By
wedding date 1 october 2023
110 wedding guests
Married on their six year anniversary at Stones of Yarra Valley, Ashleigh and Karl had always loved the idea of a destination wedding and a weekend away. "We had been to so many weddings in Sydney & NSW, we decided to explore the Yarra Valley as not many of our guests had ever been there. We got married on a long weekend, with a dinner the night before the wedding and we had all 110 guests fly or drive to the Yarra Valley from Sydney which was an amazing effort."
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We are both from opposite sides of Sydney and we met at where we were working at GSK, where we were both dental sales reps. Karl was the top performer in the team so Ash’s challenge was to beat Karl. We became good friends and after 2 years started dating each other for 6 months before making it official on the 1st of October 2017 at Freds in Paddington. At our wedding we had our GSK manager Robyn, who I am sure knew before we knew that we were meant for each other.
Did you know leading up to it that Karl was going to propose?
We had gone to the jeweller the previous year to pick the ring design and started the conversations with our jeweller but Karl chose the diamond and Ash had no idea as to when or where the proposal would be. Karl had secretly gone and asked Ash’s parents to marry Ash; they were so happy, of course they said yes!
We wanna hear all about the proposal…
It all happened in February 2022. The plan was to take Ash away on a weekend getaway for her 30th birthday - the destination was Palm Beach, where Karl and Ash shared their first “I love you” under a moonlit sky. We were also in the middle of searching for their first house together - and the market was red-hot. A house they had seen just a couple of weeks earlier had its auction brought forward - to the same weekend as the proposal.
The seemingly nonchalant plan Karl had made for the birthday was now a risk of falling apart. The call had to be made and the Saturday schedule was replaced with a tightly knit plan to attend the Auction, drive straight to the Northern Beaches, get ready, and go for dinner at Berts. Karl pulled it off. Sunday was the big day however, and the weather was patchy in the morning. The plan was to take Ash to the jetty under the guise of a trip to Scotland Island on the ferry.
What Karl had waiting for her was a private yacht, and an unforgettable experience. The weather held off, and when the moment was right he brought some hidden flowers out to distract her from the real surprise. He dropped to one knee, and Ash said yes. We celebrated with champagne, a grazing board & a beautiful swim. That weekend we bought our first home, and got engaged, it was an incredible whirlwind of love & happiness.
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The Stones is an incredible venue, it took our breath away, from the tree lined driveway when you drive in, to the vineyards & mountains surrounding the property, not to mention the incredible staff throughout the entire process. We loved that The Stones was beautiful, timeless, premium and reminded us of Tuscany which is special to Ash as her grandparents are Italian & the plan was an Italian honeymoon.
The Stones property is its own adventure, with the Chapel where we got married, the Diary for cocktails & canapes and the Barn for the reception so the guests were taken on a journey on the property and we, with our amazing vendors provided surprises throughout the day & night
Your most faaaaave moment...
Ash’s favourite moment was when the doors opened and she saw Karl, she was so happy in the moment, she practically sprinted to the altar with her dad having to tell her to slow down, as per usual, she was super excited
Karl’s favorite moment was when we did our first dance and everyone started singing our song, it created the best vibe and was one of the best spontaneous moments that you could never plan.
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For us we really wanted a timeless, black tie, elegant wedding with all elements to complement this theme from the venue, the beautiful white florals and classic rolls royce cars with elements of fun to keep everyone happy and smiling throughout the day like our margaritas & saxophone player
We didn’t want to lose all the wedding traditions so Ash’s life-long neighbour Dane Sarkis, who is a ball room dancer, choreographed our dance with us and we would practice at Ash’s mum & dad’s place and at the local gym so we didn’t forget the steps.
We chose the song Don’t want to miss a thing because it was such a powerful song and on the wedding night everyone started singing to our song as we danced and it was just magic!
For us, a wedding is not only about our future and love for each other but truely about the guest experience. This was so critical for us with our planning to make sure the guests were taken on a journey throughout the wedding, with constant surprises!
Traditions
Something old - Nonna’s bracelet
Something new - Jane Hill wedding dress
Something borrowed - Ash’s mum’s wedding pearls
Something blue - Nonna’s sapphire ring
We focused a lot on surprises and fun details for our guests. Our favourite detail was we wrote each guest a personal letter as their place card about why we loved them and about how they impacted our lives and fun stories we had together. We got the videographers to film people opening them and later we saw so many people crying and sharing their letters with each other. After the wedding we have had people frame their letters or keep them in their handbag or on the fridge. All the effort was worth it, so they really had such beautiful, lasting impact on our all of our family & friends.
Our other surprises included:
Yoga for the bridesmaids for a lovely start to the day
Having our Nanna & Nanny as our witness as we hope our marriage will be as amazing & strong as theirs
Cocktails at canapes - margaritas of course
Cupcakes delivered to each person who was having a birthday over the long weekend which was 8 guests
Bride and groom both did a speech
Choreographed first dance
Second entrance, with different dress, led by a Saxophone player which was a great vibe and made the dancefloor pump even more
Sparkler exit ended in an amazing fireworks display
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Ash found two Melbourne designers she loved and found two places that stocked them. The first bridal shop unbeknownst to Ash had stopped stocking the designer a week before so she never got to trial that dress on. I wanted to take my Nan with myself & my mum & sister on the first visit which was really fun and such a memorable moment.
The other designer I loved was Jane Hill and I had a great experience with Love Marie in Camden and only took my mum & sister and keep the dress a surprise, even from my bridesmaids. I chose to semi-custom make my dress using Jane Hill designs, I chose the Cameron bodice and the Boston skirt to have a larger statement gown and I loved the asymmetrical skirt to the bodice.
Karl has great style and knew what suit he wanted for himself and the groomsmen so they went to Institchu and had them custom made. Karl went for the cream jacket, white shirt & black pants with our wedding date stitched in the inside of his jacket pocket.
What does marriage mean to you?
Marriage means to us
Love & support for each other
Happiness & having fun together
Making memories & going on adventures together
Strong communication no matter the challenges
A great partnership
Allowing each other to chase our dreams.
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Classic story you want to share...
What we bonded over immediately however was our mutual love for travel - and a desire to explore central America (particularly Cuba) together. This led to the first big milestone in our blossoming relationship, which was beginning Spanish classes together. From there, Karl would travel over 2 hours every week from the Hills to the Shire to join classes with Ash in a small unit in Sutherland - alongside 2 of Ash’s best friends, Erin and Freya. It clearly wasn’t just about his keen interest in Spanish!
A piece of advice that helped you the most when planning...
If you can, plan in advance and have a spreadsheet with every detail so you don’t forget anything, from bridal party gifts, to getting ready & everything for the day. Great vendors book out and because we booked everything in advance we were able to book everyone we wanted which was incredible and made our day even better!
Wedding facebook groups helped a lot as being from another state we didn’t have any first hand experience so we read a lot of reviews and instagram was also amazing for vendors & inspiration. Communication is really important with your partner to make sure you are happy with the choices and to make sure the wedding is all about your love and your story.
Go somewhere amazing for your honeymoon- you both deserve it!!
Don’t forget to count yourselves in the final guest numbers!
.jpg "ashleigh and karl | to the aisle")
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Ceremony aisle song (6 bridesmaids): Heaven by Grace George
Ceremony bride song: Can’t Help Falling in Love by Kina Grannis
Registry signing: Kiss Me by Sixthpence None The Richer
Recessional/Ceremony Exit: Send Me On My Way by Rusted Root
Reception Entrance song Groomsmen: I could be the one (avicii vs nicky romero)
Reception Entrance song Bridesmaids: We Found Love by Rihanna & Calvin
Reception Entrance song Bride & Groom: Calling (lose my mind) by Sebestian Ingrosso
Cutting of the cake: First Date by Blink 182
First Dance: I don’t want to miss a thing by Aerosmith
Father Daughter Dance: Isn’t she lovely by Stevie Wonder
First saxophone song/ bride groom re-entry: Feel so close by Calvin Harris
Final Song on dancefloor: Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
Farewell song: Dancing in the moonlight - Toploader
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Stones of the Yarra - incredible throughout and we loved that you get on the day & night co-ordinated to make sure everything is running smoothly.
Our celebrant and MC Jillian Lance had such amazing energy and told our story from the heart, it felt like she really knew us and she made the ceremony fun, energetic and seamless.
Judah Rose, beautiful ladies inside and out and their passion for florals, sustainability and bringing the floral and signage vision to life was fantastic.
We loved our videographers AJR films and photographers Lost In Love, there are all such lovely people, who do incredible work and we are so happy with the quality of the content and how the captured our day so perfectly in a way that felt like us.
The firework display from Northern Fireworks was beyond incredible, it was the most magical ending to our night for us and our guests.
For music, we had an acoustic duo from Like This Entertainment for our ceremony and canapes and they sounded like a dream in the Chapel when the girls and myself walked down the aisle. And we can’t leave out the DJ Sax combo for the reception which was so much fun!
Honestly, we loved all of our vendors, we were so incredibly happy.
Venue @stonesoftheyarravalley
Celebrant & MC @jillianlancecelebrant
Florist & Signage @judah__rose
Photographer @lostinlove_photography
Videographer @ajr_films
Music @likethis_entertainment
Cake & Cupcakes & Getting ready food @yarravalleycakecompanyweddings
Favors @yarravalleychocolaterie
Cars @alwaysclassiccars
Fireworks @northern_fireworks
