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Natalie and Dan

Natalie and Dan decided to marry on Sydney’s Pittwater, choosing a private home on Scotland Island they rented for a week to celebrate with their family and friends. The day was planned to be a beautiful garden ceremony, but Mother Nature had other plans, choosing instead to bucket down with rain. Tealily Photography was there to capture it all – rain and sunshine!

The newlyweds tell the tale of how they came to be. “Natalie moved to Australia from England in 2007 to study, and we met within the first couple of months of her course. We were both working in the same bar, Natalie alongside her studies and Dan while playing almost full time in a band. Within a couple of days of meeting we were together, within a couple of months we had visited Nat’s family in England, three months after meeting we were head over heels in love and living together. It’s been a long and winding journey since then to get us to where we are today, which is really only just the beginning.”

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Natalie, a jewellery designer (Natalie Marie) made a number of pieces for the wedding, including her hairpiece and Dan’s wedding ring. She chose a simple gown from designer Sarah Janks.

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Natalie and Dan remark, “Our guests were transported over to Scotland Island on an old wooden ferry, they were greeted with Pimms and smiles at the boathouse of Bangalla, where the entire day was spent, ceremony and reception.”

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Of their decision to hire Bangalla, Natalie and Dan tell, “We really wanted to have our wedding somewhere in the Pittwater area as it is a special place to us, as well as being absolutely beautiful. Our dream had always been to be married in a big house, where it felt like a big family get together. This was exactly what we found with Bangalla. The venue was just an absolute dream. We had the property for 5 days in total, which meant that all of our family and our closest friends could stay and enjoy both the lead up and the come down of the day with us. We feasted, we played on the beach and sat by the pool, we had barbeques and bonfires, we really just soaked up every moment with our loved ones.”

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The outdoor garden wedding plans were hastily changed when the heavens opened!

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Natalie walked down the aisle to “Cat Stevens ‘The wind’ played acoustically by our incredibly talented friend Trent Williams. He ended up having to improvise and continue the song for about 10 minutes as Natalie & her bridesmaids clumsily navigated their way off the boat and up the 50 slippery stairs in the rain! It wasn’t the smoothest entrance but the giggles definitely helped with the nerves.”

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The newlyweds note that rain on their wedding day was the perfect synergy to the way they live their lives. “As much as nobody wants rain on their wedding day (including us), and as much as it did cause a bit of panic on the day (especially with a bride stuck on a boat in the middle of a storm), looking back the rain was actually something which added so much to our day. It brought everybody together, it made everybody laugh and dissipated the nerves and it created a beautiful, romantic back drop.

Most importantly though, it served as a reminder that everything doesn’t need to be perfect, its okay for rain to fall and shoes to be wet and hair to be blown around – it reminded us that at the end of it all, the most important part of a wedding is standing there with the one you love and promising everything you have to them for every day for the rest of your life. Relationships aren’t perfect, neither are people, there is something much more authentic about things that deviate from the plan, go a bit wrong or get a bit wet!”

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Natalie and Dan note, “A wedding is really one of the only times that you get to stand up in front of everyone you love and share with them the real heart of your relationship. We wrote our entire ceremony ourselves, including our vows and promises. We invested a lot of time and energy into this with our wonderful celebrant who really encouraged us to dig deep into the core of our love for one another, and share it with each other and our families. Hearing each other’s vows and speaking them to each other, was very special, with quite a few tears.”

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As the couple kissed Mother Nature had another surprise in store, the couple noting, “The pool house/pavilion provided the perfect wet weather option for our ceremony, which felt extremely intimate and special with the rain falling on the roof and the breeze rippling through the drapes, the storm passed and the sun made an appearance just as we shared our first kiss. It was a pretty magical moment which marked the end of the rain for the day so we were able to spread out and enjoy the beautiful grounds for the afternoon.”

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Vintage Patina provided furniture, tables and much of the needed necessities for the party, Natalie telling, “We hired some beautiful furniture from Vintage Patina, including the chairs, the tables & the archway, they have so many beautiful pieces to choose from we got a little carried away which we realised while we were trying to load it all onto a boat and onto the island.”

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Flavours Of Spain catered the wedding feast – which included a huge paella. Natalie and Dan remark, “There were certainly challenges involved in having our wedding at a private house rather than a regular venue. It meant that we had to source and organise every tiny detail, every chair, fork or candle ourselves. We didn’t use a wedding planner, we did everything ourselves – making or sourcing everything. While this was a lot of work, we wouldn’t have done it any other way. This is what made our wedding so extremely personal. Our guests kept commenting on how everything was so ‘us’, which is exactly what we wanted it to be.”

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Of their photographer, Natalie and Dan note, “We couldn’t have asked for a better photographer to document our day, Apart from the obvious part that we love their style of photography and their amazing eye for moments and details, they were an absolute joy to have around – they seemed to be having as much fun as we were!

We made the mutual decision to not disappear off for location style photos straight after the ceremony, and waited until the evening (hence the disheveled and slightly tipsy appearances), which was absolutely the right call. We couldn’t bear to be pulled away from our loved ones and reveling in our glowy, post ceremony daze. Tealily captured our day perfectly, from start to finish. Their images tell a perfect story of how our day unfolded, and our beautiful album allows us to relive the day over and over again. We have so many priceless, candid shots of our guests, family and friends full of joy and really in the moment, which is so very precious to us. We couldn’t have been happier with our choice.”

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The support of family and friends stood out to the newlyweds, who note, “Our amazing family and friends. Aside from the years of support, love and guidance which has got us to where we are today, our friends and family who traveled from both near and far, were such an enormous support and help on the Wedding day and the days leading up. We seriously put them to work, with 50 + chairs, 100 + bottles of champagne, every little thing that you see which was a part of the day having to be transported over to the island and carried up the winding staircase to the house; deserts to be made, lights to be hung and all of the rest, we really couldn’t have done it without them.

Then after all of that there was all of the love, thought and energy that was put into the wedding by our loved ones. Speeches, toasts, special moments and gestures from those present and absent which made the day incredibly precious.”

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The favors were put together by the couple who remember, ” We put together a package ourselves which included home made macarons by Sugar Egg Flour & a little linen bag with seedlings & a thank you card.”

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Of their first dance, the newlyweds remember, “We danced in the pavilion to ‘When I fall in love’ by Nat King Cole which was Natalie’s favourite song (a strange choice) as a little kid. We didn’t tell anyone this was our song of choice, and it brought tears to the eyes of Natalie’s family as they connected it with the picture of a 5 year old singing out of tune.”

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Red Fragrance Floral Design created the floral arrangements for the day, Natalie and Dan explaining, “We are big flower lovers, especially Natalie – and the flowers were an important part of the day for us. Charlie went above and beyond to create incredibly stunning arrangements, including the archway which was so special. Charlie and her team really blew us away and exceeded all of our expectations. The venue wasn’t an easy one for our suppliers, having to be transported by boat early in the morning (in the rain), so we were so grateful for those who turned up with a massive smile and an amazing attitude to help turn our ideas into reality.”

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Congratulations Natalie and Dan! I wish you all the best for a beautiful life together! Thank you to Tealily Photography for sharing today’s wedding with us!