Real Bride: Cassie

Bride: Cassie  |   Groom: Patrick

How did you meet your husband?

A couple who we both knew were relentlessly trying to set us up for months! I knew them from work and he knew them because they were friends of his sister. Both Pat and I didn’t want to be set up and we had been quite stubborn from the start. However, we curiously looked each other up on social media and I was asking questions to friends who knew him. Everyone couldn’t stop raving about Pat, how he is such a good guy and he had so much in common with me. We ended up agreeing to meeting over lunch, in a group setting. We both planned on going to meet as friends (and to hopefully stop the couple from pursuing the idea). Lunch did not go well, and I walked away texting my sister ‘this won’t go past today’. Funnily enough though, Pat was more interested in me than I had thought and as I messaged him politely to say ‘lovely meeting you’ he kept the conversation going and we worked out that we did get along more than we originally thought. The couple were right, we did end up clicking so well together, I had never met someone who I got along with as well as him.

How did your partner propose to you?

We had planned to go on a family trip in the April school holidays to Exmouth in Western Australia. His family are keen anglers, so Exmouth is their favourite place to travel. It’s a really special place to Pat. He had organised swimming with the whales and a romantic picnic afterwards. This was where he first planned on proposing to me. Then, as Covid-19 hit, we were unable to travel to WA. March 31st was the first time we were going to go into lock down, so Pat knew he had to think fast! On March the 30th he asked his family to go to a private beach (where we had once taken some really nice photos together for our 1 year anniversary) and set up a picnic with flowers, wine, photos of us as well as decorations. At this stage we were ‘technically’ allowed to still go for walks, so Pat asked me if I’d like to go to Cape Schanck for our last road trip before lockdown. On the way home we stopped by this place because he wanted to take sunset photos (Pat enjoys photography as a hobby). He led me down the path towards the place on the beach all nicely set up and knelt down on one knee. I did not see it coming at all!

What was your favourite part of your wedding day?

There are so many parts of our day that stand out to me. Pat and I are both musical, so we had pre-recorded a song we had written together about our love and it was titled ‘From this day on’. I walked down the aisle to this song, there were many tears. I also really loved that we spent a lot of time making sure the livestream was good quality (we had quite a professional set up). During the ceremony we had around 100 people join us live. We had created our own party hats and photo booth props into a pdf for our online guests to print out for the day. They then placed those photos onto the Facebook event where we hosted the live ceremony. For people who were really special to us that could not be at our wedding due to Covid-19 restrictions, we asked them to send a short 1 minute video message to our set up OneDrive and had the video edited for us so it was a surprise on the day.

Did you have a theme or concept for your wedding day? What was your inspiration?

I had started making a Pinterest board from the moment we talked about wanting to get engaged. I had always liked the look of a rustic wedding but I also liked A line or ball gown dresses, so I knew it had to have a romantic, classic look also. My colour theme was white/ivory, gold, soft/light pinks and lots of greenery through plants.

How did you find the experience of shopping for a wedding gown?

Bendigo Bridal Collections was the first bridal store I visited. I had been researching online for quite a while and I had a bit of an idea of what I wanted, although I didn’t know what it was going to look like on me. As soon as I walked in the door, the dress I had imagined (Winter’s Tale) was on the mannequin and I just knew instantly I wanted to try it on. It was the first dress I saw and the third dress I tried on – I was sold! Bron and the girls were so incredibly helpful. I had some alterations that I wanted on the dress and even though I was unable to come to Bendigo to try on the dress until 3 weeks before the wedding (living in Melbourne during Covid restrictions) – nothing was too hard and they got the job done. The gown was so beautiful, even better than what I could have imagined. We celebrated with a toast of champagne and I Facetimed the bridesmaids. The dress was so comfortable to wear and fit perfectly. I felt like a real princess!

What did you love about your wedding gown?

What I loved most about the wedding gown was the off shoulder/portrait neckline! I also loved how the top of the dress was tight and well fitted with a corset back and then flowed out into a full skirt. This complemented my body shape well. It also had the right balance of sequins and lace that I was looking for. The train was absolutely to die for and made for a lot of great photo opportunities on the day too!

Any words of wisdom for future brides?

I personally found that I could never be too organised. Get the big things (venues, photographers, flowers, dress) done as early as possible! I found having a wedding on a Friday a lot easier to organise than if I had a Saturday. Researching and knowing what you want (having a vision) beforehand really helps for both you and your vendors. Pinterest boards, following Instagram accounts (saving your favourite ideas), ordering wedding magazines are a great place to start. Plan things in advance as much as possible but we found the most important thing to remember was to not get too hung up on things (especially the small stuff), be flexible because at the end of the day the most important thing is you and your husband/wife. It’s a beautiful day, but it goes fast. Your life together is what’s most important and just have fun with it all! Be present and take time to enjoy every moment. 
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Photographer: Samantha Elizabeth Photography

Videographer: John Kurt

Flowers: Grace Events and Artistry

Bridesmaid dresses: Oleg Cassini

Earrings: Ayla and Oak

Rings: Renato Jewellers

Side hair pin: Lovisa

Hair clip at the back: Jeanette Maree

Ceremony Venue: Bendigo Presbyterian Church

Reception Venue: Chateau Dore

Suits: Black Tie Classic

Bride’s shoes: The White Collection – Everafter Badgley Mischka

Bride’s hair: Nicholas James Hair (IG @nicholasjames.hair) 

Bridesmaid’s hair: Kristy Patullo & Hannah McBain

Make up: Lois and Hannah McBain (Adonia Studio) 

Eyelashes: Paige Hucker Beauty

Tanning: L’Ambyounce Beauty Spa Cairnlea

Hair Extensions: Sitting Pretty (Halo – creamy blonde) 

Balloons for page boys: Blush Balloonery

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