‘When we initially started planning the wedding we found our location and style of the wedding very easy to decide on. Finding suppliers was easy enough, though we found it difficult not hearing back from all of the places we contacted. For all of the emails and phone calls we made, we only heard back from 1/3 of suppliers. Most of the suppliers we did hear back from, were ones recommended to us from our venue, other suppliers, friends and family.
One of the things we loved about our venue, was that it was pretty much all inclusive for our ceremony, reception, food and drinks. They were also really flexible, which was great for us as our kids were on the spectrum and we needed a lot of understanding for everything to go smoothly, which it definitely did. We loved the venue to begin with and the Eden room was perfect for our wedding style, but the organisation and professionalism of the venue, event planner and her staff was what sealed the deal for us. She was willing to go above and beyond anything we had imagined to make the day perfect!
Even when we had things go wrong, they didn’t matter because the team and all of the suppliers just worked so hard to make us feel relaxed and happy and cared for! On the morning of the wedding, I didn’t have a reception dress to do our first dance in, I hadn’t purchased the surprise birthday cake for Jeff, my wedding and engagement rings had only just arrived at the jewellers the night before, the wedding cake was half done, the wedding and flower girls dresses weren’t steamed, the boys suits weren’t ironed, and my dress wouldn’t do up! We also had the girls in the wrong dresses, I ended up writing my vows in the limo and the lovely girls at the venue eventually got my dress to do up! That was just me, Jeff had his own issues, he forgot pocket squares, ties, couldn’t find his vows and his ride turned up at my house instead of were he was. He thought he was late but thanks to my dress, he was not. Despite all of this, everything went well over all! Everyone made us feel happy, excited, loved and calm. Even on the day there was nothing too hard to solve.
Everything that happened on the day was such a whirlwind, but we were also so in the moment that it seemed like we missed so many things that went on. It was great and 100% worth it, to have a videographer at the wedding to capture everything we did, we saw and we didn’t see! All Your Memories were so professional! I hardly noticed Bernice was there, unless I actually took a moment to look around and she was working hard to capture all of the important moments! She definitely captured more than I thought she ever would! When we watched the video with the kids, they were so excited to see themselves, all of our family members and friends. We couldn’t have asked for more from Bernice, she is so professional and talented! As someone who is a very visual person, I love the feeling a dressed room can give you and the atmosphere of the day was definitely captured by All Your Memories!
What mattered to us most when planning was being flexible, but also sticking to your guns! We wanted one style, but as not many people had that style these days, the wedding style started to morph into something we weren’t happy with. The style had always been enchanted forest, with a beautiful mix of flowers and fairy lighting, though it began to morph into a bohemian style, as this is what most couples had, or most suppliers catered for at the time. No matter how much we tried to look for our style, it wasn’t there, so we had to do quite a lot of specific things ourselves to make it work. We made sure we started making and organising things early enough, that if they went wrong, we could figure out an alternative.
We also spent money on the things we wouldn’t be able to do, or do in time, or things that had to be done at the last minute, when we wouldn’t have time. The florist took care of bouquets, buttonholes and the arbour arrangement, though we organised table centrepieces as we wanted them to be different and eclectic. The cake was purchased, but decorated by a family friend. Anything we could do easily enough ahead of time, was at least attempted. If it didn’t work out, that was ok. We just gave ourselves time to fail, which meant me had time to fix it, change it, or adapt it to work. The way we thought of it was, if it can be done by a supplier, the way you want it, then why not let them take the stress off of you. If it can’t be done the way you want it by someone else, either do it yourself or meet them halfway and do the part you can do. It’s worth researching and trying, just be prepared to take time to do it and take time to adapt.
Ask for help (I am very bad at this) or at the very least ask for opinions. You don’t have to take advice, but it’s worth listening and see if any of it works for you. If not, just wing it!’
– Mackarla & Jeff
WEDDING DAY SUPPLIERS
Wedding Videography – All Your Memories (ESSENTIALS package )
Venue – The Club at Parkwood Village
Celebrant – Kate Turner
Photography – Willidea
Wedding Dress – Pronivias
Hair & Makeup – Bohemian Bride Collective
Flowers – The Flower Garden
Cake – The Cheesecake Shop
DJ – Explosive Entertainment
Bridal Dance Choreography – Let’s Dance Studios