Real Wedding // Stephen & Yuichi’s Orchard Estate Wedding

Stephen & Yuichi’s beautiful hinterland wedding at The Orchard Estate was coloured with love left, right and centre… with a rainbow also appearing to send off the celebrations. The most stunning tropical theme carried throughout from ceremony to reception with big leaf installations, juicy vibrant hues and striking neon lighting. Witness how Possum Creek Studios captures every single moment so effortlessly and read their love story below…

Tell us your story, how did you both meet?
First, we got to know each other online, when Yuichi was still living in Tokyo and Stephen was on the Gold Coast. Then, Yuichi decided to fly to the Gold Coast to meet this guy in person, during his quick 4 day holiday on the Coast. We had a great time and kept contact between Tokyo and the Gold Coast. Then, Yuichi moved to the Gold Coast to study nursing and we started to see each other more often, moved in together, and 6 years have gone by since!

How did the proposal happen?
There was no proposal between us. When Australia said YES to the same sex marriage it had a profound effect for us and we were ready to fulfil our dream, we felt it was perfect timing for us to say YES! 

What were the reasons for choosing The Orchard Estate as the venue for your special day? 
We chose The Orchard Estate because of the beautiful black and white barn, which turned out to be so perfect to add colours in with green, flowers and all. It was a perfect blank white canvas! Turns out, we had a huge rainbow to add unexpected colours on the day… and it was just amazing! We were also looking for a hinterland venue with an amazing view, The Orchard Estate has an incredible outlook.

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?
We met Jony from Big Leaf Boutique at the Byron Bay Wedding Fair last year and we instantly fell in love with what he had created with huge green leaves! So that was our ‘MUST’. So we decided to go with a tropical theme mainly.

Were there any vendors that you particularly loved working with and why? 
We LOVED all the vendors we chose for our special day! Big Leaf Boutique created a breathtaking massive backdrop, which looked almost like he brought a whole tropical jungle inside the barn! It was topped with cool neon signs created by the Neon Republic, a beautiful peacock chair from The Wedding Shed. Also, we have to mention the lovely Marina from Marina Machado Cakes, who created this beautiful wedding cake. We asked Marina “Do what you want to do!” and she went above and beyond with her talent! The cake was the show stopper indeed! It tasted amazing too… Some of our guests even confessed that they had to take some slices home!

What were your favourite parts of the wedding planning process with Byron Bay Weddings? 
We found the whole planning process was very well-organised and easy with frequent calls and plenty of emails. When we needed ideas or directions, we would just contact them and they would give us great ideas and directions straight away! It was also nice that Byron Bay Weddings let us do what we wanted to do – they were quite flexible with all the ideas we had. I have personally enjoyed making the place cards and menu by myself, and Byron Bay Weddings fit them into the setting perfectly on the day. Huge thanks to Aoife (BBW wedding planner) who was amazing during the entire planning process! 

Overall, what was your most favourite part of your wedding day and why?
We were worried about the weather and as soon as the guests arrived, it started to rain! BUT the entire team including our lovely celebrant, Kirsty, were so generously patient with us and waited for 1 hour until the rain passed so we were able to have our ceremony outside. Then, come sunset, the sky started to clear up and we were lucky to have this amazing pink/orange sunset on one side, and a huge rainbow on the other with a couple of black cockatoos flying over. Then, the day was finished with the Milky Way in the sky. Half of our guests were from Japan speaking minimal English, but once the celebration started there was no language barrier as love is the universal language where no words are needed! The catering staff were also super friendly… which made all the guest comfortable and our magical day was simply filled with love, tears of joy, and laughter.

Stephen & Yuichi xo

Suppliers
Venue: The Orchard Estate // Celebrant: Kirsty Laing // Photographer: Possum Creek Studios // Florist: Big Leaf Boutique  // Catering: Fig Tree Catering // Drinks: The Cellar // Cake: Marina Machado Cakes // Transport: Currumbin Valley Coaches // Neon: Neon Republic // Lighting:  Byron Audio// Furniture & Styling: The Wedding Shed // Planning & Coordination: Byron Bay Weddings