J O H A N N A + J U S T I N

High school sweethearts Johanna and Justin knew they had something special from the start. They made a commitment to share a lifetime of adventures together in a woodland wedding on Johanna's family property. Native wildflowers and the prettiest DIY elements decorated the joyful occasion.

F R O M T H E B R I D E

We first met...

At High School at the Hunter School of Performing arts in Year 7.

We knew it was love...

We always joked in Year 7 that one day we would be Mrs and Mr Fricker, so I guess from the beginning there was something special.

The proposal...

Justin proposed to me on Christmas Day 2015. He made a wooden jewellery box in High school and placed the ring inside it.

Our wedding photographer...

Our photographer was Marianne Fowler. I had done some work before with Marianne and I new when I saw her work she had to be apart of our special day. I love how Marianne captured the entire story of our day, when we look at the photos we feel like where right back in the moment.

T H E W E D D I N G

Our dream wedding...

I always wanted to get married at home and Justin loved the idea. We wanted to make the day as special and unique and to be exactly us. You can see this through all our DIY products we created.

Ceremony location...

In the garden on my parents property at Kilaben Bay in Lake Macquarie.

Reception venue..

The reception was also held on my parents property in the shed though better know as Wallaby Barn.

Pre-wedding celebrations...

Justin enjoyed his Bucks day go-karting, paint balling and playing aqua golf.

I had my Hens day up at the Hunter Valley, where I enjoyed a high tea with the girls and then we played some aqua golf in the afternoon.

The bridal party...

I had 3 Bridesmaids. My sister Tamara, cousin Ashleigh and sister-in-law Sheree. Justin had 3 groomsmen his brother Ben, best mate Mitchell and cousin Luke.

The bridesmaids wore...

My Bridesmaids wore a beautiful white dress from Sheike with a cut out back and split at the front. This was paired with some nude heels from wanted and a body chain from Colette.

The groomsmen wore...

The Groomsmen wore dark blue suits from RDX, with a white shirt, light pink patterned tie with brown toned shoes and belt.

The groom wore...

Justin also wore the same as above though he had a white patterned tie rather then pink.

The wedding dress...

I had being looking at wedding gowns for years I loved imagining my big day and always wanted a white lace dress. I was always looking for inspiration online and one day came across Grace Loves Lace and I knew I had to have one. I've always had an obsession for backless dresses so when I found the Gisele dress I knew it was the one. I paired my dress with nude heels from wanted and earrings and hand- ring piece from Samantha wills.

Reception décor...

I actually picked the month of October for our wedding to ensure we could have King Protea and native bouquets. I wanted to go with soft colours so I chose pinks, whites and greens for our flowers. For the reception we had four long 6m tables for our guests and I wanted to create a garland look straight down the middle. So the night before my family and I cut up flowers and greenery and decorated the guest's tables with gum leaves, wax flowers and tetra nuts. This was paired with gold twisted tall candleholders from dusk and small gold candleholders from pillow talk. Decorated by us.

Hunter Valley Bouquets did the flowers for our bridal table, swing, photo booth, arch, bouquets, button holes and flower crown and they where everything we could have asked for.

DIY elements...

The decorating for the wedding was done all our selves and was so much fun! I made the dream catcher wall behind the cake table, collected plates from the op shop for the desserts, Justin made the arch and benches for the ceremony and my grandpa hand made signs which where used all throughout the property.

On the menu...

We had canapés for our guests while we got our photos taken then enjoyed a sit down two course meal, followed by the cake and dessert bar.

Bomboniere...

A tree had fallen down on the property and my dad cut up the branches into small round pieces, in which I used to create personal coasters. I sanded all 86 of these and wrote everyone's name on them. These where also used as a name placement.

Memorable moments...

The whole day was fantastic and we loved every minute. The last nine months of hard work had paid off and everything had come together perfectly is was just truly magical to see it all come together. This couldn't have happened without the help of both our families. We had so much fun dancing the night away under the stars next to wallaby barn with our closest friends and family.

Wedding soundtrack...

I walked down the aisle to Billy Joel's Just The Way You Are - sung by our wonderful school friend Nathan.

Our first dance was to Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud also sung by our school friends Nathan and Kylie.

M A R R I E D L I F E

The honeymoon...

We spent 2 wonderful weeks in Thailand, exploring Koh Yai Yao, Krabi, Phi Phi Island and Phuket.

Future plans...

Our plans are to live a fun filled life together full of adventures, exploring the world and spending the rest of life side my side supporting one another.

In 40 years you hope to...

We hope to have done a lot of exploring the world, have had successful careers and watched our family grow and still be just as in love as we were today.

W E D D I N G W I S D O M

The engagement...

We got a photoshoot done for our engagement and we loved it! It makes you both feel comfortable in front of the camera before your big day and is a wonderful keepsake for years to come.

The planning process...

We both had so much fun planning every part of the wedding together. We enjoyed our DIY projects that we made together and picking out all the pieces to make our day us. We didn't use a wedding planner and really enjoyed looking back on the day to see all our hard work and planning had come together that we had done to create our fairytale wedding. Make the day both of you and tell your story, our guests have said that our wedding was so us and was unique and very personal.

On the day...

Enjoy every moment and the week leading up. We had a lot of work to do in the lead up as we did everything ourselves, with the help of our family. Things will go wrong and that's ok, you'll look back and laugh. All that really matters is you have each other and you enjoy your day together and cherish every moment. Don't forget its your day and try and spend some time alone together to take everything in.

Venue: Wallaby Barn / Photographer: Marianne Fowler Photography / Bride's Dress: Grace Loves Lace / Bride's Jewellery: Samantha Wills / Bride's and Bridesmaids' shoes: Wanted / Bridesmaids' dresses: Sheike / Bridesmaids' jewellery: Colette Hayman / Groom and Groomsmen suits, shirt and tie: RDX / Hair: Apollonia Hair / Makeup and Tan: Bombshell Makeup / Rings: Zamels / Flowers: Hunter Valley Bouquets / Invitations: Miss Ds Designs / Music: Kylie Jane Trio and Nathan Allgood / Catering: Kozzies / Cake: a friend of the bride and groom's / Celebrant: Richelle Powell / Tables: Crab Apple Vintage / Chairs, glasses, cutlery: Prestige Party hire