Georgia and Kayla’s love story reads like a romance novel. From their first introduction at an art gallery (where they bonded over the grazing table), to Georgia’s genius proposal involving Kayla’s favourite card game (Monopoly Deal), and finally to their dreamy SA wedding at Woodburn Homestead, it appears destiny had big plans for these two from the very beginning.

Even despite a few set-backs including a last minute search to find a wedding dress, and a vendor break-up (it was completely amicable) these two rounded up the region’s best wedding vendors including photographer Elaine of Davish Photography and Little Darling Films and pulled off what we can confidently say is the most beautiful wedding we’ve seen in a while. Enjoy!

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How did you meet? We met through a mutual friend, who invited us both to an art exhibition at the school where she taught. We didn’t know anyone else but before long we were bonding over the grazing table and we quickly became so comfortable in each other’s presence.

Georgia tried to impress me (Kayla) by purchasing a seemingly questionable piece and it wasn’t until they were auctioning off all of the remaining pieces that Georgia realised she had put the sold sticker on the wrong piece, which then required her to have to subtly move it to the correct one in front of a captive audience. I knew in that moment she was the one.

The proposal: We were on holiday in Fiji drinking a bottle of Champagne whilst sitting on the deck of our villa by the beach, as you do when you’re on holiday and it’s your birthday. Georgia then suggested playing a round or two of Monopoly Deal (my favourite card game), which I willingly agreed to, unaware Georgia had tampered with the deck.

If you haven’t played Monopoly Deal there are a few pivotal cards that read “just say no” – which Georgia had expertly tampered with them to read “just say yes” and two other cards reading “will you” and “marry me”. So, after winning two rounds in a row, Georgia pulled the cards she had been hiding and placed them on the deck in front of me – safe to say we both won that round.

Wedding venue: We had so much fun looking for a venue and used it as an excuse to have date days and go on road trips together. Each venue we visited had elements we loved however, it wasn’t until we got to Woodburn Homestead that we knew we had found the perfect venue.

We were looking for somewhere where we could have everything on site including the ceremony, reception and bridal party accommodation. Staying for the whole weekend meant that we could have a dinner with our bridesmaids the night before, get ready together on the day of the wedding and have most of the guests back on the Sunday for a recovery session. This was so important to us and meant that the wedding felt like a whole weekend, not just a couple of hours which was so memorable!

On our first tour of Woodburn we just knew, the ambiance of the open air chapel; a roofless old stone brick building was the perfect for the setting of our ceremony. This was complimented by the immaculate lawned area, perfect for lawn games and post ceremony cocktails and canapés. As well as the rustic feel of the barn and back lawn which was perfect for a marquee and dance floor.

Wedding vibe: We loved the vibes of Woodburn and it really helped us create our perfect boho wedding. Initially we struggled with deciding between a sit down or a cocktail wedding as elements of both were important to us. We wanted our wedding to be comfortable and relaxed, however we wanted some of the formalities offered by having a sit down wedding. Luckily for us, the wonderful Cindy, the caterer and owner of Woodburn, was happy to work with us to have both!

We were able to have a cocktail bar, lawn games, live music and canapés on the grass after the ceremony, whilst we went off to have photos. This was a great opportunity for our guests to feel relaxed and get to know each other. Our guests were then seated on long tables under the beautiful stretch tent, where we had sit down meals and speeches. We used lighting to create intimacy within the marquee and create a comfortable space for our guests.

We wanted everyone to feel welcome and special to share the day with us, so we had personalised menus and bonbonniere. We also scattered wedding photos of our guests around the reception area to spark conversation and nostalgia.

Traditions: adopted, adapted or ditched? Well, being a lesbian wedding, we were already way ahead of tradition from the start, so this gave us the liberty of being able to adopt and ditch whatever we wanted. We decided that we wanted to have a ‘first look’ to share that moment for just the two of us.

We then had to decide how we would enter the ceremony and like any adult couple we played rock, paper, scissors to decide who would walk down the aisle first. We were both extremely lucky to be accompanied down the aisle by our family.

Also, we both had so many beautiful bridesmaids and love all of them so much that we decided to ditch the idea of having a Maid of Honour.

I’ll always remember… Georgia – I’ll always remember the moment I first saw Kayla and just how stunning she looked. I couldn’t believe just how beautiful she was. There were no words. But I also remember just how at ease I was seeing her and being able to have that moment with her before the ceremony. I had started to feel so stressed the morning of when we were getting ready and that disappeared instantly when I saw her.

Kayla – I’ll always remember sitting out on the porch the morning of the wedding before getting ready and just taking it all in. It was so important for us to take the time to breathe and pause. My other favourite moment was celebrating coming back down the aisle after we were married, holding hands and feeling the immense love from all our family and friends, it was so special!

The outfit/s: I (Georgia) decided one day to take two of my bridesmaids to try on dresses. The second dress I tried on was a stand out, and it wasn’t until the third time I tried it on that we noticed the twice overlooked $1,000 off tag, well that was the point that I knew it was truly perfect so I bought it that day. I rarely wear dresses and had many people ask me what I planned to wear so I think a lot of people were surprised to see me in such a traditional wedding gown. I’m so glad I did, I have never felt so elegant and beautiful and I was so glad to share it with my stunningly gorgeous bride.

I (Kayla) didn’t have quite the easy run as compared to what Georgia did, but it was definitely worth it in the end. I also bought my dress around 12 months before the wedding, however, I lost weight and consequently the shape of the dress became quite different with alterations. I just wasn’t completely happy with the way it made me feel, so with a week to go before the wedding, we set out on the challenge that was to find the perfect wedding dress. I have to say there are some seriously helpful and dedicated wedding dress suppliers out there – some staying back late and others coming in early just to help me find the perfect one. Luckily with five days to go, I found the perfect dress, and picked it up post alterations on my way to the venue!

Standout vendors: Firstly, Cindy and the team at Woodburn Homestead make it their mission to make sure our day was perfect. We had plenty of meetings with Cindy in the lead up to the wedding and you can tell she knows what she is doing, she was so helpful but also honest where she needed to be if she wasn’t convinced something would contribute to the day being perfect. But all of the planning and prep work aside, the food that Cindy’s Classic Gourmet provided for the wedding and our bridal party dinner the night before was phenomenal, we had so many compliments on the food and the service!

Elanie of Davish photography is truly, truly talented. We first met Elanie at a quaint little coffee shop in Magil and were taken aback by her humility, but it was really when we had our engagement shoot with her at Mt Osmond that we fell in love. Not only is Elaine hilarious, but she made us feel so incredibly comfortable in front of the camera, we knew we were in good hands for our wedding. We are absolutely in love with all of our wedding photos and we are so lucky to have had someone as fun and professional as Elanie capture the day for us.

Our Celebrant Courtney from Loved up Weddings… We were so lucky to have Courtney come to our rescue as roughly two months prior to the wedding our previously booked celebrant moved to Melbourne. We instantly knew we were in good hands when we met Courtney, and this was confirmed by the beautifully personalised ceremony she conducted. She walked us through every step, gave us multiple options for our ceremony and even gave us options for what she would wear!

The team at Little Darling Films were so fantastic to work with, so professional and made us feel super comfortable, we couldn’t recommend them enough! If you are considering having a videographer, just do it, we are so incredibly glad we did as the day goes so quickly and Little Darling captured it so well!

Renee at 28 Blossom St saved the day and did such an incredible job with our bouquets, arbour and table settings! Renee stepped in last minute to help us when our other florist unfortunately had to be on standby to travel for family reasons. Renee absolutely got our vibe and was so incredibly easy and fun to work with! Everything was perfect…

We also had our beautiful boho vibe brought to life with the help of Adelaide Marquee Hire. Jojo and his team were setting up three days before the wedding and were even kind enough to come back the following day to alter heights and make sure everything was perfect on the day! We definitely recommend Adelaide Marquee Hire for an alternative to your usual white or clear marquee and they were so incredibly helpful!

Also a quick shout out to Danelle Clark, our favourite Yoga teacher who joined us on the Friday to help end a stressful day of setting up with a beautifully personalised and grounding yoga session on the grass at Woodburn for us, our bridal party and our family.

Also there were so many other suppliers who were amazing and we appreciated everything. Good suppliers are totally what makes the day as amazing as ours was!

Hit or (near) miss: We had so much fun running through our sparkler send off and being very long sparklers, you can imagine, they burned for a good amount of time. So, we decided to run back down a few times and it wasn’t until the third time that Georgia took a massive stack in all her wedding gown glory…

Soundtrack: Bridesmaids aisle song: “Stand By Me”, by Kina Grannis and Imaginary Future. Aisle song: “Here Comes The Sun”, by Imaginary Future. Signing: “Beyond”, by Leon Bridges and “Same Love”, by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, ft. Mary Lambert. Recessional: “You Are The Best Thing”, by Ray LaMontagne. Reception: “Chameleon”, by PNAU. First Dance: “Two Strong Hearts”, by Ainslie Wills. First Dance (with everyone): “Dancing in the Moonlight (It’s Caught Me in it’s Spotlight), by Alt-j.

Words of wedding wisdom: The best piece of advice we can give is get absolutely everything organised as early as you possibly can, to avoid being stressed before the wedding! Not only did this make it easier to deal with unavoidable hiccups (like finding a new dress the week before) but it is surprising how much longer everything takes and this really took the pressure off.

We also liked the idea of doing a lot of things ourselves, but sometimes you have to put a price on your time and know that (most of the time) professionals will do a better job, and that’s why you pay them! If you enjoy it and you’ll put in the effort – do it yourself, if you don’t – pay someone to do it!

The future: As much as we had the absolute best time, and we wish we could just go back and do it all again, we are just looking forward to being married! Getting to enjoy married life, and looking forward to the next stages of life like saving for a bigger house and renovations!

CREDITS: Photos Davish Photography // Video Little Darling Films // Venue Woodburn Homestead // Celebrant Loved Up Weddings With Courtney // Florist 28 Blossom St // Catering Cindy’s Classic Gourmet // Cake Bake Me One // Bridal gown Jenny and Gerrys (Georgia)  and Bridal on Payneham (Kayla) // Bridesmaid dresses Chancery // Favours Personalised Favours // Rings Martin Rogers Jewellers // Hair Narelle Amy and Holly Renee // Makeup Bridal Makeup By Ally and Eden Bennett Makeup // Music DJ Remy // Transport Rufus Bus & Coach // Glamping Wildflower Bell Tent // Marquee Adelaide Marquees // Favours and robes Ali Express

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