides together, exploring new places, always chatting and laughing for hours. Slowly realizing that we both had a similar sense of fun & adventure – it was hard to deny the flame we had. And so the adventures continue! The Tandem bike is an icon we used around the wedding, as a tip of the hat to our adventurous beginnings. ”

Photos today are by Angelica Peady Photography who has such a fun way of capturing intimacy and romance  while not ignoring the surroundings of the celebration.

Lisa and Lizi chose Kangaroo Valley Bush Retreat for their wedding explaining, “ The Kangaroo Valley Bush Retreat is a 100 acre river property located in the most picturesque spot – containing a large Manor, the dining stables and accommodation for everyone. There were 3 main areas within the retreat’s grounds – the main dining area including a bit grassy knoll, bbq spot and dining hall, the canyon cathedral and the sunset deck. They have management on the ground Phyllis and Mark who were fantastic! The Canyon Cathedral is naturally formed from sheer rock faces, creating a calm and magical spot. Words cannot do justice to the incredible meeting ground.”

The girls met before the ceremony for a first look, Lizi chose a red Carl Kapp gown while Lisa wore a silver dress by Bianca Spender. Lisa remembers “We wanted to walk into the canyon together, but we decided to have our hair and make up done in separate cabins. When we saw each other I could hardly breathe, Lizi looked so beautiful. ”

Bride Lizi is an art director, Lisa explaining,  “She pulled the best out of every talented guest to create a stunning day. The day of the wedding we had friends doing arts and crafts including shaping the bunting and creating fans from the song sheets (in case it was too hot in the canyon)” Lizi purchased the bright and beautiful blooms at the flower markets and the mothers of the brides and friends turned them into wedding bouquets.”

The girls walked down the aisle to “A beautiful version of”Fields of Gold” by Sting,  sung by our two extremely talented friends Nick Begbie and Naomi Crellin, who make up half of The Idea of North. In the canyon surrounded by the bush, with just their voices and guitars. Amazing. My dad is still raving about how good those two are! We were meant to walk into James Morrison’s “Won’t let you go” [sung by Nick and Naomi] but we got too excited and couldn’t wait any longer and had to walk in. We asked Nick and Naomi if they could sing the song over dinner – which was actually perfect (as if we’d planned it).”

The couple’s wedding rings were passed around their guests . Lisa explains “We wanted to do the ring warming ceremony but got a few rolled eyes when we told people about it. I wear my ring now as the most special reminder of the day and the support we received.”

Instead of hymns, guests were invited to sing the couple’s favourite tunes, including Coldplay’s “Yellow” during the ceremony. The girls loved “Saying our vows to each other. We wrote our vows together while sitting on Bondi beach on New Year’s Day. Saying these words to each other felt like it was just the two of us with no-one else around.”

“We loved the feeling of support from everyone there. We were conscious that we didn’t want people to feel awkward at any stage. We often joked that it was going to be difficult for 2 big meringue dresses to walk down the aisle together! But we needn’t have worried as there was a beautiful feeling in the air all night. From the incredible speeches to the big hugs, we felt very blessed to have such a wonderful group of people in our lives.”

Guests gathered post ceremony on the sunset deck to enjoy gin and tonics as the sun went down. For the food, the couple used Katrina Endean at Kangaroo Valley Bush Retreat saying “We wanted to gather our favorite people to one place & celebrate our worlds coming together over a few days – giving us enough chance to make new stories with our nearest & dearest. With the help of some very talented people we transformed the location into a magical place. We used Katrina from Catering in Kangaroo Valley who were so incredibly helpful. They fed us all weekend and the food was delicious, special thanks for the wonderful canapes on the sunset deck including the little sliders – amazing. ”

Lisa says “Our parents too did some amazing speeches, that were so heartfelt and reflective of the journeys we’d all been on to get to this day.”

The wedding festival was beautifully lit including colourful umbrellas and paper lanterns. The girls saying “Tom Wright our incredible lighting director planned the event down to the finest detail. Instead of a huge lighting crew, we had everyone from Uncles, Aunties and any strong looking person tying up the lanterns in trees and rigging up umbrellas.”

The first dance was barefoot under the stars, the newlyweds describe the dance as “Hilarious! We struggled to decide on just one song so we got our awesome DJ, SistaP to remix three of our favourite songs. Sneaky Sound System’s “Where Do I Begin” then “Empire State of Mind” by Alicia Keys and Jay Z finishing it with “Wild Ones” by Flo Rida and Sia. The dance floor was a patch of beautiful grass outside the stables – we had one of Sydney’s best dj’s playing and lighting that transformed the site into the most amazing outdoor dance festival! Everyone was already up dancing even before this remix was played (much to our relief).”

The dancing surprised everyone! “We thought in a group of 70 people there might be about 20-25 people up dancing. The lighting, tunes and dance floor under the stars was pretty fun. A few of my friends who have kids were all busting out the best moves I’ve seen since our party days of our youth! Plus we had some fancy dress outfits that had everyone encouraged to go a little crazy.”

 

Congratulations Lizi and Lisa! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us! Thank you also to Angelica Peady Photography for sharing today’s wedding!