Nicole and Nick’s Relaxed Garden Wedding

Nicole & Nick

Combine a country town, a beautiful garden and the love story of Nicole and Nick and their wedding becomes a story I need to tell. Photography by Sarah J captured their engagement photos (which we featured last year relaxed country engagement photos) and today we conclude their fairtytale with their relaxed garden wedding.

Nicole tells the story of how they came to be. “We were introduced to each other by a friend not long after Nick had moved to town. At first we just got along really well and eventually became best friends. We never expected to start dating but after a while we started to fall for each other and decided to get together. We didn’t really have a “honeymoon” phase since we knew each other so well but we loved it because the relationship was so strong from the start.”

Nicole chose a scoop neck wedding gown designed by Grace Loves Lace.

Nicole and Nick chose Castlemaine Botanic Gardens  for their marriage ceremony. Nicole remembering, “The botanical gardens was where Nick proposed so it was a special place for us. We decided we wanted to be married by the water, under the shade of the oak trees, so we knew straight away that the wedding would be in Castlemaine.”

Nicole tells, “A close friend of ours sang ‘The Blowers Daughter’, by Damien Rice for the walk down the aisle.”

Simon Williams, Connect Church Bendigo performed the ceremony and also being Nick’s cousin, was one of the more special parts of the day.

Zooper Dooper ice blocks were in large supply post ceremony. Nicole remarking, “It was an extremely hot day (44 degrees) so we went to a lot of effort to help keep everybody cool. At the ceremony we had paper fans and zooper doopers as well as plenty of water on ice, and at the reception we had large industrial fans which spritzed out a cool mist to keep everyone refreshed. We also made our own batch of sangria which was cheap to make, but looked and tasted amazing! ”

The groom and groomsmen combated the severe heat by using a very unusual method, Sarah, the photographer dishing the dirt. “The boys kept the sweat patches at bay by using women’s liners stuck the the inside of their shirts, something I have never seen at a wedding before which made for some funny photos and plenty of LOLs even now. The best part is it worked incredibly well and no one knew their hilarious little secret.”

Of their photographer, Nicole notes, “We wanted a photographer who could capture the day as naturally as possible while showing off our style, which is why we chose Sarah. She made it all extra special by giving us plenty of tips for the day, keeping us calm and having fun with us.”

Buda, Historic Home and Garden hosted the couple’s reception, the bride and groom noting, “Buda Historic Home & Garden was close by and we set up our reception in the private garden.”

Nicole tells, “We were doing the wedding on a budget so we did quite a bit of DIY. We did bunting, chalkboard signs to label food and drinks and a painted banner above the door to welcome everyone in. My favourite DIY was putting stamped name tags onto mason jars for all the guests to drink from, which they could take home at the end of the night.”

Lady Sultan, one of the couple’s favourite local Turkish takeaways catered the reception.

Nicole loved, “Taking a small amount of time out together during the reception, while Sarah took photos of us as the sun set. It was really nice to just be alone for a few minutes considering we were so busy being with all of our guests all day long.”

Nicole describes the day as, “Ridiculously hot, crazy fun, celebrating our special day with all of the people we love.”

Nicole tells, “We didn’t have a first dance. The idea of everyone watching us dance slowly together actually freaked us out! It just wasn’t us. We had a DJ though, and did a lot of dancing with all of our guests which was heaps of fun.”

Congratulations Nicole and Nick! Thank you for sharing your beautiful story with us! Thank you also to Photography by Sarah J for sharing today’s celebration with us!