Danni & Aaron

There was a long road to get to today’s wedding, but it was truly meant to be and couldn’t have come at a better time. Sneaking in just before COVID-19 restrictions, Danni and Aaron said their vows and celebrated their marriage at Summerfields Estate & Country House on the Mornington Peninsula. Capturing the love and beautiful details? Aesthete Wedding Photography. Below, Danni shares their story and why their day was incredibly special to them but also especially meaningful to their loves ones. 

My husband Aaron and I have been together now for 7.5 years. We met online in 2012 and after six months together I went off to Europe for three months! We said “I love you” at the airport for the first time and decided to stay together.

It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing, because when I returned Aaron was diagnosed with depression and it was something that heavily affected our lives for the next few years.

In 2018, I went away with a girlfriend on a holiday and when I returned home from the airport Aaron proposed in front of a library he built to house all my antique books!

After the proposal it seemed the universe tested us. We had our engagement at a barefoot bowls club and went out dancing afterwards, and Aaron was assaulted at a nightclub and ended up in hospital for four days after being king hit.

In the midst of planning the wedding, we also both had job changes and I started up my own business. Aaron brought home a dog from the pound and told me he had adopted him. Aaaand that’s how we got a dog.

Both of our dads were then diagnosed with cancer, and were told they had no more that a few years left.

I poured every spare minute I had sourcing things for the wedding and planning it, as my theme of 1940s and 1950s made everything difficult to source or looking after my dad when I wasn’t working.

We were married on March 7, the week before Melbourne weddings started having restrictions or were stopped all together!

A lot of things were sourced online, like the bridesmaid dresses and shoes and my dress.
I wanted the wedding to look like ‘Pearl Harbour and The Stepford Wives’. We had 114 guests at Summerfields Estate & Country House on the Mornington Peninsula.
We had an Andrew Sisters type band (The Trebelettes) that sang when people arrived and during the cocktail hour.
The girls walked down the aisle to Doris Day. I walked down the aisle to Etta James with my dad.
Aaron was crying!
We were married underneath the big gum tree down by the lake. We wrote our own vows and we finished our ceremony with a fake butterfly release, songs by The Beatles and giant party poppers. We had the lawn games and photos afterwards in the gardens, and then followed by dinner and dancing.
I sourced at lot of the props from antique shops and op shops, my spare room was full of it for about a year! The table centrepieces were all antique silver teas sets and crystal pieces like decanters and vases and the table numbers were old vintage photos of couples on their wedding days. Our wedding favour ‘book’ was actually a big ceramic pot everyone signed and now sits in our living room on display with a nice plant in it. I didn’t want something sitting on a shelf we’d never look at.
We had donuts for our wedding favours and played ‘the newlywed game’ instead of having traditional speeches.

Our first dance was to Jimmy Durante’s ‘Hello Young Lovers’ and we played a lot of vintage 40s and 50s music too while everyone was eating. We finished the night with a sparkler exit and stayed the night with family at Summerfields. We had breakfast together the next day before everyone helped us pack up.

We left for Cambodia five days later, but had to come home only six days later due to border closures. Our honeymoon became two weeks quarantine at home which was very peaceful!

Sadly, we lost Aaron’s dad a week into our quarantine, and six weeks after we lost my dad. I’m sure they were both just hanging on for the wedding. So now after having to close my business three times this year due to COVID, I realise how much joy our wedding brought everyone involved as it was something else to talk about and share photos of. We feel very lucky we were able to have our wedding, and my heart goes out to anyone who has had to postpone theirs.

Ms Floral Says: A huge congratulations to Danni and Aaron on their beautiful vintage wedding. What a journey you walked together to get there, and to put this incredible celebration together while having A LOT on your plate is inspiring. What a day for you and your loved ones to remember. We wish you both all the very best!