Stu and I met online over 8 years ago on Tinder! We had our first date at the Eat Street Markets in Brisbane where we instantly hit it off. My first impressions were that he was incredibly good-looking, relaxed, and down-to-earth which just made the conversation easy. We actually only told a handful of people that we met on Tinder but as the years went on we told more and more people. My mum only found out when this question came up at my Hen’s weekend!

3 years ago we went on a 4 week holiday to Europe. We travelled through Italy, Croatia and Greece. It was in Santorini where Stu surprised me one night at a special dinner. When we arrived at the dinner venue, a lady put a blind fold on me and Stu led me to an area outside. When I took the blind fold off we were in front of the Santorini sunset, surrounded by candles with music playing in the back. And there was Stu, down on one knee in front of me with a ring in his hand! I honestly had no idea. He said the most stressful part was making sure I didn’t find the ringduring our travels prior to him proposing.

The style I was striving for with the wedding was Modern Country. We always knew we wanted to get married in the hinterlands. When we saw ‘Cowbell Creek’  we knew this was the place where we would get married. It had the perfect combination of beauty and country and really reminded us of where Stu grew up in the remote areas of far North NZ. The rolling hills, green grass and the cows - the highland cows at Cowbell are just the cutest!  In decorating, I wanted the vibe to be beautiful and relaxed, with many neutrals and natives. I always envisioned getting married outside and the wedding venue offered the option to get married out under their beautiful fig tree, which was just gorgeous!

I organised it myself but our venue had a wedding coordinator included. So once I picked everything I wanted, the wedding coordinator organised everything from there, including arranging arrival times for vendors and ensuring everything flowed on the day itself so that no one had to ask me questions. 

My wedding dress was quite simple which I loved! It was made from white crepe and was fairly figure-hugging. I had buttons on the back and a long train. The mesh cut-outs underneath my arms on the sides were one of my favourite features. 

I wanted to keep it simple so I wore the Triple Pearl Stack U-Thread Earrings in gold to match my gold engagement and wedding rings. I felt they were the perfect match to my dress. I also bought my Bridesmaids the same earrings to wear on the day, which looked beautiful! 

I really enjoyed getting ready on the morning of the wedding. I spent the morning with my three bridesmaids, mum, and mother-in-law. My maid-of-honor had bought a heap of breakfast options so we all spent grazing on that, chatting and listening to music while we had our hair and makeup done. Our photographer actually mentioned how relaxed we all were and how good it was that the hair and makeup ladies had finished on time as they often are running late. There’s honestly nothing I’d change about the morning!

I had my Dad walk me down the aisle. I had always known this would be the case and I know he was really looking forward to it himself as I’m his only daughter! It was really special.  

Fallen so Young - Declan Donovan

Having our loved ones present, the amazing food (and alcohol of course!) and a bunch of gorgeous photos to look back on!

Focus on making the day full of things that you want and love (not what you think everyone else wants). Once the day comes, try your best to not worry and just take in every moment. You spend so much time organising and worrying leading up to the day so you deserve to sit back, get pampered and enjoy your beautiful day that you’ve been waiting so long for!