AC Bride Emily & Nev

A whimsical Byron Bay celebration, rich with joyous laughter and impeccably styled details, the wedding of Emily and Nev is inimitably beautiful.

Wedding Location | Byron Bay, NSW Wedding Date| 29th September 2019

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Meet Emily & Nev | Nev is a keen surfer, he loves live music, is hard working and incredibly resourceful. I love his creative ability to turn a scrap piece of material into something with new purpose. Some of our favourite activities are playing Frisbee at our local park, going on surf trips (where Nev surfs and I take drone photos) and travelling the world. Born and raised in rural Western Australia mixed with spending my adult years in Perth, I’m a country girl/ city hybrid. I love being outside, bike riding down the coast line and picnics with friends paired with an Aperol Sprtiz in hand. 

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The Love Story | Nev and I have worked for the same resources company for the last 9 years. We met 7 years ago conducting an interview recruiting operators (Nev was a Supervisor and I was in Recruitment) and our attraction was instant. 

I was so intrigued by Nev – he was grounded, humble, kind, intelligent and very handsome. He contacted me a week later saying ‘I’m sorry to break all the HR rules in the book, but do you want to go on a date?’ Needless to say I was thrilled and I immediately accepted.   

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The Proposal | Nev and I have been renovating our home for the last 3 years. We have poured so much time and love into it, it’s truly our special place. Leading up to our engagement we had been in the South West wine region for a long weekend, and on the Monday Nev had flown out for work. When I returned from work on Monday evening Nev had scattered petals through the house, strung fairy lights through the trees, and had built an archway in our back garden which he was standing under. It took me completely by surprise (as I thought he flew out!), I was speechless, and I fell to my knees too and accepted his proposal. We celebrated that night with our closest friends at our local restaurant Il Lido Italian Canteen.

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The Honeymoon | When we got engaged we discussed the most important things to us which were our ‘wedding day musts’. Compiling the list was important to us as we often referred to our priorities when decisions needed to be made. It kept us honest and focused on what really mattered most about our wedding day. Nev was in charge of planning our honeymoon, which he kept a surprise all the way until we were often on the plane! We spent a week in the Whitsundays, a week in Buzios, Brazil, and a week in Iguazu, Argentina. Needless to say it was the most glorious 3 weeks of honeymoon bliss. 

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Finding The Dress | I love Anna Campbell dresses for her feminine, timeless, elegant looks. I wanted a gown that would be comfortable on the day and one which would allow me to dance! I asked Nev what his favourite physical feature of mine was, so I made sure to accentuate that in my dress. 

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Finding ‘The One’ | I loved the Amelie gown the moment I put it on. By this stage I had tried on 47 dresses and not one ticked all my boxes. This dress was so elegant, comfortable, and most importantly I felt like myself in it.  I purchased my dress from the Anna Campbell store in Armadale, Melbourne. The most memorable part of my Anna Campbell experience was my final fitting with Mum. We flew from Perth to Melbourne for 24 hours for my fittings and pick up. I loved that I could do all my alternations in such a short timeframe – the experience was so easy!    

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Special Wedding Elements | We have so many! Starting with our engagement year we shared so many milestones with our friends, including them in our planning. My favourite moment was hosting a ‘blind wedding wine tasting’ night at our house, inviting our bridal party and partners over and to bring a bottle of their favourite wine. The ‘winning’ selection was our chosen wedding wine.  

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My Dress | My dress was so perfect – I usually have sensitive skin, so I was cautious to wear anything which might itch. The embroidery in my dress was soft and smooth, and once the dress was on I didn’t feel it for the rest of the day.  I loved the flower embroidery in the dress. My engagement ring is a beautiful solitaire diamond in a discrete flower petal setting, so following the flower theme in the dress was magical. 

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Memorable Moments | We had so many highlights from our wedding day. My first is my Mum marrying us. To look at my husband in front of me, my Mum to my side and bridal party behind me was surreal and incredible. Mum is not only the most beautiful person I know, but she has been a huge advocate of Nev and me since the beginning. It was an honour having her marry us.  

My other absolute highlight during the ceremony was a surprise by one of my best friends, Hannah. She had written a song, and collaborated with our musician to play it while she sang during our wedding certificate signing. Hannah has the voice of an angel and we (with all the wedding guests) erupted with a round of applause and cheer for Hannah after her song.     

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Pearls of Wisdom | We discussed the top things that were important to us before anything else. Nevs priorities were to have a small destination wedding and to be able to surf on the wedding morning. For me, it was for my Mum to marry us, to feel calm and comfortable on the day, and to have exceptional wine and food. Once we had our priorities everything else came really easily – we knew what to prioritise and what to let go.

Pearls of Wisdom | For ‘the dress’ I’d recommend choosing something that you’re comfortable wearing. If you’re a dancing queen, do a little dance when trying on dresses, to make sure you’re not restricted! If you have lots of children in your wedding then boning in a dress will make it hard to bend down and you might bruise or get hurt! More than anything though just be honest to what you want – it’s no one else’s day but you and your partner, and you’ll look beautiful in anything.  

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Dress: Amelie Dress

Photographer: Van Middleton

Videographer: Woven Motion

Venue: Ceremony - Fig Tree Restaurant

We are coastal people, and have lived in Perth, Western Australia for many years. Nev and I first came to Byron Bay shortly after we got engaged. We instantly fell in love with Byron Bay’s charm, beaches, laid back lifestyle and (for Nev) the number of surfboard shops around town. We had agreed that we wanted a small wedding, outside under a tree, witnessed by our closest family and friends. Fig Tree Restaurant was the perfect and obvious choice for us. 

Florist: Beautiflora

Wedding Planner: Byron Bay Weddings

Veil: Harriette Gordon

Entertainment: Dan McGowan Music

Stationary: Sketch and Etch

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