Cover photo: Lauren Campbell

NSW South Coast Wedding – Photography and Video

No amount of anticipation or visualising could prepare me for the moment that I walked out from behind those tipis with my dad on my arm, to see 100 of our favourite people stand and turn towards me. Before I knew it I had my ugly crying face out for everyone to see. It was ok though, because it looked like they were ugly crying along with me.

Lyndon and I don’t really do things in halves – we go all out. We put everything we have into the things we care about. Sometimes that’s exhausting, but this time it was well worth the massive investment of time and energy. One of the things that we get the most enjoyment out of in life, is facilitating time and space for people to spend time with their friends and make new ones. Our friends and family shared their thoughts about our week long wedstival with us during the days before and after the wedding. One friend told us that their New Years resolution was to make more of an effort to catch up with people they cared about. Several people mentioned that they had been going through a bit of a rough time, and that being involved in our week long community gathering had reminded them that they were in fact important to many people.

We brought in 2017 by dancing in the rain with our favourite people. We celebrated Christmas by officially joining two families, and spent a whole week without watching tv and without phone reception. People drove across the country from Western Australia, Victoria and Queensland, and flew over from New Zealand. Some made new friends and others caught up with old friends. We bonded over food fights, watching movies together at our outdoor cinema under the stars, camping, and swimming in the ocean. It was so much more than a wedding, and it reminded us how important it is to spend quality time with the people we love. Here’s to 2017 and acknowledging the people who support, encourage and inspire us.

Being part of a little community of family and friends for that week made me realise how much we are missing that sense of community and connectedness in our everyday lives. Both of our extended families live interstate and overseas, as do many of our friends. The challenge now is how to recreate that feeling without the logistical nightmare of planning Christmas, a wedding and a holiday for 100+ people all in one week. I think we all just want to be part of something bigger than ourselves, to have meaning and purpose and relationships. To matter, to make a difference. Our wedding was about making a public commitment to love and support each other for the rest of our lives. It was also about bringing people together, and spending quality time on our relationships and friendships. We’re very privileged in that we’re able to document weddings for other people through photography and film, and to share their celebrations with them. Now we feel that we’ve learnt so much from being on the other side of the camera at our own wedding.

Here’s what we learnt:

• You get out of it what you put in. Epic celebrations require time, money and lots of hard work! But it’s all worth it.
• Things will go wrong. For example, you might be providing your own alcohol for your guests, and you’ve expertly calculated exactly how much you’ll need. Then you completely run out of beers by 7pm and your legendary friends make a trip into town to the bottle shop. But the alcohol shortage won’t *really* matter, because there will be far more important things happening – like making a life time commitment to another person
• People really enjoy giving you their opinions about how your wedding should be. That’s ok, they’re just trying to help. But you need to focus on what’s most important to the two of you
• Some decisions will be difficult, but you have to trust yourselves and know that you’re doing the right thing
• Most people want to help out and be involved, give them things to do and clear instructions (beforehand if possible to take the pressure off you)
• Unexpected and un-planned things will surprise you and become a highlight of the day. Like the rain, or oversized inflatable swans, your best friend’s secret song request, or your dad’s outrageous speech
• Weddings are an emotional time for people, the highs and lows are intense and you can’t expect everyone to be rational all of the time (including yourselves).
• There are so many small details that are literally not important at all. Zero. Like whether the fairy lights are on dimmer mode, flashing mode or continuously lit. Or whether the adults have mini cocktail umbrellas in their drinks. You may be laughing at us right now – but we’re total perfectionists, and it only seems obvious now in hindsight that these things were meaningless and totally irrelevant!

If you’re planning your wedding right now, feel free to read through our 10 part blog series here with tips and advice. We share honest and practical advice on how to choose your venue, celebrant, wedding photographer and videographer, advice on timing and run sheets, as well as a couple of guest articles from experts in the industry.

A couple of highlights from the day to get started:

Approximately 12 hours earlier …

We’d really like to acknowledge all the people who worked with us to make our wedding happen. It wouldn’t have been the same without these people.

Our wedding vendors:

Photographer: Lauren Campbell
Cinematographer: Filmed by Fallow Rose Wedding Co and Zephyr Productions, edited by Anthea and Lyndon Film and Photography
Florist: Folklore & Co
Stylist: Vickie Torres (Lyndon’s mum)
Invitations: Minted website
Ceremony and reception venue: Corunna Farm
Catering: Mr Bold
Cake: Bodalla Bakery
Wedding favours: handmade with tea from Adore Tea
Games hire: Dream Hire Design
Beach chairs and umbrella hire: April’s Caravan
Tipi: Kata Lane
Lighting hire: Woodbrook
Signage: Allira’s Inklings
Entertainment: Creative Sound Concepts
Celebrant: Debra Summer
Wedding bands: made for each other in a workshop at KIN Gallery

BRIDES CREDITS
Bridal gown designer: Divine Atelier
Bridal Boutique: Babushka Ballerina
Flower crown: Folklore & Co
Hair and makeup: Tash Owers
Bridesmaid dresses: custom made tops by Smitten. Inc, ASOS skirts

GROOMS CREDITS
Jacket, shirt and pants: Politix
Tie: Melbourne Dapper
Shoes: Windsor Smith
Watch: Simple Watch Co
Groomsmen suits: ASOS