Real Essense of Australia Bride Liz + Mitch

A modern approach to a romantic, vintage-inspired wedding, we can’t get over the meaningful details of real Essense of Australia bride Liz’s wedding!

From the bride: Mitch, my now husband, planned the whole proposal day to make it special for me. First, he took me out to breakfast, followed by a visit to the glasshouse (Butterfly Exhibit) part of the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. Mitch suggested walking out by the fountain near the Art Museum as we headed out of the glasshouse. As we walked he told me he wanted to take me to see the butterflies because he knew my mom (who passed away) loved them and he wanted her to be a part of the day since he had already talked to my Dad, then he got down on one knee and proposed with a beautiful ring. My closest friends came running out behind the fountain to congratulate us! Talk about a surprise! Mitch asked our families to be ready at our their houses to have a celebratory toast shortly after and to take pictures. Afterwards, we went off to the lake to celebrate with more friends for the rest of the evening.

When I went dress shopping, I was hoping to find a unique dress that was whimsical and romantic. I was a big fan of the fit and flare style and also loved tulle. I only tried on about six dresses at my appointment, but when I put on “the dress” we all teared up a bit and I knew it was the one!

The theme of our wedding was modern vintage with burgundy and cream colors. There were a lot of personal touches to our wedding to make it special. For example, instead of table numbers, we used places that were meaningful to us. Mitch and I love Dave Matthews Band so we had the wedding party walk down the aisle to their song “Satellite”.

Photography by Anne Spires

The most special memory of the day was the first dance. Although all eyes were on us, it felt like my husband and I were the only two people in the room dancing to a special song we knew every word to.