Essense of Australia Bride Hillary

Real Essense of Australia Bride Hillary + Adam

Inspired by timeless, romantic tradition, Hillary wanted her wedding to be something she could look back on in 50 years and still feel like everything was in style. From her Essense of Australia wedding gown to the historic wedding and reception venues, her perfect classic, romantic wedding was captured beautifully by Laura’s Focus Photography. Congratulations, Hillary and Adam!

From the bride: We chose the location for our wedding ceremony because it was the beautiful old church that we both attended. We chose our reception site because it was in a convenient historical location downtown, only a half-mile away from the church and easy to find for our out-of-town guests.

DIY tips: Add personal touches everywhere you can, but be careful not to get too overwhelmed by it all. Initially, I wanted everything to be personalized down to the hangers that would be used by my bridesmaids, but quickly learned that small costs add up, and time was of the essence. Instead of buying hangers with their name and the date on it from Etsy for $15 each, I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and got some nice dark wooden hangers with a 20% off coupon ($4 for 4). I then tied an ivory satin ribbon around the top and presto……a pretty hanger for their bridesmaid dress at a fraction of the original cost.

Vendor advice: Get EVERY DETAIL in writing! We had found this amazing band with an impressive lead female singer. We got the contract for the band and I noticed that it didn’t list the names of the band members, it just said “7 performers.” Well, this concerned me because the only reason we were going with this band was for the lead singer and she was not guaranteed in the contract. I inquired my concerns to the manager and he said “Oh, yeah we’ve been meaning to change that on the website. She left the band TWO years ago, but the new lead is just as good.” Needless to say I was furious that they were trying to use the old singer’s performance to book jobs for the new singer. It’s really hard to trust a vendor after they do something like that, so we went with another band and were very happy with our choice.

I highly recommend that you meet with several photographers before booking one. You really want to connect with their personality/style and trust them to capture all the special moments on your big day. We used the same photographer for our engagement photos, my wedding portraits and the ceremony/reception. We clicked right away and I knew she was a keeper when she was happily willing to help my husband pick out a shirt for the engagement photo session. I feel like most people would not have been that patient with a tardy couple, but it set us at ease and the pictures reflected that level of comfort with her.

The most special moment of my wedding day was when I was saying my vows to my fiance. I was really nervous and was getting a little emotional, but my fiance just stroked my hand and quietly said, “It’s ok.” That’s all I needed to finish my vows without an ugly crying.

 

Essense of Australia Bride Hillary

Essense of Australia Bride Hillary

Essense of Australia Bride Hillary

Essense of Australia Bride Hillary

Essense of Australia Bride Hillary

Essense of Australia Bride Hillary