LAURA & TRAVIS' COFFS HARBOUR WEDDING

When a graphic designer plans a wedding we just know it’s going to be a goodie. Laura [Laura Elizabeth Designs] designed all the stationery and signage for her big day and we may or may not be drooling over these bespoke paper goods. Walking down the aisle in one of the most gorge Made With Love Bridal gowns EVER we can see why Travis decided to keep this high school romance going. One of our all-time fave Queensland photographers Stories by Ash was there to capture all the romance…

THE VENUE “We found this beautiful location in the Byron Bay hinterland. We had it all locked in, the deposit paid, and eight months out from the wedding they got shut down by the council. So we started to look South and found another amazing venue in Coffs Harbour, paid the deposit, found an incredible wedding planner (Heidi from The Romance Crew) and then two months out from the wedding (yep two months) they got shut down by the council. Trav was pretty close to going to Norway and eloping, but Heidi came to the rescue and found this even better location 10 minutes down the road [Friday Creek Retreat] that slept over 40 people. It was definitely 3rd time lucky, the chances of them being available for 3 nights, 2 months out from the wedding was so insane.”

FAVOURITE DETAILS “Being a graphic designer and having my own Wedding Invitation & Stationery business [Laura Elizabeth Design], it was really hard at the start for me to lock down an idea/theme. After a copious amount of drafts and paper conversations, I finally did and totally adore them – matt gold foil, dark green palette and printed vellum. Love! I’ve always loved greenery and especially dried greenery (it’s all over our house), so I really wanted that for the day. So we had no flowers and Indea from Thea Flora totally nailed it. My total dream of dried goodness.”

REFERENCES “After being together for 11 years, I did have my heart set on a few vendors (draft emails ready to go haha). Stories by Ash was definitely one. I couldn’t find anyone that compared and we are so lucky we locked her in – her work is completely magic, her ability to capture the emotion through photos is incredible.”

THE DRESS “I went to a few wedding dress shops in Brisbane with some feeling like a well-oiled machine and not personalised at all. My friend recommended Sphere Collective and as soon as I walked in I knew I would find my dress there. Sarah was so helpful and accommodating during the whole process. I ended up with a Made With Love dress (Stevie). I wanted something to suit the whole relaxed theme for the day, but still be a bit glam.”

FAVOURITE MOMENT “My favourite moment would have to be our vows. Our vows were very personal and we wanted them to be something we shared together, not in front of everyone. So we had our first look before the ceremony and shared our vows together alone in a beautiful location. It was so magical. We took all our photos together with our bridal party and then walked down the aisle together.”

LITTLE LOL“We had our dog Donnie for the wedding weekend (had to have him there), and boy was he just. In. His. Element! Paddocks, cows, birds, a lake… the day before the wedding he was doing footy field zoomies, so excited. On the wedding day, moments before we were getting ready to walk down the aisle, he had been doing more zoomies and skimming the lake just near the ceremony with all the guests running around trying to make sure he didn’t go in the water and get all muddy. He was then so buggered, he slept through our whole ceremony and only joined us when we were walking back down the aisle.”

STANDOUT VENDORS “Our wedding planner, Heidi from The Romance Crew. She honestly went above and beyond. She found our dream wedding venue two months out and moved all our vendors & styling concepts to this new venue. A situation that should have been very stressful just really wasn’t at all. Heidi and I were just on the same page and we just gelled. I had so many ideas and concepts for the day and Heidi was able to go through all my ideas and create honestly, as lame as it sounds, the wedding of my dreams. Such a gem she is!”

If you love these captures as much as we do then you might want to pop on over here for more from Stories By Ash. We’re talking more real weddings shot by the lovely lady herself and an oh-so-handy contact form to enquire about your own day of good times. If it’s the brides dress that has your heart beating then you’re going to want to click here to check out the latest gowns from Made With Love Bridal. Those invitations? Yep all by the beautiful bride. Click here if you fancy utilizing her skills for yourself.