Prepare to be blown away with inspiration from today's epic Sydney wedding. When you blend two super creative minds you are undoubtedly going to have a pretty epic celebration. To say this is a colourful wedding is a understatment. Natalie and Nicole are two colourful and unique souls who painted their personalities all over their wedding. With a wonderful mix of pretty rustic elements, vintage finds and a dash of random eclectic pieces all set in the very cool bohemian setting of Sunnybrooke Barn, in Sydney. With all the amazingly colourful décor and brilliant blend of cool graphics and craftiness - which is beyond amazing, you will be hard pressed not to be inspired! The amazing day was captured by Lara Hotz so put down everything and take it all in...
To truly find your soul mate is an incredible thing. For most of us heartbreak is inevitable at some point in our lives. It's the people who pick us up and navigate our fragilities to love us unconditionally that matter in the end. Natalie and Nicole's love story is one of instant attraction, taking baby steps and falling madly in love, now doesn't that sound like a passionate movie script or what? I'll let the girls fill you in on the rest... "Our friend Gwen had watched each of us rising from the coma of heartbreak and saw that there was something there between us, and she was right. When we first met, we each had an immediate connection seated in a sense of calm and familiarity that allowed us to really open up to one another and discover our similarities and differences. This wasn’t a simple thing. We tried to ignore the magnitude of our attraction, but failed spectacularly! We each had to negotiate our own pains and shames and even let each other go to be able to find each other again. It was this trust in love that lead us to the certainty and acceptance that we draw from each other."
We both infinitely support and equally challenge one another. In this relationship, we are the best version ourselves together. A rare place. We share the same values and want the same things out of life. We understand each other and have both been 70 since we were 9! We bring out each other’s creative and eccentric inner dorks and share a sense of the ‘extraordinary’ which brings us great joy. Choosing to marry was a monumental moment in our lives and signifies a new chapter of openness, a celebration of life, love and commitment.
Before I go any further with this love story I have to explain the nickname situation of these gals (as I was a tad confused myself with all the sweet pet names the girls share.) So Natalie is known as Nat, while Nicole is often referred to Nix or Nippy, (N is for sure the best letter - Ed (Naoise) Getting this straight helps will the rest of this tale. So on to the proposal. It was Nat that officially proposed to Nix, and what a proposal. It began with a childhood story that started an internet search, which ended in a treasure hunt across Sydney. It was one epic plan, and Nat gave us the deets...
"Nix had told me a story of growing up in Johannesburg. She had a talking doll called ‘Corky’ who took cassette tapes and read her books in English. He had denim overalls and ginger hair; a literary leprechaun of sorts. Corky was a kind of strange constant in Nix’s chaotic roving childhood. I searched him down on eBay and finally found a rare working one in Ohio. I snuck out on a Sunday morning while my friend Gaby planted Corky at our front door. I had emulated in a Disney-type voice instructions to go to ‘Pickering Lane’. At ‘Pickering Lane’, Gaby met Nix in a chauffeur’s outfit and drove her to the Opera house where she handed her a bag. In the bag was the Sydney Morning Herald in which I had altered the 9-letter word. Being the word genie she is, Nix nutted out the word ‘Botanical’ and started to head towards the gardens. At the gate, my brother Kris met her with her mode of transport – a uni(corn)cycle – a bike I had decorated to look like a unicorn (a reoccurring theme in Nix’s imagination). I had been in the gardens since the early hours setting up a picnic...
...Of course nothing ever goes to plan and I had neglected to realize that riding bikes is prohibited in the Botanical Gardens so Nix was promptly stopped by a ranger and told to ‘Dismount the unicorn’. She made it to her picnic under the tree by foot. We had tea in china cups and her favourite food and sat under a canopy of lanterns and bunting. As is our ‘thing,’ I got her to start the crossword which I had also altered: 23 down reading ‘Nippy – Will you marry me?’. She said yes (phew) and I took us to Cockatoo Island on the ferry for a night in the heritage cottage. I cooked her, her favourite meal and we ate it overlooking the harbour listening to a custom cut vinyl with all of ‘our songs’ on it. It really was an unforgettable day. And for Nix it was perfect...It was like Nat crawled into my mind, found all the deliciously bizarre parts of my imagination, magic’ed a unicorn, channeled Frankie Magazine, called in some favours from a childhood memory, stuck a bird on it and asked me to marry her. It’s not just that she was the person I wanted to marry, she was the person I had to marry."
Of course with two as life-loving and fun, when it came to wedding planning, tradition was thrown out the window and the girls began crafting a day that represented them and their incredible imaginations.
For starters their wedding dresses - not your traditional flowing gowns for these two. Natalie's white floral embroidered wedding dress was from OFD fave Lover and she added a pop of colour with bright orange heels from Sachi. While Nicole went for the palest hue of blue in her mirage cocktail dress from Shona Joy and grey shoes from Shoes Of Prey. These boho babes wouldn't be complete without floral crowns of course!
Rather than having everyone miss them while they did hours of photos during the reception, the girls spent the morning before the ceremony together having fun with their photographer. Lara Hotz is pretty hotz with the camera (geddit) so together they explored the locality and captured some brilliant natural portraits, doing what they do best - having a great time.
So you're probably getting it by now, Natalie and Nicole are super fun. Judging from these pics, they really only need each other for giggles and great times, but of course they wanted to share their day with those they love dearly, so in predictably fabulous style these ladies put on quite the show and ramped up the fun factor to 11...
As venues go, Sunnybrook Barn at Sydney Polo Club is pretty incredible, it looks like one of those places that just hits you as soon as you enter, so it's no surprise the girls cite that butterfly feeling as their main reason for choosing it, as Nat explained "It was just instinct, we felt calm, like the barn was a friend.We were looking for a ‘non-eventish’ venue. Simplicity is a happy place for both of us; we were dreaming of flaws - real and fuss-free. The barn seduced us with authentic style where rules don’t get in the way of creative abandon. The barn itself was the hero, everything else was to show off her gorgeous bones."
Each element of their wedding had a personal touch from the DIY fans with hand-twined and painted handles with ‘We’re Your Biggest Fans’ tag attached. As well as a tambourines for each guest to use during the ceremony with ‘Shake What Your Mumma Gave You’ tags!
Colour played a huge role in the décor and their venue was a blank canvas for the pair to express themselves in a fun way. You may have guessed already but these gals aren't your average brides attempting a few DIY projects, they're actual DIY Queens and the brain child of Pony and Bear, a brilliant creative agency based in Sydney (check them out www.ponyandbear.com!) With creativity flowing out of them at every turn the décor had to be amazing...And it was...
What a great way to get your guest involved in your wedding - Let's make music!
Our priority was to do only what represented us and our love - no matter how against-the-grain; to not be sucked into a production-line nuptial. We didn’t want to include empty rituals or subscribe to the tyranny of ‘should’s.’ Really, all we wanted was to make a commitment in front of all the people that we love in an authentic, fun and creative way. As a same-sex couple, it is important to us that we not ‘hide’ because of shame so we challenged ourselves to have abandon in our expression and what happened was nothing short of magical.
The girls didn't quite fill us in on the ceremony details, so my guess is they did exactly what they wanted. Which meant a spot of tea, some shoe swapping and a lot of laughs...
It's official! Yay, let's celebrate...
Unlike the proposal Nat and Nic were able to cycle away into the distance after they said I do in a pretty cool wooden rickshaw, complete with a ‘Mrs and Mrs’ sign with heart streamers and a chauffeur of course.
One thing for sure, is there is a lot of love bouncing out of these images, Nat and Nic you are two lucky girls...
With full rein of the venue, the creativity just kept coming..."We wanted to blend an authentic dish of vintage rustic meets barn bohemian, with a side of random eclectic, grandma's legacy and inner child eccentric. The vibe was the love-child of both of our creative minds – kinda like the effect of kids locked in an ice-cream factory. No rules...
...We wanted a comfortable feel, not separated from nature. We kept the barn doors open after the ceremony and had an open-sided marquee during dinner from where we watched the sunset over the river and could hear the goats and horses contributing their congratulations."
The colour palette was based on our invitation design which we like to call ‘Colourdoscope’. We both enjoy the randomness of an open palette. The majority of colours inside the barn were neutral so as not to compete with the rustic canvas.
As well as all the vintage teacups, animal props and the eclectic pieces that decorated the tables, Nat and Nic brought random seasonal selections from the flower market which they cut and arranged in jars they'd been saving in the run up to the wedding.
The wedding party dined on pizza and salads sitting at long banqueting tables giving the feeling of a family gathering.
The crafts were endless, handmade entrance photo garland with twine and wooden pegs, garden games,wooden fencepost signs,personalised nametags, menus, all the stationery and even family lapel brooches made from billy buttons and feathers!
As you can see Nat and Nix put a huge amount of work into creating their perfect day together. The day seemed to go off without a hitch, so I couldn't wait to hear their words of wisdom...We had a lot going on in our lives in the year leading up to the wedding. Sometimes we managed to maintain our grace, sometimes we didn’t. What's important is your relationship and your finesse under pressure, so don't take yourselves too seriously. At the end of the day, all of the phone calls, late night crafting, list making, hauling and paper cuts were worth it because it's all part of the bigger experience together. Every couple is different and I think our advice would be – don’t compare yourself or your wedding to other people’s because they’re not you. When all is said and done, it was sharing our love authentically that was the greatest gift to both ourselves and the people in our life. On the day, make it a priority to tell everyone how grateful you are to have them in your life, start a conga line, take a moment with your partner to make a mental bookmark, ditch the platitudes and speak from the heart, don’t not do anything, even if it terrifies you (public speaking!) and finally - eat something!
Huge congratulations to Natalie and Nicole on their pretty epic celebration. A big Thank You goes to Lara Hotz for sharing her work with us at One Fab Day. To see more of Lara's work pop over to www.larahotz.com.
The Wedding Details
- Ceremony and Reception Venue: Sunnybrook Barn, Sydney Polo Club
- Natalie's Wedding Dress & shoes: Lover & Sachi
- Nicole's Wedding Dress & shoes: Shona Joy & Shoes Of Prey
- Photographer: Lara Hotz
- Videography: Light Noise Films
- Creative Direction & Stationery: Pony and Bear
- Event Planning: The Ideas Library
- Styling: Ra Ra Kitty / Pony and Bear
- Celebrant: Sumant Monty Badami
- Catering + Drinks: Dan The Man
- Cake: Sharon Holley
- Head crowns and wrist bands:Sweet Pea Floral Design
- Make Up & Hair: Petr Vackar
- Musicians: Elisha Keen, John Gnanasekaran, Antony Mutch,Danny May
