Where it all started for Jacqueline and Josh – Leah S Designs real brides

Josh and I met while performing together in a children’s performing company when we were 18 and 17 and there was a mutual attraction. We became friends and were both accepted into the same university course in Ballarat. We decided with another girl from the company that we would all share a house. However upon moving in together we didn’t get along at all! It was after a year of living together that we realised our ‘hate’ for each other was the cliched story of a fine line between love and hate. We have been inseparable ever since.

A little about your wedding journey

Josh and I became engaged in August 2014 and were so excited to start planning our dream wedding that we dove straight in and got very carried away!. We started planning this huge extravagant wedding and got caught up in all of the latest wedding crazes and trends. As many real brides do. Going to every wedding expo and bought every wedding magazine under the sun. However in February 2015 we found out that we were expecting a little bundle of joy and realised that our priorities with the wedding had gotten way out of hand. We quickly canceled most aspects of that wedding, which lead to a sense of great relief!. We had lost focus of why we wanted to be married and became carried away with the idea of our perfect wedding. Instead of celebrating our love.

• Wedding date.

 

11/3/17

• Number of guests

155

• Theme of your wedding.

Family! We just wanted everything to be relaxed with lots of food and drink. We had the wedding under 3 marquees on my parents property. There was billowing fabric draped with fairy lights galore, flowers everywhere and a wicked dance floor.

• What was your experience at Leah S like?

A purely positive experience from start to finish. They’re like no other bridal store I went to. So relaxed and friendly but they really know what they’re talking about!. I even canceled my first dress at another store so that I could have a Leah S Designs gown!.

Leah’s designs are just stunning but don’t cost the world. Which means you can have your dream dress and not blow the budget!. The whole team were so accommodating and everything came together perfectly. I got my whole outfit from shoes, earrings, necklace, hair piece and veil and all of my bridesmaids jewellery too!

• How did the wedding day go? Take us through your day.

Our wedding day was so much fun! I stayed with my bridesmaids at my parents house the night before. I had a couple of close friends (who just happen to be

 professional hair and make up artists – lucky us!) come and help us get ready. We spent the morning like excited school girls, giggling and having so much fun getting ready. The boys stayed at a house we hired around the corner, they arrived about 30 minutes before the ceremony to greet everyone.

I was so nervous all morning and the second I saw Josh at the end of the aisle I felt so much more relaxed. Once we our ceremony at 4pm and did the family photos straight away. It was a fun way to see everybody.

Then headed down to Emerald Lake with our photographer and videographer and had our photos taken. We packed a picnic basket for our bridal party and our guests had cheese platters and 

drinks while they waited for our return.

After dinner, we had our first dance and father-daughter dance, then the D-Floor started. We literally danced the night away to all of our favourite songs and ate desserts that my Nana’s and Aunties had made. It was amazing!

• Tell us about your honeymoon.

We spent a week down at the family beach house and just switched off.  Having put in so much work to set everything up for the wedding that we honestly just wanted to spend some quality time together. Just the three of us relaxing and not worrying about anything.

 

What is married life like now?

Life isn’t too different from our previous engaged life. We have a little more free time now that we aren’t planning a wedding. We get to call each other husband and wife which is a lot of fun. Married life is just as amazing as our life before the wedding and we’re now expecting baby number two – talk about icing on the cake.!

 

Real wedding ideas and advice for future brides.

Enjoy every moment of the planning process as they don’t lie, when they say the day goes crazy fast. Take it one task at a time so it stays fun and doesn’t become overwhelming and remember why you’re doing this. It’s not all about the wedding (as much as the wedding is amazing). It’s about walking down that aisle to see the love of your life waiting for you. Knowing that you’re going to spend the rest of your lives together and to celebrate with your loved ones!

Suppliers & Trades for other real brides.

• Venue- My parents property in Emerald
• Cake- My Mum’s best friend and bridesmaid at her wedding made our cake, it was a chocolate Mud Cake with white ruffled fondant.
• Transport- Nothing fancy here, we hired a mini bus and one of our Groomsmen drove it for us. Then driven to our accommodation for the evening by my Sister/Maid or Honour.
• Invites – My Maid of Honour, my incredibly talented sister, designed them for us and our monogram for the day. She had them printed through her work and my talented husband created a Wedding Website for us that had all of the information and RSVP. That was one of the really great real wedding ideas.
  
• Suits & Groomsmen- Josh had his suit tailored by Oscar Hunt. We bought all the shirts from MJ Bale. Shoes were from Aquila and ties from Joe Black. All the Groomsmen provided their own suits and we just gave them guide on colour- which surprisingly they all turned out to look the same.
• Bridesmaids- We bought online through For Her and For Him. They were amazing. Great price and huge colour selection. We had small alterations done at Ginger pins alterations and I bought the girls earrings from Leah S too.
• Hair & Makeup- Bridal Hair was by Marjorie May Fair. She is a Vintage Hair stylist and did the most beautiful job. Bridesmaids Hair was a family friend who is a hairdresser. Make up was by Fiona from Phoebe Make-up & Hair, she was incredible and did all 6 of us in 5 hours!
• Flowers- A dear friend Bek Gardner who is a trained florist, with some assistance from my Mother in Law and her Sister went to the flower market and did all of the arrangements themselves. They turned out better than I ever could have hoped.
• Entertainment- Two of my beautiful cousins played violin and acoustic guitar while I walked down the aisle and while we signed the marriage certificate. Then we had two close friends play piano and sing for our first dance. The rest of the evening we made playlists with the help of one of my bridesmaids and it worked really well!
• Photographer – Kyle Psalskyj from Allsorts Pictures. He was the best! Ph: 0419 529 233. Email: [email protected]
• Videographer- Tearlach Wales from True Story Wedding Films– [email protected] or 0421 888 440 Hope these tips are helpfull to other real brides.