Modern, Relaxed Collingwood Children's Farm Wedding

Two brides squat on the floor looking at each other with big smiles. The bride on the left wears an ivory gown and a colourful flower crown and holds her bouquet. The bride on the right wears a velvet suit and pink boutonierre. Their Labradoodle dog — Hannah and Lauren’s Abbotsford Wedding

Hannah and Lauren’s wedding was supposed to be pissing rain and miserable but it cleared and they had the most amazing party ever.

They kicked off by sharing drinks with a smaller crew under the oak tree then all walked together down to the ceremony space where they were met by a deafening cheer and allll the love.They hugged everyone then I got them up, with drinks in hand for their ceremony. They spent it leant into each other laughing their heads off and full of loving vibes.

““ I think being gay, both of us have had the experience of not feeling like we can be ourselves and celebrated as we are. I know you shouldn’t care about what people think about you, but that cheer when we walked down to the ceremony, and then hugging my emotional family and friends was life-affirming for me””

— Lauren

1. What was the best decision you made?

There was a decision made early on about the ‘vibe’ - relaxed, not overly traditional, and heaps of fun - and that informed lots of other choices along the way. We wanted the day to reflect us and for our guests to have a great time. Especially after a couple of years without many big gatherings it felt like a real celebration was in order- Hannah

I like some traditions but I was always going to want to pick and choose which ones I wanted to include in a wedding. Hannah was very much of the same thinking ie Hannah didn’t want a first dance, so we didn’t have a first dance. Neither of us wanted to walk down an aisle, so we didn’t. We didn’t want traditional bridal parties. We wanted drinks available during the ceremony etc.

Funnily enough though, there were some traditions we ended up incorporating that surprised me. I wasn’t entirely sure about a white dress so didn’t set out to find one, but ended up doing the whole wedding dress thing anyway (albeit with some twists). And we didn’t set out to have our dads walk us down the aisle (we didn’t have an aisle at all), but on our way down to the ceremony, both our dads joined us at the very end and actually I thought it was lovely- Lauren

2. Did anything not go to plan/ what would you do differently?

We had a backup wet weather plan and it looked like we were going to need it - at one point 3 or 4 days out from the wedding the forecast was 50mm of rain and thunderstorms… Although the wet weather option would have been fine we were really lucky that on the day of the wedding it just magically cleared up. Having flexibility - and the calmest wedding planner in the world - meant we were able to hold off on making the final decision until the day- Hannah

‘Maybe drink less pet nat towards the end haha’- Lauren

“‘Build a great team and let them do their thing’”

— Hannah

3. What was your fave part of the day?

Hannah: arriving at the ceremony. We got ready together and had a drink with close mates and family beforehand but arriving in front of a big crowd was the bit I was most nervous about. We stopped to let some chooks cross in front of us when we were nearly there (yes really!) which made the whole thing even more surreal. Then I could hear our friends cheering and everyone had massive grins and in the end it was so natural and such a great, warm vibe that it felt perfect. Then we had a drink and mingled before starting the ceremony so it was much more relaxed.

4. In a few words- what advice would you give couples planning their wedding now?

Build a great team and let them do their thing! We are both people who like to organise and be in charge so it was strange at first to let go of that, but we realised pretty quickly how little we knew and how much better things would be if we just trusted our vendors to do a great job. Less stress for us and a better outcome for everyone- Hannah

I wasn’t that stressed at all to be honest. We’re women of action and events and styling etc have been a big part of my career so I enjoyed putting together the suppliers very much. And they were all wonderful. We stay in touch with a lot of them even now (including you Nat). If you’ve put together a team you’re confident in, it takes a lot of work out of it

‘I would just say try to enjoy the ride. It’s a (hopefully) once in a lifetime experience’- Lauren

VENDOR LIST

Celebrant : Nat Sproal

Photographer : Edwina Weddings

Venue: Farm Cafe Weddings/ Collingwood Children’s Farm

DJ: Andrew McClelland

Florals: Alchemy Orange

Makeup: Natasha Sana

Hair: Fur Hairdressing

Lauren’s Dress : Lola Varma

Lauren’s Shoes: Bul

Hannah’s Suit: Anna Cordell

Hannah’s Shoes: RM Williams

Cheese Tower: Ripe

HEY THERE LEGENDS! I’M NAT SPROAL, MELBOURNE WEDDING CELEBRANT, AND AFICIONADO OF ALL THINGS HITCHING-RELATED.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog! You’ll find loads of no-BS advice and tips on how to create the day of your dreams - without the wedstress and the drama.

I’m your wing woman and captain of your ship when it comes to having a cruisy, loved-up and utterly memorable and joyous day. Enjoy!