REAL WEDDING SPECIAL – EM & RYAN BELLINGDALE FARM - TWEED COAST, NSW

We wanted to share this gorgeous story of gorgeous couple Em & Ryan with all of our followers, their love story and their Wedding was a dream. Their Wedding planning also creating inspiration for the rained out couple, offering light that it’s not all doom and gloom and that you can actually have the wedding of your dreams with the right team!

Enjoy the read… xx

Turning back the clock of time way back to 2012, where both Emily and Ryan grew up in Tasmania, we them both crossing paths at the age of 16 and 17 at the local gym in Devonport. They were both attending year 11 but at different schools. Ryan made first contact, as any gentleman would through Facebook messenger. The chats began and he asked her out on a date. Emily picked Ryan up as he didn’t have his license, where they went ten-pin bowling - and for the record Emily smashed him.

By the Summer of 2013 Ryan had assumed they were a couple, yet Emily was waiting for the conversation and a verbal agreement. Sick of waiting she asked him the night before heading to a music festival if he was going to ask her to be his girlfriend. Ryan responded, “do I have to ask, I don’t know what you want me to say.” Very reassuring for Emily! Then we find our lovebirds in Uni at Launceston and soon enough Emily moved into the share house that Ryan was in with 5 other boys. By 2018, Ryan got accepted to study up on the Gold Coast for his Masters and they packed their bags to make the leap of faith up to paradise.

Their wardrobes finally merged in their own place. Life was looking peachy and the years ticked off the calendar. Come early 2021 Ryan knew it was time to get a ring on Emily’s finger. He’d had the ring for a couple of months but was waiting for their planned January trip up to Port Douglas and Palm Cove. The bags were packed and they were ready to go but crazy Monsoonal Rains had shut down the flights up to Cairns and our Groom was sent into a bit of a frazzle. He needed a Plan B fast and saw Noosa as the next best thing. Peak season bookings in a holiday mecca destination, at the last minute is always going to sting the wallet and Emily was fuming at the amount of money he’d just spent. And why was he acting so weird, he told her he was a bit unwell and might be coming down with something… Great Emily thought he was going to be sh** (below average) company for holiday number 2. Luckily he made a miraculous recovery and they headed north to the Sunshine Coast.

They shared a beautiful day walking the national park, then went out for an early dinner, Ryan couldn’t eat a thing though the red wine went down easily. After another bar hop, he realised the sun was disappearing and rushed Emily down to Little Cove, which was quite the hike.

At the right location, Ryan said all the romantic words, dropped the knee and pulled out the ring. It was all a massive surprise to Emily, the happy tears fell. They headed back into the main street, walked barefoot into the bottle shop bought a bottle of Janz Bubbles, Emily took a sip and Ryan proceeded to drink the whole bottle to himself in relief. That didn’t help on the planned adventure of a 30km kayak that Ryan had planned for the following day!! They headed to Tassie after a couple of days enjoying their love bubble, to catch up with their families and celebrate the good news.

2. What inspired your styling and why did you choose your venue?

We attended the Tweed Coast Wedding Trail a few weeks after the proposal, with no mood boards, venue options or really any idea of what we envisaged the big day to look like at all. We purely went to scope out what costing would and could be involved in a wedding.

The first venue we pulled up to was Bellingdale Farm and instantly we both fell in love! We tried to hold back the excitement but knew straight away this was the venue for us. It was simply breath-taking. The farm style location reminded us both of home and the timber finishing's needed no decorating to make it shine. The lighting inside and out, and the outdoor fire pit just ticked all of the boxes!

On the spot, we booked a date, 21st May 2022. No special reason for the date, it just sounded right and for us, May was generally a quieter month, so what a way to fill it! From this point the wedding day seemed so far away but we quickly learnt that beginning to book vendors was key as the wedding game is extremely busy! The Tweed Coast Wedding Trail was the biggest help, having so many vendors across so many areas. It had us taken back by the endless possibilities!

Thankfully, our styling and ideas of a wedding matched each other from the beginning. Simplistic but elegant soon became the theme for our day. Using the features of the venue to shape our styling.

Emily searched high and low trying to find the right dress, not taken by anything traditional, lace-filled, or slim-fitting. Scrolling on Instagram, she came across Georgia Young Couture, based in Melbourne. Her dresses were elegant, detailed and yet simple. Nothing Emily had imagined but immediately caught her eye. A trip to Melbourne with bridesmaids, mum and grandma in toe. “I had been told that when you find the right dress you will know and that was certainly the case. In fact it was the first dress I tried on. It just felt right. I was immediately comfortable and the tears that flowed from my mum just cemented that I had found the one.”

Next a trip to try on dresses for the bridesmaids also ended in the first option being the winner. “I found the key was going in with no expectations, just finding a style and colour that the girls felt comfortable in. Melon-green, a colour I had not contemplated at all and a colour that became hard to describe to others, soon became my favourite colour and I am so glad we found it!”

Long stemmed white roses matched the style for the wedding dress, simple and elegant. The ladies at Arctic Fox were so accommodating and added babies-breath as a filler to shape our floral arrangements for the reception.

Our motto throughout the planning process was, ‘to trust the professionals’. We worked with vendors that plan for weddings each and every day so we trusted their suggestions and wouldn’t have changed a thing. It relieved so much stress and pressure for us by putting our trust in them.

Nicky from Signed With Love was amazing! We had originally planned for a cocktail styled wedding but as the time grew nearer we opted for the sit down reception which we are so glad we did. In the weeks leading up to the day, our guest list changed which in turn changed our wedding seating plans and with each change she responded promptly, with not stress or angst. We took inspiration from her Instagram page, sending screenshots of previous wedding signs she had made as inspiration with our own colour changes and wording.

A picture of the bridesmaid dress and a sample colour card from the paint shop to Nicky had her matching the melon-green of the dresses perfectly for our acrylic drinks menus, which were scattered up the tables for guests.

Our Wedding Welcome Sign, including a tongue in cheek one-liner and our wedding seating plan expressing our guests as a favourite people, set the scene for our day. Nicky was invested as much as we were in the planning and we could not have been more pleased with the result. Simple yet elegant again, fitted our day perfectly!

Our wedding welcome sign and seating plan will now become a feature in our new home and will forever be a reminder of our special day.

For us, our wedding was a day steered away from the traditions, with our focus being a day to celebrate. To celebrate our love and commitment to each other with all of our closest family and friends. Our celebrant, Benjamin Carlyle, captured our feel for the day and our personalities exactly! He hyped the guests, each with a drink in hand before the ceremony began and included them all in making a commitment to our marriage also which was fantastic! “We had guests asking if he was a close friend of ours for days following the wedding.”

Instead of cutting a wedding cake, we opted for scooping ice-cream! An option that was such a big hit with all of our guests during the reception. Wheel ‘n’ Spoon catered for us, adding all of the details with personalised cups and a cart that matched in with our theme. Might it added that the ice cream was also amazing!

Samir, from Janda Events catered all of the music for the day, from personalised acoustic for the ceremony and canapés, to DJ-ing the night away following the reception. A key we found with creating a playlist to dance the night away to, was we asked each guest in their online RSVP’s, to choose one song they would like to have included. This made for a great playlist which catered for all guests and this was then one less job we had to complete!

3. Let’s talk about the day itself, including the rain!

The day arrived and it was raining....heavily. Although the fingers and toes were crossed, it was known that the rain was not going anywhere for the afternoon. Emily and the bridesmaids arrived at the venue that morning to see the originally planned outdoor ceremony area to be a mud pit. Without a concern, it was known that the Sarah and the staff at Bellingdale Farm would have it under control. Again, they were putting our trust in the professionals.

Having the indoor ceremony back up went off without a hitch with guests not even realising we were originally meant to be outside.

Eliminating DIY made for the day to run seamlessly without any stress or worries. The bridal party spent the whole morning being pampered by Madi Wolfe (MUA) and Rachel of Aurum Bride (Hairstylist) without a need for concern of the pouring rain outside.

Photographer Kirk Wilcox and videographer Julie Elliott were delighted by the overcast backdrop and didn’t mind taking on the raindrops to get the shots. They embraced the weather, walking in the rain with and without umbrellas, embracing every part of the day.

Rain, hail or shine, it was their wedding day and they would not have changed a thing.