Afternoon lovely people and happy Monday (if there is such a thing!) I hope you all had a good weekend and Fathers Day.
We have been so looking forward to sharing today’s real wedding with you. It is an inspiration for any of our 2020 couples who are currently stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to their wedding plans. We wrote about this in more detail on Saturday (please click here to read) and promised to bring you content that we hope will aid you in your decision on whether to postpone until a later date or opt for a smaller, more intimate wedding. Mal and Zak, today’s gorgeous couple, went for the later and after going through the turmoil of accepting their new reality, they ended up having the most incredible ceremony, followed by a picnic with just the two of them organised by their closest suppliers, as Mal explains…
After over a year of planning and hard work, postponing just felt like a defeat. We really did not want to wait to start our lives together, especially with so much fear and uncertainty in the world. So, I relied heavily on our wedding coordinator and stylist, Brittnee of Oh So Brittnee, as well as our photographer Emily of Luna E Photos, to help me reevaluate our plans and try to come up with something that would still make our day special, while remaining as safe as possible. They were honestly my saving grace through all of this! When I felt defeated and heartbroken at the loss of the ceremony we had envisioned, they reassured me that they would do everything possible to make our day a special one, and man did they deliver on our elopement!
Their smaller ceremony took place in a gorgeous wildflower meadow. Brittnee and Emily set up a ceremony area with a macrame backdrop, Persian style rugs and bohemian vibes with luscious blooms in peachy earthy colours. Their picnic followed their couple portraits with nibbles, cake and wine and, as Mal and Zak explain, it ended up being everything they wanted and more…
Honestly, if I had to do it all over again, I would have gone with an elopement like this from the beginning and left out all of the drama and stress! Our wedding day was for us, and we got to celebrate our love in the most intimate way possible. This day was one that we will cherish for the rest of our lives together, and we couldn’t be more grateful for such a bright spot in the midst of so much darkness in the world
It is heartbreaking that couples are being forced to change their dream wedding plans. What we are all living through at the moment is testing us in ways we never thought we would be tested. I just hope that Mal and Zak’s wedding gives you some light at the end of the tunnel. You can still get married during the pandemic. It will be different, but different doesn’t have to mean less special. You can turn it into something that is so unique, so private and so perfectly suited to the two of you. And when this pandemic is under control and you can get married with no restrictions, you can throw the biggest of weddings. You can have a bespoke personal blessing for your ceremony (a bonus as the legal bit will be done – click on personal blessings to read more about them and the freedom you have to do anything you want) and the most epic of wedding receptions.
Mal and Zak share with us their beautiful wedding day…
An Intimate Wedding…
We had always wanted an intimate ceremony that would let our love and intimacy really shine through. As soon as we got engaged we started putting together our guest list and really tried our best to keep it limited to our closest friends and family. We just wanted something laid back and fun, that was always our criteria for the “perfect wedding”, we didn’t want all of the stress that comes along with bigger events. Believe it or not, the fact that so many people were excluded was actually the main source of controversy with our family surrounding the wedding planning! Little did we know that we would have the most intimate wedding day possible, even more so than we had originally hoped for!
News of The Pandemic…
When the news started to spread about a possible pandemic, I wasn’t too concerned about our small wedding plans. In fact, I was much more worried about the honeymoon! I thought that with a guest list of about 50 people, our wedding day was going to be on regardless of the severity of things. Of course, as time went on it became clear that even a gathering of 50 was not going to be possible. After over a year of planning and hard work, postponing just felt like a defeat. We really did not want to wait to start our lives together, especially with so much fear and uncertainty in the world. So, I relied heavily on our wedding coordinator and stylist, Brittnee, as well as our photographer Emily, to help me reevaluate our plans and try to come up with something that would still make our day special, while remaining as safe as possible. They were honestly my saving grace through all of this! When I felt defeated and heartbroken at the loss of the ceremony we had envisioned, they reassured me that they would do everything possible to make your day a special one, and man did they deliver on our elopement! An intimate ceremony outdoors in an open field full of wildflowers, I mean who wouldn’t swoon over that?!
A Laid Back Day Full of Love And Laughter…
When our wedding date arrived and we weren’t surrounded by our closest friends and family, I can’t lie I was a little bummed, but as soon as we saw the set up that Brittnee and Emily pulled together for us, we knew that our elopement was going to be everything we really wanted out of our wedding day. We enjoyed a laid back day full of love and laughter that still felt so incredibly special. We still had a first look, a ceremony full of heartfelt declarations of our love and commitment to each other, and we even got to enjoy a little reception of sorts with a delicious cake and wine for two! Honestly, if I had to do it all over again, I would have gone with an elopement like this from the beginning and left out all of the drama and stress! Our wedding day was for us, and we got to celebrate our love in the most intimate way possible. This day was one that we will cherish for the rest of our lives together, and we couldn’t be more grateful for such a bright spot in the midst of so much darkness in the world.”
The Line Up…
Photography: Luna E Photos; Florals + Styling: Brittnee from Oh So Brittnee; Cake: The Sprinkled Bake Shop; Ribbon: Honey Silks Co; Dress: Custom from Anomalie; Ring: Helzberg; Suit: Custom from Men’s Warehouse
