Morning Lovelies and Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a brilliant Christmas and New Year. I am still adjusting to the fact that we are in 2017 - madness how quickly life is going at the moment.

If this time last year is anything to go by, we have some new readers to welcome. If you have just got engaged over the Christmas period and have come across Festival Brides for the first time then a massive congratulations to you and welcome to our festival pages. I'm Laura, the founder of Festival Brides, and it really is awesome to have you here. I will be sharing a post this time next week all about how Festival Brides works and the different ways you can use it to plan what is going to be the best day of your day (honestly - getting married rocks!) so make sure you pop on by. In the meantime, you can read more about the blog here.

We have our first wedding of 2017 to share with you today and what an awesome one it is too. Sent all the way from Bryon Bay in Australia it features an incredible wedding video by Lemon Tree Film House which is guaranteed to melt your heart. Seriously, it is so good and completely captures the love the couple have for not just each other, but their entire family.

Layne and PJ said I do on the 30th June 2016 at Midginbil Hill, a working cattle farm on 400 acres of stunning countryside. Their wedding was a beautiful reflection on their love for the outdoors, their shared passion of adventure, their hands on personalities and their relaxed attitude to life. They wanted it to be as DIY as possible with a strong focus on the connections they have with their friends and family....

We envisaged having an enchanted setting that captures the natural, simplistic beauty of Mother Nature. We wanted everyone to have a fun relaxed day that focused on celebrating not just our wedding but love in general with our close family and friends.

With a stunning lace dress from Pronovias, gorgeous ASOS bridesmaid dresses, wonderful bouquets of pinks and reds and so many smiles, I couldn't think of a better wedding to kick off 2017.

Enjoy.....

PJ + Layne [Midginbil Hill, NSW] from Lemon Tree Film House on Vimeo.

After several years of not-so-subtle hints that I wanted to get married to no avail it was fitting that when I least suspected it, it happened. We'd flown from Brisbane to Melbourne and had hired a van and were spending 3 days driving the Great Ocean Rd. On the 2 ^nd day we'd spent the morning photographing Koalas and were now enjoying the stunning views from Cape Otway Lighthouse when Pj pulled a letter out and started reading me a beautiful letter. He then handed me an envelope and asked me to open it. It contained an artist sketch of a beautiful diamond engagement ring. Before I could say a word be bent down and presented me with the real thing. We spent the next few hours running around the lighthouse with tears of joy taking photographs, several of which had a focus on the shiny ring I was now sporting.

We wanted to showcase the kind of people we are so our wedding was always going to be as much DIY as we could. It also meant the outdoors would be our main inspiration. We love adventuring and exploring so the venue we found was a perfect mix of where we have come from-a country setting with a wooden barn and bonfire, an intimate woodland with a stream, wide open spaces surrounded by rolling hills and a beautiful old Fig tree.

We wanted to bring the outdoors inside of the barn, so for a country feel we used fresh handpicked Eucalyptus leaves as table runners, with mismatched glass bottles filled with "Australian Native Bush Pot Pourri." We painted candleholders gold and tea light candles were our main source of light. We used long wooden trestle tables that the venue supplied with folding wooden chairs we hired.

Our Bridal Table was made for the occasion from a large laminated timber panel with gold steel legs to match the table ornaments while the cake table was an old antique dresser compete with matching antique clock and telephone as props.

There was also a "Lolly Stand" containing an assortment of sweets and nuts atop an antique desk.

There was far too many to pinpoint just one moment; but the whole ceremony was the most amazing emotional exchange of love in front of the closet people in our lives. There are very few times in your life you actually get to tell the person you love how much they mean to you in front of other people. We really wanted a unique and individualised ceremony, so we found readings that explained what we viewed as the importance of not just a wedding but also a marriage. Our "surprise" vows is something I will remember forever, The feeling of writing your vows then saying it to your partner for the first time is something ill never forget.

Keep it simple!!! Everyone just wants to see you in love- head over heels for each other! Not stressing about this not being perfect. Also I would also highly encourage you to get to know your suppliers/vendors in person. I honestly believe if you have like-minded people, your day will be relaxed and fun and stress-free. An example would be your Photographer and Videographer, If you can have coffee and laugh and think "hey, I think we could be friends." Then you will feel a million times more comfortable in front of the camera.

Venue: Midginbil Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Photography: Ivy Road Photography
Videographer: Lemon Tree Film House
On-the-day Coordinator: I DO Crew
Bride's Dress: Pronovias - Preta customised with long sleeves & buttons down the back
Bride's Shoes: JO Mercer
Bride's Boots: Innovare
Bride's Headpiece: Windsor Bridal Jewellery
Hair & Makeup: Lawdy Miss Claudy Glamour Van
Groom: Politix Menswear; Boots: RM Williams
Bridesmaid Dresses & Accessories: ASOS
Celebrant: Skai Ceremonies
Florist: Bridal Bouquets by Vanessa
Catering: All Rounders Event Catering
Cake: Mother of the Groom
Stationery: The Knot
DJ: Max Perrot of Byron Bay Wedding Music & MC
Live Music: Tom Francis