Sarah & Ben's Tooraweenah Wedding

Erin Michele
Apr 12, 2019
4 min read

Country Wedding with a VIEW! I can't stop gushing about Sarah & Ben's breath-taking wedding!!

Every email to Sarah and Ben, I said the same thing -- "I'm SO excited for this wedding!".. and, oh my goodness, was I ever!

If you read Sarah and Ben's Engagement Session blog post, you'll know that John used to work with Sarah when he worked as an Early Childhood Educator but I failed to mention, Sarah used to be our daughter's teacher!

With all the history, we knew that this was going to be such a fun, laid-back wedding.. and it truly was!

When we arrived at Sarah's family home in Tooraweenah, I'd never met a more at-ease bride! Meeting her wonderful family, we felt so at home in their home. A bunch of fun and beautifully kind girls, Sarah's sisters (also her bridesmaids) were just as lovely to be around as Sarah.

As John and I collected up all of the special bridal details Sarah had for us, we saw a well-worn Akubra sitting on top of the piano, in front of a big photo of Sarah's dad, whom is no longer with us. Sarah explained that it was her dad's hat, but that no one in the bridal party would be wearing one.

Although it wasn't a bridal detail, we wanted to incorporate Sarah's dad into as much of her day as we could. We decided to take the hat and photo, with permission, to ensure Sarah had a piece of her dad in her wedding photos. We love how they turned out!

With her Grandma's ring and cross, Sarah had a piece of her Grandma with her as well; the ring made for a beautiful and extra special 'something blue'!

As I was taking photos of the details with the flowers, I asked Sarah who arranged them for her, "they're absolutely beautiful!".

Sarah explained that a very talented business in Coonamble, Mink and Me, arranged her flowers for her and she added the leaves. "The leaves are real, the flowers aren't.".. WHAT?! I'd been handling these flowers for the past half hour and they looked and felt as real as, well.. a real flower!

When the time finally came to leave for the ceremony, Sarah explained, "it's just up there, next to that one tree". Looking out in the distance, we could see a tree.. and it turns out that 'up there' was quite literally 'up'! Sarah and Ben were married on a freakin' mountain! We arrived and looked out at the incredible view.. photos just don't do it justice! This was one of those views that you just have to see with your own eyes -- it was absolutely beautiful!

We had never had the pleasure of working with Georgie from The Rural Bride, so we were so excited to finally meet her as we walked up to where the ceremony was to be held (and on our last Australian wedding, at that!).

Let me tell you, you want Georgie to co-ordinate your wedding! She was helping guests and ensuring everyone knew where they needed to be -- we even found her climbing a ladder, in the dark, to replace a blown bulb; she truly went above and beyond! We have the photos to prove it 😉.

Of course, the ceremony was absolutely beautiful, matching those incredible views of the Warrumbungles so perfectly. -- How fitting, that we would get to photograph Sarah and Ben's Engagement session at the Warrumbungle National Park, just a couple of months earlier.

Sarah looked stunning in her beautiful figure-hugging white sequin halter dress with her feather shawl, which matched her so well! Along with her gorgeous flower crown, made by the wonderful Shady Rock Nursery, who also took care of table arrangements for the reception.

When we spoke to Sarah and Ben about the bridal party portraits, and where they'd like them to take place, they explained that they wanted to have photos in the Tooraweenah township -- a place which obviously held a special place in their hearts.

John and I had so much fun getting to know their town and the people in it who, turns out, Sarah and Ben know pretty much every one of. Gotta love small towns!

The reception was just as beautiful as the rest of the day. I was excited, yet again, to find out that the business behind Sarah and Ben's amazing cake was another lovely lady we know; John more so than me, as he used to be her childrens' teacher when John and Sarah worked together! So, of course, I messaged Bron, from Cakes at Number 5, the following day and told her how stunning it looked and how Sarah refused to cut through any of the beautifully handmade edible flowers!

Truly one of the best weddings we have ever been to! It was the perfect way to end our time in the country.

I'm so excited to share a few of my favourites with you all. Sarah & Ben, congratulations!