Prue & Andrew

“The heavens opened when I was getting my hair and makeup done. It was the only day that rained in 6 weeks.” It was supposed to be a bright blue day when Prue and Andrew tied the knot at Camp Sunnystones. But if the thought of rain on your wedding day terrifies you, then let Prue and Andrew’s modern rustic wedding day reassure you, because from the stunning floral details of Australian natives, the rich jewel tones, the surprise ring bearer and the evident joy on their faces, captured beautifully by Motta Weddings. Prue and Andrew’s day was nothing short of fabulous in fact, the rain? It made it all the more special, just ask the bride! “Having the ceremony inside it made the ceremony much more intimate, as we were surrounded by our guests.”

These two found each other at work, the bride remembering “We met at work. We were friends for a few years and then something changed and we bonded over poor choices in relationships.”

Camp Sunnystones set the scene for Prue and Andrew’s relaxed wedding day. “It was the one and the only venue that we viewed and knew it was exactly what we wanted.”

Prue walked down the aisle to live bagpipes, she shares “As both of us have Scottish heritage, we wanted to have a bagpiper play before the ceremony. The song was Highland Cathedral. It’s a more upbeat song (some songs can sound like you are attending a funeral haha).”

Prue and Andrew chose Michael Webb – Marrying You Two to officiate their ceremony, sharing “We wanted a relaxed ceremony with a celebrant who we could relate to. We read a lot of reviews for Michael Webb that it was like a good friend was marrying you. We caught up with him over a beer and bonded over living in Darwin. Naturally, we booked him the next day.”

There was one very special ringbearer that surprised their guests. “We had our dog as our ring bearer. We hadn’t told anyone else (other than a friend who was keeping him down the back of the hall). It made for a nice surprise for everyone.”

Prue and Andrew were drawn to the candid, natural style of their photographer Alex Motta, telling “When we were looking for a photographer, I stalked a few photographers from Melbourne on Instagram. We fell in love with Alex’s candid photos and natural colours.
I’m a little camera shy and Alex made both of us very comfortable. We didn’t have a set time to take couple/bridal party photos because we wanted to spend most of the day with our guests. At different parts of the day, Alex would rush in a grab us from our meal when the lighting was right. There was some terrific colours around dusk that he captured perfectly.”

The bride’s gold necklace was actually a very special gift. “My grandmother surprised me by asking me to wear a family heirloom – a gold necklace that all the women in the family had worn at their wedding day. She surprised me after I had my hair and makeup done. I became a bubbling mess afterwards and had to have my makeup retouched.”

The bride worked with her mum, of Jen Eales Designs to create her dream wedding gown, she explains “I spent a lot of time searching for inspiration online – be it blogs/Instagram/ Pinterest. I’m not the type of person who enjoys going shopping. I found a dress that I really adored but it still wasn’t exactly what I wanted, and was well out of our price range.
My mum is a seamstress (one of her many talents), and whenever she was making a dress for our formals/debutants, she always said she would never make our wedding dresses. Well, when I knew what I wanted, I had to ask her immediately. We had a wonderful time making it together, and when we did the fittings, we made it like a wedding dress shopping day, nibbles and drinks.

I wanted a party dress rather than a wedding dress. And I really didn’t want to wear white. I wanted the dress to be comfortable to wear and short enough that I didn’t need to pick up a train. We picked a gold fabric with embroidery stitching and mum hand glued on Swarovski crystals.”

Andrew donned a kilt from House of Scotland to honour his father’s Scottish heritage.

The bride and groom chose Jill McCrae to create the floral details for the day (and can we talk about the bouquet, so worthy of The Bouquet Issue?)  telling “We wanted all natives. I hired my sister’s best friend to do the flowers. She had recently started working at a florist and would post her creations on her Instagram account. I fell in love with her unmanicured sense of style. I gave her a few cues of what I wanted, and left the rest up to her.”

The decor was packed with handmade details – the bride’s aunty made decorative spheres to hang over the space, the bride screen-printed eucalyptus leaves on the table linens, Prue’s sister created the wedding stationery and Andrew’s sister contributed the signage. It all tied into Prue and Andrew’s vision for their day. “As the venue was really raw and stripped back, we wanted to keep the styling very simple. We were living in Darwin when we were organising the wedding. We tried to do as much DIY as possible. Fortunately, we were surrounded by so many talented friends and family, and were able to include a lot of them in the preparation.”

Guests enjoyed an epic grazing table and sit down dinner thanks to catering crew Trufflepig Catering & Events. Prue raves “We picked vendors that were our kinds of people – easy going and up for a good chat. As we were living in Darwin, we didn’t have the opportunity to taste any of the food for the reception. When we saw the menu for Trufflepig, we knew we had to go with them. They locally sourced all their ingredients and would alter their menu depending on season and availability. I think in the two years leading up to the wedding, we saw about three different menus and loved every one of them.”

The day was planned to be completely relaxed, Prue sharing “We wanted a three-day event. We had most of our guests coming from interstate and internationally. We wanted something relaxed and informal. The only real formality we wanted was the ceremony and everyone to be seated for dinner.”

The newlyweds chose Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros “Home” for their first dance, telling “When Andrew and I starting seeing each other, we would come home after a night out and dance around the living room listening to music. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros was a band we use to listen to a lot, and unsurprisingly “Home” became our song.
As we were so busy leading up to the wedding, we totally forgot to rehearse anything. So we asked my brother who was MCee to bring everyone onto the dance floor quite early.”

Prue and Andrew enlisted old friend Geoff Lester to make the dance floor move. “What we wanted the most for our day, was good food, good drink and good music. I use to party with our DJ while we were at uni. He asked for a few must-haves and then he sorted out the rest.”

It was so wonderful to share your beautiful day Prue and Andrew- a big thanks to you both! Thank you also to Motta Weddings for sharing today’s beautiful day!