BRITTNEY X RYAN

wedding date 18 may 2019

95 wedding guests

Brittney + Ryan met in 2014 while they were both living in Darwin. Every year, there’s one day where everyone swims in the water (even though it’s croc infested!) and this day is called “Beer Can Regatta.” Everyone either makes their own boat out of beer cans to race on the day, or brings their boat, jetski, floatation device down to Mindil Beach in Darwin, to watch the race. "I was there with my group of friends, Ryan was there with his, and we bumped into each other on the shore. Our first kiss was in the ocean that day, surrounded by thousands of Territorians and possibly a few crocodiles!" Brittney shares.

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Tell us about the proposal: Three years to the day that Ryan and I met, he set up a picnic at Mindil Beach, in the exact spot we had met three years earlier!

What led you to decide on your Wedding venue? This was tricky and easy at the same time. Deciding on a state to have our wedding was the hard part. Ryan is from the Gold Coast, I’m from country Victoria, and we met and were living in Darwin, NT, when we got engaged. Ryan had one request - to get married on Tamborine Mountain. I’d never been there but loved the idea of a rainforest wedding. My one request was a place with accommodation, so all our guests could stay together, and we could make it a weekend get together. I came across Cedar Creek Lodges and it was PERFECT. I didn’t even view it in person before I booked it! The Rainforest Amphitheatre ceremony area drew me in, such a different, gorgeous setting.

What was the inspiration behind your Wedding theme? Our personalities. We both love nature. We both love to party! Greenery was a theme we used with our stationery, setting and colour scheme. The design of the wedding was focussed around a party with our nearest and dearest.

Favourite moments: Having our gorgeous 18 month old daughter in our arms during the ceremony-so special. Also, having everyone staying at the venue - this meant that even when we were getting ready, we had our family and friends with us. We loved the fact the wedding wasn’t just the ceremony and reception and then over. We all had breakfast together the morning of, celebrated our love at the ceremony, ate wonderful food and chatted at the reception, danced on the dancefloor and then had after wedding drinks in our room, followed by brekky together the next morning. It was so great, spending quality time, with all our loved ones, in the same spot.

Favourite detail: I loved my Ashlee Lauren crown. I found it and fell in love with it, and then picked the bridesmaids dresses to match. So modern and trendy, and I felt like a queen. I also loved my flowers. A mixture of wild and classic.

How was your dress/suit shopping experience?
A bit of a crazy adventure! I found my dress in the first and only shop I went into. I instantly fell in love because of the different lace. I knew I wanted a “different” dress to the usual, and this one ticked the majority of my boxes. I bought my dress from Just Formals while I was living in Darwin in August 2018.

By the time my dress was ordered and came in in April 2019, I was living in Melbourne, so it was posted to me. I had some alterations done in Melbourne, but the seamstress couldn’t hem the delicate lace, so I contacted the dress company, White April Bridal, directly, and they said if I sent it to their store in WA, they’d hem it for me. So, my dress travelled from the Northern Territory, to Victoria, to WA and then to Queensland for the wedding!

What does marriage mean to you? Some days you can’t stand them, but most days, you can’t stand being away from them.

Any classic stories you want to share from the day? In the middle of our formal vows, Ryan called me Regina, instead of Brittney (It’s my middle name) and everyone, including the guests, lost it! Also, we had our photos taken before the wedding, and we climbed up and onto fallen trees. It had been raining the night before, so everything was so slippery and we almost fell down, into the running creek! Also, one from before the day - I made our menus which were personalised and doubled as place-cards. I printed and cut out 95 of them before I realised I had spelt Entrée wrong! (entre)

Advice: Enjoy it! Expect things to go wrong, but just go with it. And be prepared for post-wedding-depression. All that build up, and then it’s over - we were both pretty sad after it was all done.

Stand out vendors: The venue were incredible! We loved our videographer. They are just starting out and captured it perfectly. Also, our florist, Kate. She’s also just started her own business and was so affordable and so sweet. Our celebrant, Lisa. We met as strangers and left as old friends.

More: our wedding was unique because of its location. The Rainforest amphitheatre was the most amazing place for a ceremony, which also turned into the dancefloor later on. The venue also allowed us to get the most incredible, unique photos. Our guests described our wedding as a “fun, rainforest fairytale” which we would have to agree on!

We also planned our wedding on a budget, and I’m really proud of my bargain hunting skills. Because of FB and Instagram, we could easily search through suppliers and ask for quotes and compare and find what I wanted for a fraction of the cost. We made sure we found reviews from people, as sometimes you get what you pay for, but our vendors were SO affordable and their services were incredible. Many were just starting out, but did a great job.