Clarissa & Alfred

With the perfect Winter’s day and florals dripping from every possible surface, this Southern Highlands flower farm wedding is exquisite! Every detail is beautifully styled, and every moment filled with love, which just so happen to create a beautiful wedding day! Tealily Photography were on hand to capture every moment.

Alfred proposed to Clarissa on their 9 year wedding anniversary. The bride shares, ”We didn’t have much planned other than dinner which Alfred organised. He always books the restaurants for our anniversary dinners and keeps it a surprise until we get there. For that year he chose est. It was just a nice, simple dinner in my mind. He drove me home, and as we approached the front gate to my house, I noticed the path leading up to the front door was lined and lit up with candles. I was surprised and confused wondering if it was all a dream! Moments later I figured what was about to happen. He walked me up to the front steps of my house and got down on one knee with a ring in hand and proposed. I said yes! He first asked me out on the front steps of my home, so it was extra special.”

The bride chose a Watters soft blush gown, after searching through many different styles. She recalls, ”At the start I tried several styles of dresses and decided that the classic A-line dress was for me. I loved illusion necklines, a tulle skirt and the idea of a non-white gown. I visited about 7 or more bridal boutiques, probably tried on 30+ dresses in about 2 months…and in the end I went back to the first dress I ever tried on! I should’ve known, as it really was the only dress that gave me those fuzzy feelings that brides talk about! Oh and I love that my dress is a soft blush tone. The overall dress shopping experience (although it sounds time consuming, especially for my sister who I dragged along to every session) was fun, and the staff at Marry Me Bridal were really lovely.”

Splitting their wedding into two separate occasions allowed the bride and groom the best of both worlds! They share, ”We did the Chinese tea ceremony the week prior to our wedding. We had two weddings – a Chinese banquet, with about 150 people, the week prior to celebrate with family and parents’ friends so that our actual wedding day could be just the way we wanted – small and intimate. It also meant that we were able to spend quality time with everyone, not having to rush from one to another. It was double the work but it really paid off. I’m glad we did a first look before the ceremony too. We wanted to spend as much of our wedding day together as possible rather than wait until the ceremony to see each other, because it is our wedding day after all, why spend so much time apart? It was the same reason we had a sweetheart table. Seeing him beforehand also helped fight all the nerves that come with walking down the aisle.”

Photographing weddings herself, the bride only wanted two things from her chosen wedding venue. That she hadn’t photographed a wedding there previously, and that it was outside of Sydney. They found the perfect spot, with Clarissa telling, ”We’d never heard of Growwild Wildflower Farm until a friend suggested the place to us. We liked that it’s not so well known, and we got to deal directly with the owners of the property, who were the loveliest people! We liked that it was almost a blank canvas for us to work with, too, and that they had options for an outdoor, as well as an indoor ceremony. The barn was a perfect indoor option for our ceremony, especially as it was a Winter wedding – it was nice and cosy in there. The marquee was just beautiful, with white washed floors, white draped ceiling and fairy lights – then it was over to Form Over Function to do the rest.”

Having their wedding stationery designed by the bride’s sister was a special touch, with Clarissa sharing,  ”Our invites and signage were a DIY project, mostly executed by my sister, Chloe & Co. We put together the little pouches with hand warmers for guests too. We also DIY-ed the photo booth. Being a photographer by trade meant we already had most of the gear to make it work. Just had to gather up props and design a nice enclosing to hide the gear.”

The bride and groom put together a stunning day, although they share that they, ”Lost count of how many times we were over wedding planning and wanted to just elope… ha!” Handing many of the creative decisions to Form Over Function was a decision they were thrilled with, culminating in their Southern Highlands Winter wonderland! Form Over Function share their styling vision, with, ”touches of fruits of the season, rich textural florals, velvet, brass and rose gold elements. We created a bit a magical floral cave for them, with a fireplace mantle behind, and their table was an antique desk that was filled with flowers and covered with a velvet runner woven around antique, brass, beeswax candles and more. Their initials in vintage brass were on the bridal table also.”

Attempting to chose a favourite detail of the day was too hard for Clarissa, with her telling, ”It’s a close tie between our invites from Chloe & Co and the floral & styling on the day! I really love the velvet ribbon we incorporated on our invitations, as we felt it was more unique than using hand dyed silk ribbons. The florals and styling were definitely a crowd favourite on the day. Form Over Function definitely knows how to style a space just right without it being too little or too much. I knew I could trust Alicia with it all, so I just let her play. I loved that she introduced fresh ideas to the space such as wrapping some of the vases with velvet. The stand out in the marquee had to be our sweetheart table – we sat under an arbour. And she even brought in and styled an old fireplace that was the backdrop for our sweetheart table! Truly could not have dreamed up of a more beautiful setting for our first meal as husband and wife. Our favourite moment was when we exchanged our vows, with all our loved ones around us. We wrote our own vows and kept it light-hearted but sweet.”

Capturing the newlyweds around Growwild Wildflower Farm created beautiful photographs which the bride and groom adored. They tell, ”Tealily Photography – I’ve admired her work from the start of my wedding photography career 8 years ago, so it’s wonderful to have her document our wedding for us! She’s captured some really special moments which we wouldn’t have seen ourselves and we love that she surprised us with highlights from the day while we were on our honeymoon in the Maldives a week after the wedding.” The lucky bride and groom were also over the moon with Form Over Function, sharing, ”Not only did she deliver the most beautiful space for our wedding day but she did so much more outside her role of being our wedding stylist, like coordinating our vendors and making sure things ran smoothly. We didn’t get to have dessert from our dessert table during the night (it must be a common thing) as she handed us a box of desserts just after we had our farewell which was a really sweet gesture!”

Congratulations to our lovely bride and groom, and thank you for sharing your gorgeous day with us! Thank you also to Tealily Photography for your stunning photographs!