MALENY RETREAT, BOOROOBIN, QLD

photos captured by: Fontaine Photo

THE PROPOSAL

“We were having a picnic and watching the sun set at Cullen Bay in Darwin when Matthew asked me to marry him. I of course said, ‘Yes’ and soon all the people around us were clapping. It was a very special moment.”

A BREAK FROM TRADITION

“From the beginning of our wedding planning, Matthew and I looked closely at many of the wedding traditions and researched their meanings. We decided if a particular tradition didn’t resonate with us we would leave it out of our day. We wanted our wedding to reflect us as a couple. My advice to other couples would be to make your wedding personal. Pick a theme, or don’t, because there are no rules.”

LOCATION, LOCATION

We adored Maleny Retreat with its stunning views of the Glass House Mountains. It was the blank canvas we had been looking for to create our wedding. We locked in our date and were happy to learn that it fell on a long weekend. We booked a weekend package which meant we had access to the venue from Friday until Monday morning. This gave us plenty of time for the set up and pack up which included a marquee, furtniture, cold room, bar and dance floor just to name a few! Obviously I hadn’t realised what I had gotten myself into by committing to planning a wedding from the ground up however it was so much fun to organise. We also had use of the property’s tent village and guest house for our guests the night of the wedding. Maleny Retreat ticked so many boxes for us.”

20s STYLE

Matthew wore a tailor made 1920s style suit inspired by the television show Peaky Blinders. “Matthew and his groomsmen looked like they had just stepped out of a Prohibtion era film! My wedding gift to him, an antique pocket watch completed his outfit perfectly.”

““I will always cherish the moment I walked down the aisle with my dad and saw Matthew standing at the end of the aisle in tears. It was a beautiful moment.””

AS THE OWL FLIES

As a surprise for their guests, Estelle and Matthew had Luna the barn owl from the organisation Rapor Vision fly their rings down the aisle. “Rapor Vision is a passionate organisation that rehabilitates birds of prey and educates the public about them. We loved having Luna as part of our wedding and even had photos taken with her afterwards.” When it came time for the couple’s celebrant Hayley to ask for the rings she looked to Matthew’s best man. “Matthew’s best man is notoriously forgetful and he patted his pockets profusely with a startled look on his face! Matthew then proceeded to put a glove on which was the signal for Luna to fly. She swooped in with the rings and landed on his arm. The looks on our guests’ faces were priceless!

Estelle wore a custom embroided lace gown by George Wu. “One of my favourite parts of the wedding planning process was flying to Brisbane for my dress fittings. Over 5 months George Wu created my gown. He went above and beyond and even helped me choose between two pairs of shoes I had bought! We had so much fun. George is a genius!”

BOTANIC BEAUTY

Estelle and Matthew’s wedding had a botanic theme. “Our save the dates, invitations, website and even our photobooth template all matched beautifully. The design was simple and modern, with green accents of course!” Estelle created a wedding website and added in a custom RSVP form for guests to fill out. “It collated all their information automatically into a spredsheet. It was so easy!”

GREENHOUSE

With a brief of ‘No flowers’, Estelle and Matthew’s florist Willow Bud set to work creating a modern, botanic themed wedding. “We had three hanging installations decorating the reception space which featured fingerleaf branches, cascading passionfruit vine, Spanish moss, sea star fern, rhapis palm, waratah, ivy berry and pepper tree foliage and trailing amaranthus. The reception table arrangements were ceramic pots with fern, hypericum berry, mixed foliage and succulents. Miniature succulents were the wedding favours. Placecards were made from green Perspex and more herbs, green hypercium berry, passionfruit vine and suculents decorated the space.

SWEET ABOUT YOU

The couple’s three-tier semi-naked mud cake was decorated with yet more succulents. “It was delicious. The flavours were dark chocolate mud cake, salted caramel mud cake and white chocolate and raspberry mud cake.”

“The menu was very ‘us’. It was based on our ultimate feast. The Van Fine Street Food were amazing to work with and sourced our favourite seafood for dinner.”