Danielle & Murray

20 February 2016
TINDARRA RESORT, MOAMA, NSW, 
Photography by Josephine Lee Photography

High school sweethearts Danielle and Murray tied the knot in a lovely outdoor ceremony and reception at Tindarra Resort in New South Wales. The couple had a lot to be thankful for on their wedding day making it all the more meaningful. The wedding was not only a celebration of love but also a celebration of life.

A symbol of love & gratitude

One of the most significant moments of the wedding came during the ceremony when Danielle and Murray invited their immediate family and bridal party to release balloons. “This action was dedicated as a thankyou to Murray’s donor and their family. Murray has cystic fibrosis and received a double lung transplant 4 years ago. Without Murray’s donor we wouldn’t have been having our wedding at all. It is always emotional to think how lucky we are to still have Murray with us,” Danielle said. In another thoughtful gesture Danielle and Murray made a donation to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation on behalf of their guests and gifted them with keyrings as wedding favours.

She said yes

According to Danielle, surprises are a ‘very Murray’ thing to do. “I had always said to Murray if he was going to propose he needed to make sure I had washed my hair!” So even though Murray had invited Danielle away for the weekend and asked her to wash her hair she didn’t think too much about it. “Murray picked me up, blindfolded me and took me to a little B&B where he had organised to have our favourite Chinese take away delivered. We had dinner in a lakeside gazebo lit by lanterns. Murray had a bouquet of roses bigger than himself and got down on one knee. It was the perfect proposal.”

Down the aisle

The wedding aisle began through a pair of old wooden doors. “It was the beginning of our new chapter and the start of our happily ever after,” Danielle said. Guests sat on wooden benches the couple had made and lining the aisle were long tree logs decorated with jars of daisies, greenery and roses. Danielle’s 84-year-old grandpa had the honour of being the ring bearer.  

Well suited

For Murray and his groomsmen a formal suit didn’t feel right for the vibe of the venue and relaxed atmosphere they wanted to create. “We also wanted the boys to be dressed comfortably for the summer heat,” Danielle said. They wore charcoal pants, white shirts with rolled up sleeves, black suspenders, bowties and of course, yellow roses as their buttonholes. 

By the riverside

Having grown up visiting Yarrawonga and spending time water skiing on the river there, it felt natural for Danielle and Murray to choose Tindarra Resort as their wedding venue. It was the complete outdoor space they had wanted to make the wedding entirely their own. “We also liked the idea of having a wedding just far enough away so that our guests could make a weekend of it or drive home if they wanted to. We hosted a barbeque on the Friday evening for our guests to mingle with others before the wedding and it gave Murray and I the opportunity to talk to everyone. It was one of the best decisions we made because on the wedding day we didn’t feel as though we were madly dashing around trying to speak to everyone.”

The details

Danielle and Murray aimed to have a relaxed wedding, “With that as our focus the whole planning process was quite laid back too,” Danielle said. The couple chose a colour scheme of yellow, white and green. “The emblem of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is a rose and Murray likes yellow the symbol of friendship so we decided to have yellow roses at the centre of all our floral arrangements.” Danielle sourced recycled pallets from a nursery that were repurposed into rustic wooden flowerboxes. 

Shades of yellow were also present through all the decorations from the lanterns, to the garden games, the linen napkins to the comfy shoes provided for guests.

Other fun ideas included changing the bathroom signs to black and white photos of when Murray was a pageboy and Danielle a flowergirl. “Our seating chart was made up of photos of all of our guest’s faces with a table number that read, ‘Find your face to find your place’. We also had a hashtag for our guests’ photos #daniellesgettingmurrayed.”

gown: Shane McConnell Couture shanemcconnellcouture.co

photography: Josephine Lee Photography, josephineleephotography.com.au

ceremony & reception venue: Tindarra Resort, tindarra.com.au

reception caterer: Two Tarts Catering, two-tartscatering.com

flowers & floral styling: Wallingford Flowers, wallingfordflowers.com.au

groom, groomsmen & page boy: Ferrari Formal Wear, ferrariformal.com.au 

bridemaids: Zimmermann, zimmermannwear.com

jewellery: Ralf Fisch, ralffischjewellery.com.au

stationery: Malt Creative, maltcreative.com.au

cake: Wallingford Flowers, wallingfordflowers.com.au

hair: Absolu Hair Salon, absolu.com.au

make-up: KM Makeup Artistry 0430 200 269