When all the guests are on the dance floor before the main meal, you know it’s going to be a good night! Hayley and Guy were surrounded by loved ones to celebrate the first precious moments together as husband and wife. #RCRealBride Hayley wore the Wedding Societe #259 gown. A V-neckline gown with a deep V back featuring delicate lace and soft beading. Gentle A-line skirt falling to a soft train. Photography by It’s Beautiful Here THE FIRST SIGHT Guy and I had been friends for a few years before we started seeing each other. We actually used to attend the same parties in high school, although we never really met or knew each other then!! During the first couple of years out of high school our mutal friends started hanging out more and more which led to us meeting and hanging out in a group of friends more regularly. I don’t think either of us saw an attraction or pictured us ending up together! In 2013, we all went to the Melbourne Cup as a big group of friends, and I guess you can say the rest is history, from then we started dating and 6 years later, we were married! THE PROPOSAL We definitely don’t have your usual proposal story….I have never really wanted to be propsed to in a big way, my take on it is that such a huge life decision and commitment should be an equal conversation between two people. We went on amazing trip together to NYC in 2017, our first proper overseas trip together after a few years of being together and getting each other through a lot of challening times. The trip was a great opportunity to take stock of our increidble relationship and how much we cared for eachother. It was in NYC, with lots of long chats over delicious dinners that we made the choice that we would like to spend the rest of our lives together, and decided to set some life, relationship and personal goals in place that we wanted to achived before eventually getting married in 2019. Our family and friends had no idea about these plans of ours, and we surprised them all with save the dates for our wedding in May, with no engagement annoucenment they were all a little shocked at first! THE VENUE We chose Half Acre in South Melbourne which is run by the team at food & desire. We had a loose plan to get married in 2019 for about a year, however it all only became real for us in around Jan/Feb 2019 that we would be going ahead, so for an October date we only really had about 9 months to plan it, so venue availability was a huge factor for us! We wanted a fresh and fun venue with great style and amazing food, we needed to be able to accommodate around 150 people comfortable and 100% wanted it to be in inner Melbourne. I did some research and made a short list of my favourites and from this list it was clear from both Guy and I that the front runner was Half Acre, the interiors are so incredible and it has such a lovely feel. Luckily when I made the call, they had availability for our proposed date! It was meant to be, we went to view the venue, and essentially booked on the spot. FAVORITE MOMENT This is a really hard question, I definitely have a few… walking into the church with both my parents by my side seeing all the amazing people we love smiling back at me was incredible, and then reaching Guy at the alter was all very surreal and special. There is a photo of me looking at Guy for the first time that day, and I don’t think I’ve seen a more smiley photo in my life, it really captures how Guy makes me feel, really happy! Another highlight would definitely just be the overall atomosphere of the whole day, every single person we spoke to was having the BEST time, which was out main goal – we just wanted everyone to enjoy themselves! Everyone was up and dacning before mains were served, and once all speeches were done the entire guestlist didn’t leave the dancefloor all night! Everyone was serving their best dance moves and having the time of their lives, it was just one big party of everyone we love the most – I wish we could do that part over and over again! A few of my closest girlfriends came to my parents house early in the morning before my bridemaids and I got ready, they were only there for a short time and there was a lot of energy and excitement in the room, but it was so special to see them all and share a champagne before the craziness of the whole day kicked in! If you aren’t too nervous of a bride and can handle a few people around, I would highly recommend doing this, it is really really special! THE DRESS I certainly went from one extreme to another with my dress, when we first decided to get married I never pictured I would get a ‘proper’ wedding dress, I thought I would just buy a nice white dress from a label I liked. However one of my good friends (one of the only people who knew about the wedding before we announcend it) convinced me to at least try a few appointments before I 100% made up my mind. The dress made me feel amazing, it is so different to anything I pictured I would wear. After trying on about 6 or so dresses it was a choice between the Wedding Societe Dress and another dress, and the other dress was so much more what I had pictured would be me, but for some reason my dress just made me feel so comfortable and felt right in everyway. I loved the colouring, the nude/blush tone of it, and the beading to the bodice was also spectacular, my favourite part of the whole dress and the main reasons I chose it was the glittered underlayer in the skirt. I had definitely loved the idea of some glitter incorporated into my dress, and this skirt was just perfect. It was so much more of a ‘bride’ look than I expected, but I loved it so much. FINDING THE ONE My shopping experience at RC was incredible, being a little body consious I went into the appointment convinced that nothing in any of the shops would work on me. By some form of fate or amazing luck I had the beautiful Francesca as my intital consultant and I truly think she is the reason I walked away with a dress that day. Her process was so helpful in helping me narrow down what I liked and what suited me, she was open to my ideas but also firm is letting me know what worked and what didn’t. She made me feel so comfortable and I thank my lucky stars she was assigned to me on that day. TIPS FOR ALL THE BRIDES TO BE I am a Project Manager for work, so planning the wedding was really quite easy and fun for me, because I am used to making decisions and juggling lots of tasks at a time. My biggest tip is to just do it, make decisions, follow your gut and don’t beat around the bush. Nothing worse than going back and forth on a million different options and never making a decision, just sort it out and get it done! One way to help that is to not go to too many different vendors for quotes, just chose a select few that you’ve done your research on, don’t waste your time or your potential vendors’ time on requesting 7 different quotes for each item! It’s also important to rank different elements of the wedding and how important they are to you and your partner, so that you can compromise where you are happy to and you can also achieved the results you want on elements that are non-negotiable. The obvious one is also, set a budget and stick to it, keeping track of all expenses is really crucial in making sure you have enough money left to round out all those last minutes costs before the day! On relationships, our biggest success factor I think is communication, it sounds cliché, but it’s because it works! When Guy and I first started seeing each other 6 years ago, we had both been in previous relationships and we both knew we wanted open and honest communication no matter what. We have stuck by that, we always tell each other how we are feeling and we always try to understanding the other’s perspective. Pent up anger never helps anyone. Photographer: It’s Beautiful Here “Kat and Scout captured our day perfectly, I had stalked their instagram for so long and loved their work, we feel so lucky to have had them create such beautiful photos of our day.” Venue: Half Acre Church/Celebrant: St Joseph’s Malvern Priest: Father Chris Middleton SJ Flowers: Billie Jean Botanicals “Hilary is AMAZING, her flowers are so beautiful and she nailed our brief.” Cake: @cloud9customcakes (Facebook/Instagram only) Hair: Meg from Sobo Studio Makeup: Kitty from Sobo Studio Shoes: Charlotte Mills from The White Collection Invites: Our amazing friend Hannah is an artist and she customed designed all our stationary for us Instagram: @hannahraepowell Suits: Oscar Hunt Tailors Band/DJ: Bruce Harrison DJ – “Bruce did an incredible job at balance our long list of requests, keeping the dance floor pumping and reading the room.” Bridesmaid Dresses: Custom Made with fabric from Tessuti in Flinders Lane Bonbonerie: We decided to donate money on behalf of our guests to Orygen Youth Mental Health Services Table Centrepieces: Amazing floral arrangements from Hilary at Billie Jean Botanicals Rings: Custom from Tishe Jewellry