N A T + B R Y C E

Nat and Bryce first met at Derby Day - the horse race famous for its black and white fashion. Neither were interested in punting but they certainly had a stroke of luck! Bryce proposed at Derby Day the following year and they married the day before Derby Day the year after that! The couple had an elegant equestrian themed wedding by the sea.

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

We first met...

Bryce and I were introduced by a mutual friend Courtney at Derby Day 2014. Bryce thought he was just going to the Nursery to have a drink with her, and I was told to come and meet her single friend who was an eligible bachelor.

We have been inseparable ever since. We got engaged Derby Day 2015 and we were married the day before Derby Day 2016. So it was only fitting to have a black and white horse racing themed wedding.

We knew it was love...

It was love at first sight for Bryce, we moved in together after 5 months and it wasn't long after when I realised that I couldn't live without Bryce and I knew he was the one for me. Our relationship was very natural and easy, as they say when you know you know.

The engagement...

We went to Derby Day 2015 and Bryce had arranged a custom made betting ticket through a bookie, so when I put on my first bet for the day (on my lucky number 3), two betting tickets were printed, the top one showing a horse name 'Nat will you marry me'. The look on my face changed, so Bryce knew that was his cue to get down on one knee. It was very special to have my Dad, Bryce's brother Hamish and mate Dave and my friend Simmy present for the proposal.

T H E W E D D I N G...

Our photographer...

We researched suppliers and chose Lost in Love due to how they use light in their photographs, we didn't want just stock standard wedding photos.

You spend the most amount of time with your photographer(s) on the biggest day of your lives, so when we first met Lyndel and Daniel, we knew they were the perfect fit for us and our special day.

They were extremely flexible with our schedule changes and were amazing to work with on the day, everyone loved them and they fitted into our day and style perfectly. Lyndel and Daniel also recommended the best locations to shoot at our venue, to get the best use of light and love.

We received our online highlights album and USB within two weeks, which is totally unheard of for wedding photos. We loved looking through all our photos - so many wonderful moments and memories perfectly captured by the two of them.

Our dream wedding...

The two pre-requisites we had for our wedding venue was somewhere with an amazing view and something/somewhere different. When we first saw the panoramic ocean view at All Smiles Sorrento, we knew we had found our wedding venue. I grew up in Torquay and Bryce's family have a holiday house in Portsea, so the coastal backdrop suited us perfectly.

The ceremony and reception...

We didn't want our guests to have to travel between the ceremony and reception, so All Smiles Sorrento was the perfect location.

The ceremony was held outside with an 180 degree ocean view as the backdrop. Then our reception immediately followed where our guests could get a drink and enjoy the delicious finger food.

We loved having a cocktail reception, so it was a relaxed party atmosphere where all our family and friends could mingle together and it encouraged them to hit the dance floor and enjoy The White Tree's live entertainment.

Pre-wedding celebrations...

My hens was a trip to the Hunter Valley with a horse and cart winery tour, including Lindeman's winery (very appropriate as I married a Lindeman), Bryce went to the Caulfield Guineas races to keep with our theme. The night before our wedding we both spent with our bridesmaids and groomsmen and had a nice dinner.

The bridesmaids...

I had three of my closest girlfriends and Bryce had his two older brothers. Bryce's niece and nephew made our adorable flower girl and page boy. One of my bridesmaids was 6 months pregnant, so she wore an Isabel Marant dress and the other two bridesmaids wore French Connection, being black you could hardly tell their dresses were different.

The groom and groomsmen...

The groom was dressed in Hugo Boss from Cavalier Menswear in Camberwell, he wore black patent leather shoes and had custom made personalised black/white cuff links made for all the boys. The groom and groomsmen had black bow ties and matching pocket squares.

The gown...

My dress was from Pearls and Roses Bridal. It was a mesh bodice with beading, lace and Swarovski crystals, with a beautiful satin skirt. I didn't know what my dream wedding dress was until I started trying them on.

I literally went to 17 different bridal stores/dress makers in Melbourne to find 'the one' and knew that I had to keep searching. Having grown up in Torquay, I have driven past Pearls & Roses for years and always looked to see what beautiful new gown was displayed in their window. I went in and tried on a couple and it was meant to be that I found my dress in Geelong. Karen and the Pearls and Roses team were wonderful to work with and happily accommodated all my changes to the dress design.

Wedding flowers...

Keeping with our black and white theme - I had black roses from Argentina and white roses with a white ribbon, my bridesmaids had white roses with a black ribbon. We had romance red florals on our arbour and signing table to break up the black and white, all from Poppy Culture.

My beautiful 90-year-old Grandma couldn't make it to our wedding, so I borrowed one of her old white lace hankies and carried it with my bouquet (keeping with the something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue tradition).

Reception décor...

We did all the styling ourselves to bring in the black and white horse racing theme. The main feature of our wedding was the amazing ocean view. We had #teamNBwedding candles, personalised box of white roses, MR and MRS place cards, black and white personalised wishing well box, and brought in some fun with the horse racing arcade game 'Final Furlong' and horse racing props in our photo booth. Our friend made our beautiful 3 tiered black and white chocolate mud cake with horse shoe topper.

On the menu...

All Smiles provided an extensive array of finger food that our guests raved about, they catered for everyone including those with dietary requirements and my friends who were pregnant. In addition to our wedding cake, guests enjoyed a selection roaming mini desserts.

Bomboniere...

Our bomboniere were mystery bets for Derby Day all in sealed custom made 'take a gamble on love' envelopes. We don't condone gambling, however these tied in with our theme and one of our friends was lucky enough to win a substantial amount.

Memorable moments...

Walking down the aisle with my Dad was so special and you could tell how proud he was. Seeing Bryce's face as I was walking down the aisle and giving him the biggest smile. Looking at all of our guests during the ceremony and acknowledging them to let them know how grateful we were to have them all there for us. The speeches and in particular Bryce's, as it was filled with lots of emotion. Our super fun reception including the Final Furlong horse racing game, photo booth with horse racing props, espresso martinis in single serve jars and dancing non-stop with our guests.

The wedding soundtrack...

Pre arrival songs - Flight Facilities 'Clair De Lune feat. Christine Hoberg' and Birdy 'The Fault in our Stars - Not About Angels'

Processional - I walked down the aisle to Angus and Julia Stone 'For You'

Signing of the register - Fleetwood Mac 'Songbird' and Charlene Soraia 'Wherever You Will Go'

Recessional - Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' and Bon Iver 'Skinny Love'

First dance - James Arthur 'Say You Won't Let Go' played live by The White Tree.

M A R R I E D L I F E...

We went to Noosa for 5 nights straight after our wedding to relax and enjoy being newlyweds.

Honeymoon...

We went to New York and Hawaii for three weeks over New Years Eve.

Future plans...

We are looking forward to enjoying married life together, overseas travel to Europe this year and starting a family.

In 40 years we hope to...

We will be happily married with family around us and have travelled and had many more adventures together.

W O R D S O F W I S D O M...

The engagement...

Enjoy all the celebrations and champagne, it's such an exciting time in your life.

The planning process...

I have an event management background, so the planning side was easy. Once we locked in the venue and date, it was a matter of selecting and booking all the other key suppliers early to ensure they were available. I researched each supplier in terms of the work they do and ironically they were all connected or had at least worked together at some point previously.

We were organised in the lead up to our big day, which made the planning side of things really easy and stress free. Communication is key with your suppliers and bridal party, and make sure you have a run sheet as a guide, so everyone knows what is happening on the day.

On the day...

There was a planned power outage from 8.30am-4pm on our wedding day at the beautiful Air BnB property which my bridesmaids and I were staying at. We didn't know until the morning, however thankfully my bridesmaids managed to hire a generator so that we could get our hair done. Luckily there was enough natural light to do our makeup. The girls said I was very relaxed, by that point I was just super excited to see Bryce and get married.

Once the big day arrives just enjoy every minute, let family and friends deal with any hurdles that may arise on the day.

Take some time out to spend alone together on your special day, it goes past so quickly and you need to take a moment to step back and take it all in.

Photography: Lost In Love Photography / Venue: All Smiles Sorrento / Celebrant: Emma Tomlinson / Dress and veil: Pearls and Roses Bridal / Shoes: David Jones / Bride's rings & bracelet: Holloway Diamonds / Bride's earrings: Pearls and Roses Bridal / Menswear: Hugo Boss / Bridesmaid's dresses: French Connection & Isabel Marant / Videography: Moon and Back / Florals: Poppy Culture & Cartel Flowers / Makeup: Hillary Holmes / Hair: Megan Loft (bride) / Serge Vidal (groom) / Entertainment: The White Tree / Cake: Liz Zimmermann (friend of ours) / Horse Game 'Final Furlong': Austral Amusement Company / Espresso martinis: Melbourne Martini / Honeymoon: Noosa 'mini moon', New York and Hawaii 'honeymoon'