Bronya and Lucas managed to cobble a fairytale wedding together in only 6 weeks. With plans to relocate to New York, a deadline that couldn’t be tampered with this didn’t leave much time for an over-manufactured wedding which was not their cup of tea anyhow.
They headed up to Byron Bay to a family property where they planned to hold the ceremony. Over a casual lunch, their little niece mentioned off the cuff “the bamboo grove” down the hill. After jumping on quad bikes for an explore, they industriously got to work with a tractor clearing cow manure and dead wood to create a magical cathedral. Bronya’s etched memory is:
‘Walking into the Bamboo Cathedral, seeing everybody in it, seeing it set up and complete, remembering the state it was in when we first saw it, and thinking about how much work went in to get it ready for the wedding. The atmosphere, because of everybody in it being silent and reverential, was alive with anticipation. The bamboo was tall, green, and still, and the sun shone through the gaps in the canopy creating a fairytale feel to the place, with beams of light being cast about the interior.’
They took a huge leap of faith booking their reception venue sight unseen, relying on a friend’s recommendation and basic description and pictures. Jasper’s Corner sounded like the perfect match for their day: refreshingly raw, intimate, family-orientated, pre-loved and rustic. It lived up to its reputation allowing the couple to transform it into what they wanted. Friends and family all chipped in the day before and helped them create a beautiful, botanical explosion of native flora (from bush pickings and local markets) across a clean white U-shaped table setting, a blanket of fairy lights and green ivy dripping from the ceiling and a backyard ‘picnic’ type atmosphere outside with the addition of rustic furniture and floor rugs.
As Bronya notes, ‘We didn’t have time for themes! Unless there is a word that describes a beautiful, delicious, loving shamozzle of a community of loved ones, all chipping in, coming together, laughing (with AND at us!) and crying, heckling and bantering with us all day and night. It was perfectly unplanned, allowing for all of the emotion to spill out in exactly the way it did. We wouldn’t have had it any other way. The day managed to celebrate the simple things in life for us; nature, love and community.’
Having limited time and not overcomplicating matters, their wedding was a beautiful representation of who this couple are and their core purpose of their day remained intact: two people in love dedicating themselves to each other. The ever refreshing Cara Gallagher married them in the soft noon light. As Bronya walked down the aisle in her Lost in Paris gown with Al Green ‘These Arms of Mine’ playing softly, Lucas was in heaven. Forever.
Images thanks to Rachel Kaye.
