Eliza and Tristan

There is a reason Byron Bay continues to be a favourite haunt for many, the relaxed vibes, the stunning vistas, the sunshine, the holiday feeling. For Eliza and Tristan, it was very much this that led them to choose a destination wedding in the seaside town, for their Melbourne guests. “We loved being in our favourite place in the world, having all our friends and family holidaying together in one spot, the most epic party followed by the recovery BBQ that just when you think everyone was partied out from the night before another epic day was had! “

And an epic wedding too by all accounts, the duo choosing a Byron homestead for their day, not even letting a little rain dampen their celebrations. And luckily for all of us, they enlisted Figtree Pictures to capture every magic detail of their day. We can’t wait to share this one!

Eliza and Tristan met on Tinder a relationship detail that was only revealed to their guests on the night of their wedding. But it wasn’t until Christmas Eve one year that Tristan popped the question.

Eliza fills us in “We were up early and headed down the coast for Tristan to have a surf as we did most weekends. We packed everything into the car included our chocolate Lab Lenni (she comes everywhere with us). I remember saying to Tristan when we woke up that I had seen on friends Instagram that it didn’t look like there was any surf, he just said: “that’s ok I’ll find a wave somewhere!” We stopped at our favourite beach – Point Addis between Torquay and Anglesea and decided to take Lenni for a walk along the beach. I remember thinking that Tristan must have been hot as he kept his jacket on the whole time (ring was in the pocket!) Just as Tristan was about to drop his knee and pop the question Lenni decided to go to the toilet on the beach… I remember saying to him “we can’t just leave it there… where are the poo bags!” to which he replied, “It’s ok I’ll get it later!” I turned around and he was down on 1 knee… The rest is a blur!! Of course, I said YES!!!! straight away! We headed home that afternoon and celebrated with lunch at The Stokehouse and drinks with friends… safe to say we were a little dusty Christmas morning!!”

Eliza always had a hunch she would find her wedding gown at One Day Bridal and she was right! “Finding my dress was an absolute dream and super easy! I always knew deep down that One Day Bridal was going to be the perfect match for me however I also made one other appointment with another dress designer on the same day. I went along with my mum and 4 bridesmaids. I tried five or six dresses none of which were for me. I remember looking at my Mum and saying “this is going to be a nightmare!”
But I was wrong… We then walked into One Day Bridal and the team there made me feel at ease straight away! My dress was the first one I tried on.. it was love!!! The Daphne gown was a simple wrap style with spaghetti straps and completely beaded in pearls. I didn’t want to take it off.. I knew it was right!! The dress was then made from scratch for me. Every fitting was so fun and the girls there made the whole process so special.”

“I had my cousin and best friend (also my housemate when I met Tristan) as my maid of honour (Sally), my two best friends (Lauren & Cara) and my sister-in-law (Rachel)” tells Eliza of her bridesmaids. “All four of these girls are super special to me in their own way – it was the perfect fit. They wore white Maurie & Eve slip dresses and Nude Alias Mae shoes”.

The beautiful garden venue of Verandahs Byron Bay set the scene for the day “Verandahs Byron Bay was the perfect venue for us! Having 130 guests it was one of the only Byron hinterland venues that would cater for our number … it was amazing!
It is a big house on the most beautiful property overlooking the Byron hinterland. The ceremony was on the lawn in front of the house then the reception was on another part of the property. We had 2 giant teepees that seated everyone for dinner and a naked teepee covered in foliage and fairy lights that were our dance floor – lucky the rain cleared just in time to ensure that everyone stayed dry as they danced into the night!”

Tristan was accompanied by his sister, Eliza explaining “Tristan had his sister as his ‘best man’ this was a pact that they made as kids (next November Tristan will return the favour at her wedding also in Byron Bay) she wore the same dress as my bridesmaids but we sent it away and had it dyed Navy to match the boys’ suits. “

Eliza walked down the aisle with her parents to Sg Leis “Warm” ” It’s not a very popular song but special to Tristan and me – I had both my Mum & Dad walk me down the aisle – being the youngest child and the only girl after four boys this was very special to both my parents.”

Eliza and Tristan chose Katrina McGarry Holt to officiate their ceremony, kicking it off with a special nod to the groom’s late father. “Choosing a celebrant was one of the only parts of the whole process that we really took our time to ensure we had the right person. We wanted the ceremony to be laid back, not too long, romantic but with a sense of humour and we also knew that we wanted to write our own vows. When we met Katrina from Wonderlove we felt an instant connection and knew she was the perfect fit for us. She has a beautiful warm nature and we felt instantly at ease with her.
Tristan’s dad had passed away 12 months earlier and we wanted to include a touch of him in the ceremony – every time Tristan would go overseas his Dad would ask him to bring home a bottle of Chivas Regal for him – so we brought one of those bottles up to Byron with us and Tristan and Electra (his sister and best man) did a toast to Renzo (Tristan’s Dad) at the beginning of the ceremony – there wasn’t a dry eye in the house!”

Eliza and Tristan worked with The French Petal to create floral arrangements of white flowers and greenery. Eliza tells “My brief to Estelle from The French Petal was green & white only and super lush! She absolutely nailed it! We had lots of flowers – bouquets, flower crowns for the flower girls, buttonholes for the boys, flowers on the teepee arbour for the ceremony, huge hanging installation in the teepee above the tables for dinner with Edison bulbs hanging throughout and then the naked teepee as mentioned above. Tristan thought I was crazy when he saw the quotes for the flowers roll in as we were planning everything, but on the day he said it all made sense and it was absolutely perfect!!”

A little rain didn’t kill the party vibes! Eliza says thankfully “I think we were both pretty calm throughout the whole wedding process but to say I wasn’t a little worried when I woke to rain on the day I would be lying! However, it cleared and the sun came out for our ceremony… we then moved our pre-dinner drinks to the verandah of the house and then it cleared in time for the reception and the outdoor dance floor!”

Of their photographer, the bride can’t speak highly enough, telling  “Alice and the Figtree team were AMAZING!!! They braved the elements… put us at ease and gave us the most amazing spread of photos – far better than anything we could have expected.”

These two Melbourne souls didn’t do it alone, their long-distance wedding going off without s a hitch thanks to wedding planner Creative Weddings. Eliza remarking “Being from Melbourne we enlisted the expertise of Wedding planner extraordinaire Kiera Ryan from Creative Weddings Byron Bay! She made the whole process so easy! I am a little bit of an organisation freak and Kiera was the perfect match. She gave recommendations of vendors that she thought would suit the style we wanted… on the day she was calm and made sure we had the most incredible party that we had always dreamed of.”

Guests gathered under tipis for a dinner reception catered by Fig Tree Catering. Eliza remembering “Fig Tree did our catering and the food was ridiculous! Being foodies we wanted a shared feasting style menu and wanted to make sure no one went hungry – shared eating is how we always eat when we go out so this is what we wanted! We had cocktails – Aperol Spritz – Tristan’s choice & Margaritas – my choice!”

The dancing was a highlight of the wedding, kicking off with the newlywed’s first dance to Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” tells Eliza. “Our first dance was to Marvin Gaye – Aint No Mount High Enough – a dance floor favourite for both Tristan and I who at most parties can be found on the dance floor. We danced under the fairy lights in the middle of the naked teepee – our guests were given sparklers to light as we danced – it was magic!”

Guests were surprised with ice cream for dessert from ice cream cart Wheel & Spoon. The sweet treats served up along espresso martinis.

Eliza and Tristan hired The White Tree to keep their guests dancing all night long and that they did! Eliza remembering “The White Tree band were nothing short of AMAZING!!”.. it was one of the best dance floors I’ve been on! The band commented that they had never had a wedding where the guests danced the whole night (they even all danced into the teepee to Fleetwood Mac to find their seats).”

The newlyweds chose  YellowBull Media to capture this stunning film of their wedding day in all of its glory.

A big congratulations to you both Eliza and Tristan! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us! A big thank you also to  Figtree Pictures for today’s images!