For some people, a ballroom venue, a tuxedo and ballgown just isn’t their thing. For some, it’s a place where there’s no mobile phone reception, where bare feet are not just allowed but encouraged, where country halls and country birds are completely at home in the landscape. I think that might just be the ticket for The Green Issue.

Emily and Dan, the newlyweds behind today’s relaxed & handmade Gordon Country wedding, chose

Sophie Baker Photography to capture their day in all its beauty. And this one? Curl up with a hot cup of tea, turn your phone onto aeroplane mode and settle in!

Although these two grew up in the same country town, it was some time before their paths crossed. Emily telling “We met in 93′, the year we were born! We grew up in the same country town of Beaudesert, QLD. We went to different Primary schools and didn’t really cross paths until later in High School where we became best friends and eventually partners. During a trip to Daniel’s father’s house during a school holiday, we discovered that our fathers worked together in a golf course maintenance crew. Tracing back with our fathers – we learnt that my father had held both Daniel and I in his arms (as babies) one day when we’d both been brought into the golf course to drop off their smoko.”

Emily began her relaxed look for the day with a beautiful lace Grace Loves Lace gown, she remembers “I wore the beautiful Megan gown from Grace Loves Lace. It was the first dress that I tried on and I fell in love with it. It was relaxed and effortless but had a romantic charm. As we had an outside wedding by the creek I wanted to be completely connected and in the moment – so I chose to be a barefoot bride. I wore handmade drop pearl earrings and wore my hair pulled back loosely with a floral pin at the back which I made myself.”

And a relaxed country day calls for a relaxed country venue and for Emily & Dan Gordon Country fit the bill. “It is a large functioning cattle station with cabins and camping options available” explains Emily. “You have free reign over the property when choosing the location for your ceremony. We chose to get married by the creek. We set out picnic rugs on the side of the hill for our guests. The creek was only a short walk from the stunning timber barn where we had our reception. The venue staff were so friendly and laid back and we were able to do as much or as little as we liked in the way of setting up. This was perfect for us as we wanted to do all of our own decorating.”

 

Emily chose Train’s “Marry Me” for her walk down the aisle.

Emily’s dream was an African adventure, and Dan knew that it would also make an amazing spot to pop the question – so he did! Emily says “It was a dream come true! As a child, my biggest dream was to travel to Africa one day and work with the children in schools and orphanages. In 2015 we planned a trip to Tanzania for the end of the year. Along with the volunteer work, we also booked in to climb Mt Kilimanjaro over New Year’s Eve – the world’s tallest free-standing mountain and also one of the seven summits. We both love adventure and couldn’t wait to challenge ourselves. After 4 intense days of climbing, we made the summit together! As if that wasn’t incredible enough already… We sat for a photo and next thing you know Dan got down on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him as his wife. He was even crazy enough to have carried the ring with him the whole way up the mountain!! Whilst in Tanzania we visited a Maasai village. When they learnt that we were recently engaged they arranged for a mock Maasai wedding and we were lucky enough to be chosen to partake as the bride and groom. So technically we got married for the first time in Tanzania!”

Andrew Michael married the couple, honouring their dream of a laidback ceremony. “Neither Dan or I are religious, so for us, the ceremony was entirely about expressing our truest feelings for each other and promising the future to one another. We wanted it to be a really special ceremony connected to nature and our nearest and dearest. We wanted it to feel intimate and full of love. We had a beautiful little sign from the universe as we were pronounced husband and wife, two king parrots flew straight behind us and perched together on a branch.”

Emily and Dan adored their photographer Sophie Baker, gushing “Our photographer Sophie is an INCREDIBLE woman! She has this warm and calming presence. She makes you feel so comfortable and completely understood us as a couple! We first met her at our engagement shoot straight after Africa and then again when she came to our engagement party. We couldn’t wait to have her at the wedding! She had all these amazing ideas for the photos and then encouraged us to fulfill our crazy ideas for photos on rocks and logs over the creek.”

The bride styled the flowers herself calling on her vocational skills. She tells “I am a landscaper and love to get creative, I always knew that I wanted to create my own bouquet! I knew that I wanted a native rustic bouquet full of protease (national flower of Tanzania), eucalyptus, banksia, kangaroo paw and lots of foliage. In the lead up to the wedding, I did a class with a girlfriend of mine who is a florist and learnt how to piece together and finish a bouquet. I’m so glad that I did, as it made it a breeze the day before the wedding when I put together all the bouquets and hair crowns/pins and buttonholes for the boys. It made the whole experience so fun and enjoyable.” The bride attached a gold brooch, of her grandmother’s grandmother to her bouquet as a finishing touch.

And of course, the reception was filled with plenty of those handmade details, tells the bride “We DIYd as much of the wedding as we possibly could. We absolutely loved the process of creativity and wanted to put our touch on as much as we could. We made all the table centrepieces out of slabs of timber (from a log we found on a hike) that we carved the table numbers into. We made our own photo booth out of branches that we connected together and hung foliage, twinkle lights and a backdrop that we’d sown. We made all the bouquets, hair pieces, buttonholes and floral pieces for throughout the barn. My Mum made our guestbook which had a page for each guest with fun questions and a place for a Polaroid. We painted our own signs and made all of the yard games. I also made Dan’s favourite custard biscuits as our ‘wedding cake’.”

 

The first dance? A little Shania Twain! Emily remembers “We chose “You’re Still the One” by Shania Twain as our first dance song. My best friend Georgia had secretly learnt the song and sang an acoustic duet with our band.”

And the newlyweds? Completely surprised by their friend! The bride remembering “My football teammates choreographed a surprise dance. They made a whole dance to “Shotgun” by George Ezra. They got everyone dancing together by the end of the song!”

A big hooray to you both Emily and Dan! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us! Thank you to Sophie Baker Photography for your stunning photography.