Real Wedding // Heather & Kate’s Earth House Wedding

Heather & Kate’s Earth House wedding set deep in Byron Bay’s hinterland was met with classic beauty and effortless country glam. Think hues of French navy and cream, bouquets of wild flowers, contemporary structures draped in soft fabrics and a glitz of gold detail. Witness how the awe-inspiring Carly Tia portrays the day from start to finish. Read their love story below.

Tell us your story, how did you both meet?
Kate and I met at work, she’s a vet and I was a kennel hand at the same place. We were friends for a couple of years and then I ended up leaving to change careers and start studying. We stayed in contact and one day I was doing a fashion show for some hairdressing awards and asked Kate to come as my guest to watch. The more we hung out, the more we realised how much we cared about each other and wanted to be more than friends. We have known each other 10 years and been a couple for almost 8 now.

It was the 14th of June in 2014 and Kate and I gone away to her family’s holiday house in Berry for the weekend. She made a beautiful dinner and wanted to play a video for me on the TV that night. After some technical difficulties (which is standard for Kate haha), I suggested I try and play it on my computer. I really had no idea what we were going to watch, and thought it was just some movies on a USB. It ended up being a short video Kate had made that was a collection of photos of us with some backing music.  She then got out the ring and asked me to marry her! It was a complete surprise as we had previously discussed our thoughts on marriage and Kate had made it clear that while she would love to get married someday, she did not want to have a wedding until it would be legally recognised. I understood her feelings on the matter and since Australia was no where near passing any sort of legislation in 2014, I had not expected the proposal at all. I of course said yes!

What were the reasons for choosing Earth House as the venue for your special day?

We live in Sydney but we have spent many holidays in the Lismore and Byron area. We have a few friends that live up in that area and have a lot of fond memories from the region. When we decided, we had given up on waiting for any same sex marriage legislation to be passed. We knew that we wanted to have our wedding in the Byron area so we first looked at Earth House while attended the Byron Bay Wedding Fair and instantly fell in love.

We loved the actual building and the atmosphere it created. The room was a blank canvas and we really could create the wedding we imagined in our minds. The deck was also beautiful and we liked the idea of having a ‘chill out’ zone for people who didn’t want to dance later in the evening. The view into the valley was stunning! The fig tree on property was gorgeous and there’s also a built in wet weather plan, so it was easy to cover all bases without too much worry. Which ended up being a necessity for us because it rained the entire week leading up to and then on the big day itself. We had no worries about the weather on the day because we knew the deck would be ready for us with no hassle. Munro (the owner), is a really lovely man and easy to communicate with. I would recommend this venue to anyone wanting to get married in Northern NSW.

We pretty much just started with the colour palette of navy, blush and gold and went from there. Flowers are something I don’t know a lot about so when Allison from Alstonville Florist asked me what I was looking for, I almost didn’t know what to say. I gave her the brief of natives, botanical, bohemian, organic, and lots of foliage amongst the white flowers. She did not disappoint with what she created. They were stunning! I used those same themes when discussing the reception with the stylist. We knew we wanted to create a relaxed but luxe space, and we are so happy with how everything turned out. We couldn’t resist putting up the rainbow flag across the bar either!

Firstly, Carly from Carly Tia Photography was an absolute dream. Kate and I aren’t really the sort of people that like to have our photo taken, but Carly made us feel so at ease the whole day. She really captured how much we love each other and the fun and festivities we had with our friends and family. The photos are stunning and I can’t wait to hang some in our home.

Sinead from Byron Bay Wedding Hair Co was so lovely and easy to talk to and really made me feel so beautiful on the day. I know that the bridesmaids all felt the same!

Dani Quayle was our acoustic singer and then DJ later in the night. She has a beautiful voice and really helped set the mood for the evening. She was great and played all the music we requested for the dance set. We knew we wanted to tear up the dance floor and we weren’t disappointed!

Emily from Byron Bay Weddings really helped us plan our wedding, even though we were down in Sydney. I can’t believe I didn’t actually meet her until the actual wedding day! I feel like I spoke to her so much over the space of 12 months that we had met several times. Our wedding day would not have been as amazing as it was without Emily’s help, and we can’t thank her enough.

Lauren Hung from the Black Line by Lauren did all of the calligraphy for our wedding stationery and was a pleasure to do business with. She was patient and gave us a number of options to choose from and really brought our ideas to life. I think I will book her again for any future events!

THE WHOLE THING!

Also two months before our wedding day, same sex marriage was passed! We began planning our wedding before the plebiscite had even gone ahead; We wanted to have a wedding to celebrate our love because we were sick of waiting.  When the plebiscite did go ahead, we had to go through that whole roller coaster knowing full well that we might be celebrating our wedding with a no vote having just been passed. It was a difficult time for us, but we powered on and thankfully the law passed!!

We also loved having our 18 month old daughter there as our flower girl and watching her walking down the aisle was such a blessing.

Heather & Kate

Suppliers
Venue: Earth House // Hair: Byron Bay Wedding Hair Co  // Celebrant: Anita Oates // Photographer: Carly Tia Photography // Cake: Byron Bay Cacao // Florist: Alstonville Florist // Catering: Fig Tree Catering // Music: Dani Quayle Music // Lighting & Audio:  Byron Audio // Stationery: The Backline by Lauren // Transport: Bangalow Buses // Furniture & Styling: The Wedding Shed // Planning & Coordination: Byron Bay Weddings