This blog post is extra special as the bride, Rochelle, is one of Astra Bridal's own! She is a bridal stylist at our sister store, The Bridal Outlet, and we're so excited to share her and husband Dan's wedding day. They married at the gorgeously rustic Vilagrad Winery on a beautiful blue sky day, surrounded by their loved ones.
Rochelle wore the Marisol dress by Rebecca Ingram; a dress that features so many beautiful details. From the soft glitter tulle skirt, to the exquisite beaded lace that adorns the bodice and trickles down the skirt, to the dainty beaded spaghetti straps, this dress is for the romantics and modern fairytale love story.
Scroll this page to see stunning modern rustic inspo and beautiful photos that are sure to be pinned to your Pinterest board!
Tell us about your search for the dress and the experience at Astra Bridal.
When I say I was nervous to try on wedding dresses, that is an understatement! I knew being short and having larger breast that I wouldn't be able to just walk in and try on any dress I wanted. I wanted to make the wedding dress experience not just special for me but for all my guests that I brought with me, so that's why I decided to do a Luxe Stylist Appointment, which I cannot recommend enough! After picking out dresses for me to try on, we started with the first dress, and holy s**t I couldn't believe it, I loved it. But I thought, you're just getting excited because it's a wedding dress, so we tried on others but I kept coming back to the first dress, so after trying on all different dresses we put back on the first dress and I knew it was the one. I can't thank Sarah enough for making my appointment amazing and for Dee for all her help afterwards, I think I would have had a break down at one point if it wasn't for her.
What was it that made this particular wedding dress catch your eye and fall in love?
I loved the way it made me feel, I struggle to like the way I look and this made me feel beautiful! It was everything I wanted it to be, and bonus I didn't have to wear a bra, which was incredible!!
Tell us your story, how you both met, and the proposal.
Well, we met the new classic way, we swiped right on Tinder. The proposal was simple but totally us. Dan picked me up from work and said "let's go out for fish and chips" so we drove to Raglan and got fish and chips and went to Manu Bay which is a beach we love to go to and there is an amazing look out. So, we parked up the car and ate our fish and chips on the back of the car. Then I went off to put the rubbish in the bin, when I came back there was a ring box on the back tray of the car and dan just said "I love you, will you marry me?" and of course I said yes, and started to cry lol.
What was your favourite part of the day?
It's cheesy to say but the whole thing. Everyone was so relaxed, we had music blasting while me and the girls were getting ready so it was great vibes from the beginning. As we had to postpone our wedding because of Covid, we were just so excited to be able to finally get married. All our vendors were incredible, the food was amazing! We just danced, drunk and had a bloody good time. You here all the time how brides say their wedding day and lead up were so stressful, but honestly, I want to do it all again.
Tell us about your wedding day as a whole.
Firstly, the weather was incredible! On our original date, the weather ended up being terrible, so for this date to have beautiful clear blue skies, we couldn't be happier. I LOVED the getting ready process, I made sure to have a great playlist, lots of snacks and plenty of time for us to get ready so nobody had to stress. And when our photographer said that me and Dan are one of the calmest couples she has ever seen on a wedding day, I knew the day was going to go great. The ceremony was perfect, we told our celebrant to make it fun, and not too long, and that's exactly what she did. We wrote our own vows which was really special and it went exactly to plan. The rest of the day went great, we had fun taking photos, eating lots of food and it just felt like a massive party. We were sad when the day was over.
Finally, what is your biggest piece of advice for brides to be?
My number one advice is.... do not cheap out on a photographer. Me and Dan said from the beginning of the planning process that we were happy to make cuts anywhere else but not on the photographer. They are the thing that you can go back on and look at. We also had two photographers, so I got to see all the stuff I missed, which was really cool to see. Secondly, don't stress the small stuff, it's meant to be one of the best days of your life, so on the day, just relax, have fun and take in every moment, because the day goes so fast and you don't want to spend it being stressed.
