Courtney and Scott vowed to spend the rest of their lives together in front of their friends and family at the beautiful Vilagrad Winery. Their day was a true celebration of them, filled with love, fun, and laughter. The photos offer just a glimpse of how much the couple enjoyed every moment.
Courtney mesmerised in Ruby by Rebecca Ingram, a strapless sweetheart gown adorned with romantic, unembellished floral lace that flowed softly from the bodice into the skirt. She completed her bridal look with the matching Ruby veil and added lace cap sleeves for the perfect finishing touch.
This blog is extra special, as it features one of our very own!
Congratulations, Courtney and Scott! <3
What was it that made this particular wedding dress catch your eye and fall in love?
I chose Ruby because I loved the large matte lace, the way the silhouette fell, and the overall feel of it on. It didn’t feel like too much, unlike some of the other A-line dresses I tried. It was just perfect for me.
Tell us about your search for the dress and the experience at Astra Bridal.
I had a style of dress in mind, however I had been to a couple of places and still hadn’t found the one. I had bought a dress elsewhere, but I had doubts and didn’t feel like it was the one. My appointment with Khym at Astra was fun, relaxing, and so easy. She made me feel at ease and helped me find the one without any stress. She also went above and beyond to bring my ideas to life by finding off the shoulder sleeves to match the lace on my dress, as well as the matching veil.
I loved my experience at Astra so much that I applied for the job I knew was vacant at the time, and I got it! :)
Tell us your story, how you both met, and the proposal.
We were in the same friend group, however we had never met. There were many times over the space of a year we could have met, however the timing wasn’t right. Eventually we both attended a friend’s birthday and met for the first time. I had a wee stalk on Facebook and added him that night. We started talking the next day, and had our first date a few days later. We hit it off pretty quick and were in a relationship and inseparable within a matter of weeks of meeting.
The proposal:
I almost ruined it. I had just got off crutches, and my friends and Scott wanted to go on a walk, and I didn’t want to go. They insisted, and so off we went.
On a hill looking over the water and beautiful scenery in Bowentown, Scott got down on one knee with the most incredible, sparkly ring I had ever seen and asked me to marry him. It was simple and perfect, with lots of laughs, tears and love shared, much like our lives together so far.
What was your favourite part of the day?
It is so hard to choose just one favourite part.
It was so special walking down the aisle to Scott. He was crying, and I was trying hard not to let the tears I had in my eyes fall. I only had eyes for him and was so excited to spend the day and the rest of our lives married to each other.
I also loved the little catch up we had up at the altar while we were signing everything. He hadn’t realised when he put it on earlier that I had his watch engraved, so that was a fun surprise for him at that point.
Tell us about your wedding day as a whole.
Our wedding day went so quickly, but it was perfect all the same. The weather was amazing, it was so hot.
My girls, my mum and I got ready at the Belles and Brides studio, which was relaxing and fun. We had great chat and music. I did a first look with my older brother and then my dad, which were both very special moments. My older brother and nephew had their Holden Commodores as our wedding cars, and they had spent time cleaning, polishing, and attaching ribbon to them.
Our wedding was very us. We are both avid readers and wanted to incorporate our love of books into the day. We had florals with flowers I made from book pages. Our seating plan was a huge bookshelf with all our guests written on the spines of the books, along with photos of our cats included as decorations, and bookmarks on all the tables for guests to take home. I also made a full on newspaper for everyone, with our story and activities for the guests to do throughout the night.
We had our celebrant write a custom ceremony for us, with small Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter references. We also wrote our own vows, and they were very much us. We were both giggling and crying when we were reading them. I look forward to getting our wedding video so we can relive those special moments again.
The rest of the day was filled with lots of love, laughs, tears, and photos, photos, photos!
Finally, what is your biggest piece of advice for brides to be?
My biggest piece of advice to other brides is to enjoy the whole planning process, and don’t let it stress you out more than necessary. Shop early for your dress, don’t go to heaps of stores, and don’t take too many opinions with you. Keep it intimate and special with just those that need to be there.
