Ashleigh and Adam first met on an airplane on the way to Thailand, but it took several years as friends before they began dating. They were married in super style in Melbourne, Australia and we’re delighted to share their beautiful wedding day with you all on such a gloomy one here!
“We wanted lots of colour on our day with lots of fun and greenery. I didn’t want any pale green and white styling anywhere, everything had to be really vibrant and colourful,” explained Ashleigh.
Ashleigh’s wedding gown was a stunning fitted one piece with a modern feel. “I wanted it to be quite fitted, but also have a really long train with embellishments without being too traditional. My brief was ‘no lace’ so instead we used a range of appliqués and different mesh materials to get a more modern take on a traditional dress style,” she explained.
The couple veered from tradition with a few aspects including their first look, which we’re sure you will agree is adorable!
“We did something a little bit untraditional and both changed our names. Adam’s name was Adam Shirley, and when we got married we also took on his late grandfather’s last name, Spencer, in order to keep his memory alive, as he was the last remaining Spencer and him and his grandfather had a really close bond,” added Ashleigh.
Ashleigh’s creative nature was apparent throughout the day as a lot of the styling was DIY.
“From the beginning, I came up with all the concepts and then my mum and I brought them all to life over the next few months. My mum was amazing, she is really talented and so she handwrote all the place cards and table numbers, she hand-painted 80 sets of oyster shells as makeshift salt-and-pepper shakers and trawled the internet for weeks just to find the right vases for our table settings,” said Ashleigh.
“We also got a bit DIY with the menu and asked the venue to create one canape that was my favourite food (fish tacos) and another that was Adam’s (hot chippies). We then made little toothpicks that either said ‘from the bride’ or ‘from the groom’ on them. Also my Aunty, Uncle and cousin were incredible. My uncle runs a family nursery so he arranged the shipment of about 16 oak trees into the venue. The ceilings were really high and the room was massive so we knew we needed a bit of height in there. We wrapped them all with fairy lights and the end result was just incredible. Also, because I had created most of the styling myself, I couldn’t be there on the day to set up so my talented cousin managed the entire bump in and bump out including styling a huge 2.4m tall flower wall which formed a backdrop for our DIY photo booth,” she added.
Wedding Highlight
Our first dance, definitely! We love to have fun and we are always the last ones on the dancefloor together so that was a moment that truly represented us. We danced to Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars and the energy was just so electric and upbeat – our guests literally jumped onto the dancefloor halfway through to join us.
Wedding Suppliers
Wedding dress: Helen Manuell
Makeup: Tre Dallas
Hair: Sarah Caporale
Accessories: Ichu Jewellery
Bridesmaids Dresses: Finders Keepers
Groom’s Suit: P Johnson Tailors
Photographer: Darin Collison
Personalised Wedding Gift: Adorn Invitations
Plants: Warner’s Nurseries
Wedding Invitations: BWedding Invitations
Creative concepts and styling: Papermill Media
Styling: Party Plants
Cake: Cherry Tree Bakehouse
Food: Bursaria
Flowers: Botanics of Melbourne
Venue: Abbotsford Convent
