Tim + Issy
Wedding Date: 14th September 2019
Venue: Rancho Relaxo Surf Retreat, Crescent Head
Tim & Issy are good friends of Salt & Wildflowers as they are local Crescent Head vendors as well! The Dusty Cockatoo is a vintage Bedford Truck that has been lovingly converted to a mobile bar. Pretty lucky to have your own bar company at your wedding.
A little game of sliding doors and crossing paths before worlds collide
Tim and Issy should have coincidently crossed paths or at least come extremely close to crossing paths during their childhood. Their families holidayed in similar locations, they attended the same sports carnivals, they would have been at the same netball courts & birthday celebrations. But it wasn’t until 2012 that their worlds truly did collide. “We were at Uni games in Tamworth. We met 3 hours away from home only to realise we lived 15 minutes apart. A tutoring session in accounting gave us the opportunity to become friends & we started dating in 2013. We had our first holiday on the mid-north coast, here we made another connection that we had been holidaying two headlands apart for the past 20 years. Fast forward to 2017, we moved to Crescent Head and in 2018 Tim proposed under the lighthouse at Smoky Cape. In 2019 we tied the knot down the road of our favourite holiday spot.”
Ceremony Love
“Our ceremony was absolutely perfect!”
The couple were very busy organising and hiring a lot of their stock themselves. The benches were from Jack and June Events and they used some of our reception chairs from Rosie Pose Hire for the first few seated rows. Where they couldn’t hire items, they purchased exactly what they wanted - include the jute aisle rug. “We wanted to make sure all the seats were filled and our guests surrounded the edges to make it nice and intimate. Mel did a great job of organising this!”
Issy’s dad made their arbour which was beautifully decorated with florals from Touchwood Flowers. The bridesmaids and Issy walked down the aisle to Follow the Sun by Xavier Rudd. Emily from Love Kiss Confetti did a spectacular job as our celebrant, she was so helpful leading up to the wedding and she ran our ceremony just as we imagined.
Tim’s sisters gave a reading, as well as our friend Dan who shared a reading of marriage advice from Issy’s students.
Issy being a very crafty and creative person decided to make confetti cones using an old picture book from their bookshelf which they filled with olive leaves and dried rose petals. Not only visually pleasing but the scent was stunning!
Tim & Issy departed down the aisle to Little Bitty Pretty One by Thurston Harris.
“The ceremony almost felt like a blur, but thankfully we can relive it through our video.”
Sometimes being relaxo about your location can land you the perfect retreat
The couple loved the idea of getting married outdoors and a function centre wasn’t their thing. “With the help of Mel and Alison (Salt and Wildflowers) we had a look at a few venues in the area and found Rancho the perfect fit for what we had in mind. We were able to personalise our whole day and it was lovely renting out all accomodation for close family and friends.”
The ceremony and reception were held at Rancho Surf Retreat on Plomer Road in Crescent Head. Tim & Issy had their bridal party and couple photos at Racecourse Headland
What was your inspiration or ideas for your theme?
Tim & Issy feel like their wedding was a bit of a mixture of themes. Issy says when we ask her about it “Where do we start? I’d like to see the confusion on someone’s face if they were to see our Pinterest Board. We drew upon a range of inspiration. I guess you could say we went with earthy/autumn tones for our furniture, styling, florals and bridesmaid dresses.”
We would say it was a mix of vintage romance elevated with modern boho touches. It was stunning with deep plums, oranges and pinks.
Creative design runs in the family who all pitched in to pull off the dream space
There were a lot of elements brought together for our cocktail and reception area. A mammoth effort from friends and family that took 2 days to set up and 2 days to pack down.
For months, Issy’s mum sourced an array of cane furniture around Sydney. This, alongside wine barrels, rugs, stools, a grazing table (set up by Salt & Wildflowers) and of course The Dusty Cockatoo, formed the after ceremony drinks area. Issy printed and designed their own drinks sign to showcase all the lovely drinks for the evening. L’Wren played lovely tunes while guests mixed and mingled eating canapés served by The Wilderness Chef.
The reception area was set up under a large marquee from Handi-Hire Events. The long wooden tables from Jack and June Events were styled with the couples our own items. On the morning of, some of the couples friends arranged bunches of flowers from our florist into mix matched cut glass vases and set up beside brass candle stick holders on top of our cheesecloth table runners.
The place cards were hand written by Tim’s mum and wax sealed stamped by the couple.
Issy’s sister Abbey handmade the beautiful woven backdrop for the bridal table.
All stationery was designed by Tim & Issy’s great friend Hamish.
The delicious cake was baked and designed by Tim’s sister.
“Salt & Wildflowers assisted us with the planning process, hiring of items, final styling touch ups and coordination of the day. We loved that so many friends and family assisted in the preparation of the day. It was so special to have everyone come together and share their talent to make our wedding day so incredible and personal.”
All things bridal and THAT Jacket!
Dress:
Issy, like many Brides, tried on her definative dress on the first day she went looking. She said “I really liked the style, but because I’m so indecisive we had another couple of days looking the next time I was down in Sydney. Eventually after trying on many other dresses and considering doing a custom design or using my grandmothers wedding dress fabric, I ended up going back and trying the Sydney gown on one more time. The large flowers on the dress were very similar to my grandmas, and everyone was on board. So that made my decision easier. Over the days of visits to bridal stores and dress fittings, I had my mum, Aunties and all of my bridesmaids attend. It was really special to have those close to me involved!” Wow, what a special occasion.
Issy’s Dress: The Sydney Gown by Lovers Society from Bridal Atelier in Double Bay, Sydney NSW
The Brides Jacket: As we mentioned this wedding packed a creative punch and just to add another element Issy’s sister custom-made her unbelievable jacket!!
“Tim and I had been doing dance rehearsals and in the dance we changed from a slow dance to a jive. I really wanted to add something that would move and look incredible while we were twisting and dancing around. Abbey and I were the only ones that knew about it, so midway through our dance. The music stopped and Abbey came and popped the jacket on me. My mum knew every detail about our wedding, but it was nice to see her reaction to my new jacket and our surprise dance.”
Photographer & Videographer
“McKinley Rodgers captured our wedding day so beautifully. Pen and Cam were so organised and lovely to work with. We met with them prior to booking and left the cafe both saying ‘we need to book them right now’. They are such incredible people and talented at what they do. We had a pre-wedding shoot just so we felt more comfortable in front of the camera and also to scout some great places for shots so we didn’t waste time away from our guests on our wedding day. We highly recommend this!”
“We are so glad we had our wedding captured with film. We have loved reliving the best day of our lives.”
All images are from Mckinley Rogers
Our Favorite Moments
Tim & Issy decided to have a few dancing lessons at Vogue Performing Arts Academy in Kempsey to surprise to all their guests. They started their first dance to their favourite song, Into the Sun by Sons of the East, followed by a jive to Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry. This was Issy’s favorite moment of the day! Surprising everyone then the band taking off while everyone joined in!
Tim’s favorite moment was their dip kiss during the ceremony.
All the other bits…
Bridesmaids: The girls selected their own dresses that complemented each other and the colour theme of the day. The dresses were sourced from Sheike, Country Road and Forever New. They all looked absolutely stunning and the colours worked so well. The girls were able to choose something that they would wear again.
Groom’s outfit: Tim sourced his jacket and pants from Sportscraft, his linen shirt from Industrie and his belt and boots were from R.M Williams. The groomsmen outfits were very similar, only they wore a soft pink linen shirt and the Kempsey Belt from Akubra in town.
Hair and Make up: Kayla from Gypsy George did such a great job doing our hair and makeup.
Florist: Florals were from Touch Wood Flowers in Port Macquarie. We visited Ashley halfway through planning to change our flower choices. She did an amazing job to meet the brief and provide us with arrangements far above our expectations. All our guests were in love with the florals.
Entertainment: L’Wren provided music during cocktail hour and Amos Morris’ band had everyone dancing late into the night.
Catering: The Wilderness Chef served canapés during cocktail hour and then a selection of shared plates for dinner.
Anything else?
It was very special to have our bar, The Dusty Cockatoo, serving drinks all night.
If you’re planning a wedding on the mid-north coast be sure to contact Salt and Wildflowers. They will be sure to help you with recommendations of local suppliers and venues. As well as all your styling needs.
