A 50’s Style Wedding in the Hunter Valley Vineyards

“Here they come… I think that might be them in the distance” I was chatting to the owner of Lucy, the biplane Racheal had organised for photos on her wedding day. I was standing on a dirt road beside a newish hanger at the Hunter Valley airport, not far from Peterson House, where the 50’s style, wedding ceremony and reception were to take place amongst the vineyards.

I’d never met either Racheal or Kurt, it was only emails and a brief phone conversation a few days before their wedding to discuss times and locations.

They were 15 minutes late and I was walking in circles, anxious to meet, get acquainted and build a rapport before having to take the most important photographs of their lives (in my mind anyway) in the next hour… actually, make that 45 minutes.

If it were any “normal” wedding it wouldn’t have been a concern, but it wasn’t.

Racheal mentioned it will be a 50’s style wedding, there will be no preparation photos (so no time to build up that rapport), she and Kurt wanted to do their location photos before the ceremony to be able to stay with their family and friends for the rest of the afternoon. The minute they turned up it was going to be ‘game on’.

As the car grew larger on approach, I caught first sight of two big smiles and a very cool looking car. When the dust from the dirt road settled, my first clear photo is the one below…. I knew this was going to be one extraordinary day.

Instead of me rambling, I’ve asked Racheal to tell the story of her and Kurt, how they met and their very cool wedding day in her own words:

The European Proposal

Kurt & I met in the most romantic place “one of our local pubs ” lol,  we were instantly attracted to each other and Kurty asked for my number and we went on a couple of dates… I was busy at the time building my house so didn’t have much time. Kurt thought I wasn’t interested and left it as that. I did the same so that was all it was…

A year later we meet up again at the same pub “Shenanigans” (purely by chance) and me being me, approached Kurt to say hi – we have been together ever since.

Kurty wanted to take me to Europe for a month so it didn’t take much convincing and I had enough leave from work, so we could!

While travelling, Kurt proposed to me… we were in Roma, he had taken me out for a romantic night and dinner right in front of the Pantheon (one of the oldest buildings in Roma). After dinner, we held hands and walked around this amazing building. Right by one of the ancient columns, Kurty went down on one knee and asked if I’d marry him.

He pulled out a very large diamond ring, so I just had to say yes! lol…  That and I love him with all my heart!!!

Where was the wedding and why?

Peterson Champagne House for price, location and the amazing venue it is. We also had a lot of dates together, in the Hunter Valley, so we felt like it was natural for us to start our life in a place that had brought us together.

Were you going for a certain theme or style?

Our wedding was straight from the 50’s, we love that generation, the style is so hot 😉 plus fun!!

Was there a journey in finding your dress and accessories?

My wedding dress was a bargain at $150 from some internet site I found. It required a load of alterations and because it was the last of its style, they did an amazing job for the amazing price of $350.  So altogether my dress cost $500. I was looking for a 50’s inspired dress and I loved how it turned out!

My shiny red shoes were from Myer and fit perfectly with style.

For my jewellery, I wore my pearls. Kurt had given them as his first gift to me. He had missed me so much the first time he went away for work.

My hair and makeup were done by Retro Dames and the girls travelled from Sydney. Even with the travel charges, they were affordable, besides, they are worth it! I wanted someone that specialised in the 50’s look and the girls know perfectly how to achieve it!

What about Kurt’s suit and accessories?

My husband’s suit (mmm) looked amazing but oh-my-god, cost more than my dress!

The suit was tailor made in Sydney by Skin Deep who specialise in the era we wanted, he looked so hot in it 😉 and everything fitted perfectly. The suit cost around $2000 and the shoes $450.

Can you tell me about your  flowers, cake and bomboniere?

The flowers were from Worn Out Wares in Singleton; I used to work there as a cook and my boss at the time, being such a great florist, meant I had to use her.

We wanted a cake to be different and non traditional! So we had our cake inspired by the rockabily theme. A lass on the Coast does them and it looked the part perfectly.

For our bomboniere, we wanted name tags so we made lollie jars with our guests names. These were all home made as were the lollies on the table that we set up to look like a 50’s style diner. They looked good and were cheap because we did everything ourselves.

How did you enjoy the photography part of the day?

We had a certain budget to work to for our photographer and Andrew was it. We were very lucky because I had seen his work and loved it! He was so much fun and so organised, he made our day even better! We are so grateful to have had such a professional!

What about your honeymoon?

We honeymooned in Thailand and had so much fun. What an amazing place; the people can’t do enough for you. We did all those “things” you should do while there 😉

Is there anything you’d change about your wedding day?

The only thing I would change unfortunately were my fake eye lashes. The fake ones used pointed straight out, instead of out and up.  In some of my photos it looks like I don’t even have them. Maybe I should’ve just had mascara on… normally mine look better than they did on the day.

Anything you’d like to add?

We had a amazing wedding, everyone involved was so excited to join us with the 50s inspired wedding theme and looked so good. We had so much fun and loved our day !!!!!!

I think everyone involved did as well.

Kind regards Rach xo