Real Wedding // Carlie & Jake’s Earth House Wedding

Carlie & Jake’s gorgeous Earth House wedding was nothing short of a picture-perfect autumn dream! Despite having to postpone twice, Carlie & Jake couldn’t be more thrilled with how their special day came to life. Filled with pops of burnt orange, soft neutrals and impressive greenery, their reception was exactly how they envisioned — “warm and welcoming, like a big hug”. Read their love story below.

Tell us about your story, how did you meet and where did the proposal happen?
We met on Tinder when I made a trip back home to Adelaide, I was living on the Gold Coast at the time & Jake was living in Adelaide. We just texted but didn’t meet up, then I flew back to the Gold Coast. After lots of messages back and forth, we both got the courage to arrange a catch-up and Jake booked flights to the Gold Coast. We spent 3 days together and knew straight away that it was meant to be.

We had planned a little camping getaway to Byron to see Ziggy Alberts play at The Brewery. We were at Flat Rock Campground and Jake had strung about 17 photos along the sand dunes amongst the pandanus palms and asked me to meet him where we were going to watch the sunrise. As I was walking, I followed the string and he walked out behind a palm, got on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was the most magical emotional moment! He kept surprising me all weekend with a luxury stay in a villa and many other things!

What were the reasons for choosing Earth House as the venue for your special day? 
When Fig Tree burned down we needed to find another venue. When we checked out the Earth House, we found it to be breathtaking and had everything we wanted in a venue.

What style were you striving for with your table settings, florals and reception? Was there a certain look or vibe that you wanted to create?
Being an autumn wedding, I wanted to make the most of the gorgeous autumn colours and compliment the gorgeous rammed earth walls as well as bringing the greenery of the Earth House location inside with a massive feature piece from Big Leaf Boutique. Earth House is such a great space to work with and you can really utilise all of the natural elements, which we loved. We wanted our reception to be warm and welcoming, like a big hug. I think we really achieved that with the lighting, soft furnishings & colours. 

Were there any vendors that you particularly loved working with and why?
We loved working with everyone. Nicola Lemmon (photographer) was fabulous, made things so comfortable we were able to be ourselves. Katrina Holt (celebrant) and Sarah Archer (musician) were so supportive and positive through our three date changes and delivered on everything we asked.

Big Leaf Boutique was also incredible, they delivered on everything I imagined with the display.

My makeup and hair artists made the morning of the wedding fun and stress-free which was amazing too.

What were your favourite parts of the wedding planning process with Byron Bay Weddings?
It was really smooth planning our wedding (aside from the Fig Tree fire & Covid). I had a really lovely phone call with Kate (Day Coordination Manager) the week of our wedding, where it just felt really easy. I appreciated the calm approach and little words of wisdom along the way.

Tell us what were the most important aspects of your wedding day and which moments really stood out to you?
It’s way too hard to narrow down any single thing on the day, as everything felt like a dream. We had a perfect autumn day, and we just felt incredibly lucky that despite having to postpone twice, we ended up having the most perfect day. We had everyone in the one place having fun, that’s what mattered most to us.

What would be your biggest advice to other couples currently planning their wedding?
Don’t sweat the small stuff. Be in the moment, you spend so much time, energy and headspace planning it that you have to just breathe and enjoy it! Also, to have it start as early as you can, that way you’re optimising your time. We started at 1:30pm & it was 10:00pm before we knew it.

Lastly, make sure you both take a minute to take it all in, watch your friends and family and the emotion in their faces, it’s a pretty special time.

Carlie & Jake xo

Suppliers
Venue: The Earth House // Hair: CK Colour // Makeup: Makeup Maree // Celebrant: Katrina Holt Wonder Love // Photographer: Nicola Lemmon // Videographer: Goldbear Wedding Films // Florals: Flowers by Ola // Foilage Installation: Big Leaf Boutique // Musician: Sarah Archer // Transport: Byron Bay Double Deckers & Byron Bay Kombis // Catering: Fig Tree Catering // Lighting:  Byron Audio // Furniture & Styling: The Wedding Shed // Planning & Coordination: Byron Bay Weddings