Hayley & Murray
Our Love Story
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We met back in 2008, through mutual friends at a pub when we were fresh 18-year olds in our hometown, Wagga Wagga NSW. A while after we started dating, we discovered that our families have this amazing history together- our Grandparents were best friends and neighbours for many years, our families have known each other for generations! So, the whole thing is almost like fate and pretty special!
The proposal: On a random Monday evening in December 2020, we planned to take our dog Barkley for a walk at our favourite spot- Thirteenth Beach, like we often did on warm nights. Hayley was ready to go as soon as Murray got home from work, but he had to stall her, so he casually took his time getting ready and went through Macca's drive through for a soft serve on the way.
When we arrived at Thirteenth, we set off for our stroll, throwing the ball for Barks and cruising along the beach with our feet in the water. The sun started to set, Hayley felt Murray drop a few paces behind as they walked along, then she heard him say "Hey Hayley", she turned around to see him down on one knee, ring in hand. Hayley was surprised and had some pretty choice (swear) words but of course said yes! Murray had hired a photographer to be there and capture the whole thing which was truly so special. They celebrated at the beach, complete with a picnic Murray had organised and lots of champagne- It was so perfect!!
The Day
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We wanted to create a wedding that truly reflected us as a couple. As an avid art lover and creative type, Hayley had a vision that included her favourite colour orange, gold accents and pops of bright pinks, yellows etc to create a kind of 'boho eclectic' vibe. We were pretty adamant to not follow trends or just do things because 'that's what you should do', rather create our own special style! Looking at all our photos, I'm so glad we went bright and colourful
Hayley had her late Dad, Bradley's pendant attached to her bouquet, just as 2 of her sisters had also done on their wedding days.
Murray's Mum gifted some special family mementos to each of us on the wedding morning, a handkerchief belonging to his late Pop and one from his great-Grandmother for Hayley.
For 'something blue' Murray had a sapphire (Hayley's birthstone) that her late Dad had given her Mum in a ring for her 21st birthday, remade to a special ring he gifted her on the wedding day.
The weather was a bit of a disaster! We never thought we would experience such awful weather at the end of October! Some of our guests were a last minute out (literally the day of) due to being flooded in their homes in Echuca. On the wedding day we had rain pelting down and gale force winds, forcing us to move our ceremony to the undercover deck area instead of the big, beautiful landing area overlooking the bay like we had planned. This created a bit of a knock-on effect, lots of things had to change as a result of the wet weather. But, we still had the most amazing day surrounded by our nearest and dearest and the most incredible sunset where we got our amazing 'golden hour' photos.
The MVP's of the day were definitely our celebrant Suzette and our videographer Ben- they were both so amazing!! Suzette was the perfect inclusion for us, and all of our guests said just how wonderful she was performing our ceremony- she was warm, heartfelt and just the best. Ben's amazing work for our videos is pretty obvious, not only is he super talented but he is also the loveliest guy you could meet! Murray and I both instantly felt so comfortable with him, his posing prompts felt so natural, and it was just like we had a friend there following us around all day.
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Venue: Jack Rabbit Vineyard
Celebrant: Suzette Kroll
Photographer: Luke Barker, The Tron Orphic
Videographer: Ben Jones, Wildbird Films
Musician: Abe Anderson Music
Florist: The Posie Place
Hair: Hair by Milly Grace, Ocean Grove
Make-up: Style Bar Barwon Heads
Dress: Bo & Luca, from SoHo Bride, Newtown
Bride's Shoes: Loeffler Randall
Rings: custom made by Amy Renshaw
Suits: Peter Jackson
Groom's Shoes: RM Williams
Ties: Peggy and Finn
Bridesmaid's dresses: Kookai
Cake: Cakesmith Geelong
Bonbonniere: in lieu of favours we made a donation to the Cancer Council, in memory of the Bride's father. Guests received a gold daffodil pin with a note on seeded wildflower paper detailing instructions to plant the paper when they got home and watch the wildflowers bloom
Signs/ stationary: all designed and created by the Bride: Le Lievre Creative
Transport: 1936 Chrysler, restored by the Groom's father