Hunter Valley Wedding Recap ~ Part 7 ~ Ceremony

As 2.30 rolled around and we were ready to leave for the chapel, the temp outside had climbed to 39ºC and the boys were still getting ready! 

 

 

  Lucky we had an air-conditioned ride!

    
A short time later we arrived at the chapel 

 

  


 

3PM!  Wedding Time and the temperature at the chapel had reached 43.5ºC

  

   



Hunter Valley Wedding Recap ~ Part 6 ~ Boys Getting Ready

The boys had a few of their own wedding day morning challenges ….. a MIA groomsman,  one of the replacement suits still didn’t fit and misplaced cufflinks.

DH cousin was amazing! After locating said missing groomsman, she fixed the suit as much as possible, organised replacement cufflinks from the hotel and kept them all on time! What a superstar! 


  

   

 

 

Hunter Valley Wedding Recap ~ Part 5 ~ Girls Getting Ready

~ Saturday ~

 The morning was fun and fairly relaxed with only a few hiccups. We woke early and had breakfast together, before DF headed to one of the groomsmen’s villa’s to get ready with the boys, so the girls, my niece and mum could came to our place for hair, makeup and to get ready. 

We'd hoped for a sunny day (especially after all the flooding issues) and quickly realised it was going to get HOT! when DF left at 8.30am it was already 28ºC

Our hair & makeup artists were lovely and very patient with everyone to make sure we all looked our very best. We had a hiccup when one of the bridesmaid dresses didn't fit, luckily Emma our makeup artist, came to the rescue with a temporary fix using the wraps to convert our strapless dresses into halter neck dresses. Very rough and not the best look but it seemed to work ok and we were already on time.

 A few snaps from the morning …

  

getting my make-up done  

 

 

The girls

 

The flowers arrived mid-morning, dropped off by the lovely Tanya from Angel Blooms. The flowers were absolutely phenomenal! a gorgeous mix of peonies, lisianthus and a few gardenias for sent.

 

my flowers & jewellery

   

 

The boys had problems of their own during the morning and it held up our photographers, so we were all ready to go when Julie, our photographer arrived. Thankfully we had just enough time for a few quick photos, before we had to go, but not as many as I had hoped/planned for.  

 

Looking back it is the one thing I am most disappointed about as I so wanted to get special photos with each of the girls and my parents. Throughout the day I did manage to get photos with most in group scenario’s, but I missed out on a photo with my niece and we only had one with my parents as part of the family group.

 

 Everyone has parts of their day that are super important to them and if photos are on that list for you, ensure you make a checklist and ask your photographer to do a quick check and ensure you have all your must have pictures as you dont get a second chance.

 my clutch

 

my shoes!

 

 

 

Next up...... the Boys getting ready

Hunter Valley Wedding Recap {Part 4} ~ Bridal Party Day Out & Welcome Party

~ Friday ~

 Girls Spa Day

I booked a local spa for the Friday afternoon and arranged a champagne lunch, manicures & pedicures for the ladies.

Unfortunately a few last minute dramas (the boys suits were lost, cake issues meant we didn’t know if it would arrive on time & even if it did we definitely knew our cookie favors were not coming, still had welcome bag notes to change by hand with the new Brunch details before the hotel could distribute them) meant I wasn’t able to get there till right before the end (just in time to clean up!).

I was pretty upset that I missed the day as I had been looking forward to it & they all had a lovely time but thankfully I was able to get all the welcome notes changed, replacement suits sorted, favors for the reception and a backup a cake option organised instead.

Friday ~ Boys Day Out

 

The boys day out started off a little rocky when the venue we had organised the golfing day & lunch with cancelled. Instead the boys moved activities to our house and had a  relaxed afternoon and BBQ lunch before heading off to the Welcome Party in the evening. 

 

 

Welcome Party

The week before the wedding we had a call from our welcome party venue (also the place we booked for the Boys Golfing Day Out) to say they had taken a corporate booking and we would no longer be able to have the use of the golf course for the time we had booked & also that our welcome party would have to start at least 2hrs later. My first reaction was “is this some weird wedding humour that you think is funny? our wedding is next week & we booked this MONTHs ago?” after a few uncomfortable minutes of silence I realised….

No it wasn’t a joke

Yes they were very serious

No they didn’t see this as unacceptable or unprofessional at all and

Yes they expected me to suck it up & move our party start time to 9pm

Needless to say that would not happen! so we needed to find a different venue and it took all of 5 minutes to work out who to call for help. Enter Naomi from Peterson’s Champagne House, our amazing reception venue. Without hesitation Naomi offered Peterson’s and a few emails later we had selected the menu and with a quick change to our (already printed) welcome notes we were back on track!

In the end the party was brilliant, the food was fantastic & it was the perfect start to the weekend

Next up... WEDDING DAY!

 

Hunter Valley Weekend Recap {Part 3} ~ Rehearsals

~ Thursday ~ 

Ceremony Rehearsal

I am so glad I insisted on a ceremony rehearsal (to those that thought it was completely unnecessary – insert *told you so dance* here !!!!) as it gave us a chance to work through a few problems that only became evident during the  practice.  

 

Rehearsal Dinner

Our rehearsal dinner was great, the food and atmosphere at the Botanica was perfect and it gave us time together as a group to relax & hang out before all the other guests arrived.

Hunter Valley Wedding Recap {Part 2} ~ Last minute details

 

~ Last Minute Details ~

What wedding would be complete with a few last minute “challenges” aka dramas !

We had an event filled few days prior to our Hunter wedding with broken water pipes at our reception venue, the brunch venue cancelling on us, the cake maker forgetting to make our cupcakes, cookies and the cake (as they were so focused on the topper), the suit store lost the boys suits, the party hire company cancelled our entire decoration order (not just the tiffany chairs), I fired our make up artist after some not so sensational behaviour and then 11th hour guest changes meant seating cards, place cards & table signs we had spent hours making could no longer be used.

Thankfully we had been really organised prior to leaving so we had the time to sort most things out before the wedding (although I didn't get to attend the Ladies Spa Day) and it did get a little hairy at times.

Last minute details...

 

Bridemaids gifts

 

 

 

 

Groomsmen Gifts

 

 

 

Bridesmaid Checklist bags with shoes, jewellery, clutch & hoodies 

 

 

 

Welcome Bags