Nikki & Sam
I’m not sure what I love more about Nikki and Sam’s sweet Butterland wedding. Could it be the handmade dining table? The Lion King reception entrance complete with “Simba” ? The bride’s brother introducing the ceremony? I know you will fall for this wedding just as much as I did. Beautifully captured in all of it’s glory by The Tsudons.
Nikki fills us in our how they met. “Sam and I first met in Vang Vieng in Laos while I was travelling with my sister for a few months through South East Asia and Sam was finishing up his 14 month world tour. We met in a small street food stall, shared a meal, and I headed home. My sister stayed out with Sam and his friends, and declared to me the next morning she had met the man I was going to marry.”
Nikki had her gown custom made, explaining, “I wanted a dress that had a touch of boho, vintage, and was relaxed (which is why the pockets were a must) and couldn’t find anything that suited the ideas I had, so I got the dress custom made to suit. It was comfortable and it wasn’t a typical wedding dress.”
The groom and groomsmen were dressed by Briggins.
The couple chose to meet before the ceremony for photographs.
Nikki and Sam held their ceremony and reception at Butterland. Nikki tells, “Sam and I wanted to get married in a venue we could make our own and reflect us as a couple. We wanted a shell that we could bring in our own food, beer and personal touches, and Butterland is a stunning venue.”
Nikki walked down the aisle to Paul Kelly’s “My Way Is To You”.
Diane Lee officiated the ceremony, the bride remembering, “We loved our ceremony, our celebrant was wonderful and accommodating, she was very flexible in making our ceremony unique. My brother introduced the ceremony and told the story of how we met, before Diane took over for the legal side of things. It was important to us to declare our stance regarding marriage equality, and to include a welcome to country. We wrote our own vows, while was a highlight of the day. We wanted it to be a story of our relationship so far, and what excited us about what was still to come. We also wanted to recognise how important our relationships with our mothers are, and made a statement to that effect and had gifts handmade by Pony and Pressed to give to our mothers during the ceremony.”
The bride and bridesmaids wore jewels from Pony and Pressed “A wonderful business that hand stamps silver jewellery. We got Sam and his BM personalised cufflinks and presents for our mothers and my sister all from Pony and Pressed. They were so wonderful with making sure everything was ready in time. They were actually a client of mine and I had shot a lot of their products for them, and during that process I knew I wanted the opportunity to showcase their products.”
The couple created their own bar for guests, Nikki explaining, “We had a lot of DIY. The most impressive was all the alcohol was made by my family. My mother made sangria for everyone as a welcome drink, and my brother brewed all the beer and cider for the wedding. He has been brewing for many many years now and makes delicious beer. Sam got involved and helped Luke make all the beer for the wedding. Sam and my father made a bar to serve the alcohol and it was a big hit, one of our favorite features of the day.”
“I am also a wedding photographer so had been to so many weddings and picked up lots of ideas from my clients, so it was great putting all of those things together. Our family were incredible at making every wish, or whim a reality. It was great to have the time to spend time with them all making everything.”
“We collected all the plates for the wedding from antique and op shops in the year leading up to the wedding. Sam painted all of the knives and forks which we also got from op shops. My mother made the gifts for guest which was homemade strawberry jam. Sam’s mother made the flower girl dresses and flower crowns. All the desserts were made by our mothers for the sweets bar.” Katie Marx styled the floral arrangements for the day.
The reception had a real life “Lion King” moment. The bride telling, “Our favourite parts of the day were all spontaneous and involved our nieces and nephews. We walked into our reception to the ‘Circle of Life’ which was amazing, and held up our niece at the part where Simba is held up, which was a lot of fun. During the speeches my niece stripped down and did a little nudie run, followed by putting on my heels, strutting around and stealing the show.”
Guests enjoyed a dinner created by Charlton Catering Serices. “Tracy from Charlton Catering Services in Avoca was so wonderful, she delivered something that was very specific to what we wanted and was creative with ways to fill our requests of having so much food and a wide variety while sticking to our budget. She was wonderful.”
The couple dined together, leading to one of the bride’s favourite moments. “We had a romantic dinner for two. Sam and I decided to make sure we had some time together on such a busy day, by bringing our own table which Sam and my father had made, and had a table for two for dinner.”
Em’s Cake Toppers created the wedding cake. Nikki remarks, “We loved our cake topper so much. We got it custom made by Em’s Toppers in Ballarat. She spent some time having a chat with us about the things we love – like travelling the world, and she came up with some beautiful designs that had a few person touches included. Right down to the detailed colours of our eyes. She was amazing and couldn’t recommend her highly enough>”
The couple chose an old favourite for their first dance song. The bride explaining, “We were nervous about our first dance as we did zero preparation. Sam proposed to me while “If I Should Fall Behind” by Bruce Springsteen played, so it made sense for that to be our first song. I am a huge Bruce Springsteen fan and Sam went to a lot of effort making a sign that got me onstage with Bruce Springsteen when he was in Australia so the song meant a lot to us.”
Congratulations on your marriage Nikki and Sam! Thank you for sharing the stories of your day with us! Thank you also to The Tsudons for sharing today’s celebration!
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