lauren & jay

THE VINEGROVE, MUDGEE, NSW

Photography by Society Photography

Jay and Lauren have always loved travel and adventure. Having spent 14 months travelling the world together, Jay knew that he wanted his proposal to reflect their passion. “I organised a ski holiday to New Zealand and planned to propose during a ski tour of the Mount Cook glacier. My fear wasn’t that Lauren would say, ‘No’ but that I would lose the ring in a field of white snow! On the final day of the trip as the group walked towards the plane that came to collect us, I pulled out the ring box. I wasn’t able to get down on one knee as I was still strapped to my skis but Lauren said, ‘Yes’ and it was a memorable flight back to town!”

TOGETHER WE PLAN | “Planning our wedding was a real learning experience,” Lauren said. “For example, when we sent our invitations out we had no idea what the day was going to look like, we didn’t know what colours would feature or what the theme was. We chose to have a mixture of fonts in a contemporary layout that we could play with as the day drew closer. We found some of the hardest decisions came when there was no time pressure and the best decisions we made together during the final weeks.”

A SUMMER’S DAY | “We had always wanted a wedding away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It also makes for incredible photos. We wanted our family and friends to unwind and enjoy the wedding experience. We loved Winegrove’s large, airy marquee set within the property’s vineyards.”

On the summer’s evening the outdoor area was especially welcome for kids and adults alike with games and a bar. “As it was a very warm day and we both love Messina ice cream, we transported a carload of ice cream over dry ice for our guests to serve themselves for dessert.”

MY BEAUTIFUL BRIDE | “The day was an amazing blur of excitement, nerves and anticipation. I woke early and took the opportunity to walk into town for a morning coffee on my own, simply enjoying the quiet. After getting ready with my groomsmen and having our photos taken it was time to head to the church. The wait at the front of the church was surprisingly nerve-free, chatting with my mates and family members nearby. Then Lauren walked in. Wow it was happening! She looked so beautiful walking down the aisle. I barely remember any of the ceremony except for the feeling of holding Lauren’s hand.”

SWEET POSIES | “I had no idea about flowers but my mum was keen to experiment. We went to the flower markets two weeks before the wedding to find what we liked and to work out how we could create various arrangements. The Wednesday prior to the wedding we picked up the flowers from a list of stores and transported all the buckets to Mudgee in our cars.” Together with her family and Jay’s family (as well as a couple of glasses of sparkling wine) Lauren created the table arrangements, bouquets, button holes and church flowers. “We wanted a contemporary look that incorporated local Mudgee figs and peppercorns.” The styling was fresh with a green and white colour palette using freesias, lisianthus, South Australian daisies, roses, gardenia foliage and chrysanthemums.

GIFTS | As Lauren and Jay had just purchased their first home they knew there was a few key items they needed for the house. “Instead of a traditional gift registry we placed signs with the name of these items over steel buckets and that way our guests could choose what they wanted to contribute to.”

The two tiered wedding cake was a gift from Lauren’s sister Ella. It was chocolate raspberry swirl and mud cake swirl with layers of buttercream.