Sally & Heath
Florals in shades of pink and peach, dreamy vineyard settings and forest backdrops made for the most beautiful start to Sally and Heath’s romantic Swallowfield Vineyards wedding captured by Adrian Tuazon. The newlyweds wanted their day to be warm, relaxed and fun and every choice they made reflected their mission – even down to the surprise ice cream truck!
The bride chose Kay Elizabeth to make her wedding gown using fabric from D’Italia . She notes “I wanted my dress to be quite relaxed, flowing and romantic. I also wanted it to be comfortable! I had it made out of Italian silk based on a dress that I had seen pictures of and loved, but with a few modifications, such as French lace for the sleeves and a crystal belt. I also wore a single tier veil with a French lace trim.”
Floretta created the stunning floral arrangements for the day, the bride remarking, “Our florist Floretta did a beautiful job with the bouquets and the flowers on our wedding arch, as well as contributing 1 small arrangement per reception table to help fill out the flowers we did ourselves.”
Sally and Heath chose Swallowfield Vineyards for their wedding. “We had both the ceremony and reception at Swallowfield Vineyards in Gembrook, as we wanted the whole wedding to be in one location so our guests didn’t need to worry about travelling in between. Our ceremony was held in front of the pine forest on the property, which provided a beautiful backdrop for us to say our vows.”
“I walked down the aisle to ‘First Day of My Life’ by Bright Eyes, which was performed acoustically by our amazing musicians Jimmy & Niki.”
Humminghearts Ceremonies officiated the ceremony, the bride remembering, “Our celebrant Katie from Humminghearts Ceremonies wrote and delivered a beautiful and meaningful ceremony, was an absolute pleasure to work with and a great source of support in the lead up.”
The ceremony was quite short and simple, yet very meaningful. It was also very relaxed, as we didn’t want anything too formal. We began with a ring warming ceremony, where our rings were passed around to all our guests, who could make a blessing or wish for us.
We had some short readings by Pablo Neruda, Hilary T, Smith and Rainer Maria Rilke, which were read by my Maid of Honour, Heath’s brother/Best Man, and my brother. Our celebrant also read out a quote by Dr Seuss “We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love”.”
After the ceremony, we went off to get our photos taken at some of the many picturesque locations on the property such as the vineyard, inside the pine forest, two different lakes, and the field with horses and cows. During this time, our guests enjoyed canapes, drinks, lawn games and listening to the band on the stretch of lawn in front of the winery.”
Of their photographer, Sally tells, “We chose Adrian Tuazon because we loved his natural, fresh and timeless style, and the way he captures the special moments of the day. Most of the time we didn’t even notice he was there, as he is so unobtrusive. He helped guide us and gave us direction, but most of the time he just captured everything as it was happening. I knew Adrian would do an amazing job, and he definitely didn’t disappoint! Getting our photos back was a thrill – I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve looked at them!”
“The reception was held in the ‘winery’, which we decorated ourselves. We loved that Swallowfield allowed us complete freedom to decorate the venue in exactly the way we wanted. We spent the two days before the wedding setting everything up!”
So much of the wedding decor was made by the bride, groom and their loved ones, Sally remarking, “We made bunting (with the help of my maid of honour and mum) which was hung in the ‘winery’ and around the property. One of my bridesmaids made 1000 paper cranes out of old book pages, musical notation and gold wrapping paper. These were hung as a curtain in the doorway to the reception and scattered around the tables.”
As wedding favours, Heath created two different flavours of jam. The couple designed tags with sketches of themselves to accompany the gifts.
“I really love flowers, so I wanted the reception to be full of them! We had LOTS of jars running down the middles of the long tables and they were all full of flowers in pale pinks, whites, purples, greens and burgundy. I also wanted to create a beautiful, warm and romantic ambience in the room, so I made sure there were plenty of flickering tea light candles in clear glass holders. To add some sparkle, we also included fairy lights and strung festoon lights across the room with the bunting. We carried the wedding colours of pale pink, pale purple and burgundy through from the bridesmaid’s dresses to the flowers, the invitations, the bunting, and even our beautiful dessert buffet table!”
Of the first dance, the bride remembers, “We chose the song ‘Lucky’ by Colbie Caillat & Jason Mraz, which was performed by our musicians Jimmy & Niki.”
Ice cream is always the best surprise and the newlyweds surprised their guests with an ice cream van! The bride tells, “At the end of the night we surprised our guests with a Mr Wippy van, who showed up to serve our guests ice cream. Seeing the looks on everyone’s faces when the van drove up the driveway playing its music was pretty magical! We are still getting comments from our guests about how much they enjoyed and appreciated the surprise!”
Congratulations on your marriage Sally and Heath! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Adrian Tuazon for sharing today’s celebration!
Join the conversation