After a year or two of being on RSVP, Nat and Mike both with their fair share of hilarious dating stories, met at the pub on a Tuesday night. Feeling relaxed, their connection was immediate and the rest flowed easily from there. Simple pleasures with their closest friends was the guiding principle for their wedding. As Nat shares, ‘We felt no pressure to perform for anyone, to include someone or to have some massive event.’
The keyword for them was ‘relaxed’. When it came down to the guest list, tough decisions had to be made as Mike has an enormous extended family. But they chose to concentrate on people who had directly affected their lives as individuals and as a couple. Never an easy choice but necessary to stay true to what they wanted to create. Photographer Beth Fernley captured these connections in the most vivid way.
They found a cliff edge character A frame house, nothing fancy but it overlooked the ocean at Scotts Head. They held their ceremony and reception here, an intimate and low stress venue with Trish Johnson who had married several members of Mike’s family as celebrant. Breaching whales could be seen on the day as Nat with a team of guests, decorated the quaint house with bits and pieces bought locally.
Nat would order a ‘Nat Special’ from local Harriet’s Gourmet Provisions cafe on her work days and it was always delicious. She basically left it in the hands of the cook (Mary Lawler) to cater for the wedding trusting that she would supply top notch fare. There was not a trace of food left over. Mary’s daughter Sheldon knows cakes and again Nat left it up to her to decide on a cake. Nat was not disappointed with a beautiful nut based cake with simple butter cream and pistachio crust, decorated with fresh garden flowers and customised stencil.
Nat loves to cook and in some insane bridal moment, she took to the kitchen making french macaroons. She’s perfected the recipe over 7 years and actually finds cooking calms her, so the outcome was both delicious and therapeutic.
With a shared ethos and childhood values, this couple feel a sense of calm and safety within their relationship. They endeavour to show respect for all people from any walk of life and they throw their heart and soul into everything they do. This simple philosophy is wisdom to live and grow old by. We wish this gorgeous couple a splendid happily ever after.
