The Brief
When your bride is a wedding photographer (hi, Ivy!), you know the visual brief is going to be precise. Ivy didn’t come to me with a mood board of things she vaguely liked; she came with a clear aesthetic in her head and the vocabulary to describe it. Her dad is also a fashion photographer. Her mum also in the world of fashion photography. These are people who understand light, composition, and the difference between something that looks good and something that tells an unforgettable, everlasting story.
What Ivy wanted was rich and dark and a little bit unexpected. Deep crimson and burgundy for the ceremony, with Australian natives and wild texture that felt like it had grown out of the Bundanon landscape rather than been placed in front of it. For the reception, she wanted to push into something more sculptural and editorial; she was drawn to smokebush and chocolate cosmos, and she wanted vegetables on the tables.
Not as a novelty.
As a genuine design choice.
I was very much here for all of it.
I should also tell you that Ivy is one of the biggest Swifties I know, and that we bonded hard over this during the planning process. Watching her listen to TTPD live was a very specific kind of hard relate; there is something about that album and the experience of planning a wedding that occupy exactly the same emotional frequency! (IYKYK) Ivy was also thrilled to be a bride in the same bridal era as Taylor Swift herself, which felt very on brand for who she is as a person.
All of this is to say: the brief was precise, the vision was dark and beautiful, and our planning meetings had an excellent soundtrack.
The Venue
Bundanon is a rare kind of place. The former home and studio of Arthur Boyd, it sits on the Shoalhaven River in the Southern Highlands; all sweeping river flats, eucalyptus bush, and a quality of light that makes everything look like a painting. Which is fitting, given the collection of Boyd’s work hanging inside. The ceremony was held on the lawn by the river. The reception was in the gallery space.
It’s one of those venues that does a lot of the heavy lifting for you, if you’re willing to let the landscape lead.
Ivy was.
That was the starting point for everything.
The Ceremony — On the River Flat
The ceremony setting was simple in the best way: white folding chairs set in two blocks on the grass, facing the Shoalhaven, a lone gum tree marking the horizon, blue hills beyond.
No arch.
No frame.
Just the river and the sky and two large sculptural towers flanking the aisle.
Those towers were built on foam-free structures from the Wildflower Academy; chicken wire in vessels, worked on site in the shade that morning. I cannot overstate how important the shade part was!
October at Bundanon threw us a difficult day. The heat came early and the wind was unrelenting; the kind of combination that turns a perfectly timed setup into a race against the flowers!
The only way to manage it was to build everything we could in shade, keeping the arrangements hydrated until the last possible moment, and then place them at the ceremony location as late as we could get away with. Not ideal. But the flowers held, and no one watching Ivy walk down the aisle had any idea we’d been playing logistics chess all morning.
The towers themselves were built in two distinct moods. One leaned into Australian natives; feathery native grasses sweeping wide, deep crimson roses, white flannel flowers threading through. Trailing branches and foliage spilling down to the ground, almost merging with the grass.
The other was softer and more abundant: the same native grasses as a base, with garden roses in blush and deep red, and cloud-like white blooms giving it a more romantic weight.
The aisle clusters sat on the ground at each row of chairs; loose, abundant, meadow-gathered in feel. Burgundy dahlias, hellebores, wax flower, eriostomen, native foxgloves, corncockle, white smokebush, and trailing foliage in burgundy tones. White satin ribbon tied each cluster to the chair beside it; the only formal element in an otherwise deliberately wild ceremony space.
The bridesmaids walked in to Enchanted.
Because, what else would they?!
The Repurpose
Once the ceremony was done, the towers came with us. We moved them inside for the portrait session in the gallery against that beautiful neutral gallery wall.
The portraits of Ivy in that space, her lace gown, her tattoos, those dark moody flowers, the Arthur Boyd works in the background, are some of my favourite images I’ve been lucky enough to have my florals in.
The Bridal Party
Four bridesmaids, all in black. Different silhouettes, strapless, sheer, ruched, cape sleeve, but the black gave it cohesion and sharpened the contrast with Ivy’s white gown. Each carried something slightly different, which is how I prefer it when the brief allows for it.
Ivy’s bouquet was the standout, and I’ll be honest with you, it was one of my favourites I’ve made. Dark calla lilies, chocolate hellebores, chocolate cosmos, eriostomen, ivy berry, tree peonies, clematis vine trailing down, and mulberries tucked through the stems.
Loose and falling and a little bit undone, which was exactly the point.
There was also amaranthus dripping from the base, adding that final bit of weight and movement.
The Reception — Inside the Gallery
The reception flip was significant. We went from wild and abundant on the river flat to spare and sculptural inside the gallery, and that contrast was very deliberate.
Ivy had strong ideas about the tables; she wanted vegetables, and the vegetable element came through with eggplants, purple Dutch carrots, and artichokes; those gorgeous purple-green globe artichokes that look more like sculpture than food. Clustered at the base of black iron bud vase holders, with single-stem red anthuriums and dark calla lilies extending upward – they gave the tables a graphic quality that felt very much in keeping with the gallery setting.
Some tables had viola and pansy clusters in simple white vessels; that deep burgundy and rust tone, with the dark centres, sitting beside the menus with their wavy illustrated edge.
And speaking of the menus; pizza! The catering was Rosso Pepe, the menu was pizza, and the stationery had illustrated wine bottles and glasses all over it.
On deep burgundy velvet.
This was that kind of wedding. *chefskiss*
The Details
Ivy wore a gown by Maeille Bride; strapless, lace, with a full cathedral veil that in the candlelit gallery shots looked genuinely otherworldly. Manolo Blahnik shoes. Jack was in P. Johnson. Ivy’s earrings were pearl clusters; her necklace a single pearl strand.
The stationery suite was illustrated with wine and cocktail glasses, bottles and pizza slices, hand-drawn on wavy-edged card stock in black ink with crimson script. Entirely on-brand with the rest of the day.
Henry Clive Caravan Bar handled drinks.
Upbeat Social on music.
Wed Event Creators coordinating.
Oyster Lux for oysters, which was so right for this crowd.
Photography by Kerstin Auer, who has an eye for the quiet moments; the veil caught mid-billow, the bouquet hanging loose from one hand, the bridesmaids in full chaos energy in the gallery space.
HMUA by the lovely Lidija.
photo @kerstinauerphoto
hmua @lidija.mua
florist @krystasmith.au
venue @bundanontrust
dress @maellebride
shoes @manoloblahnik
suit @pjohnsonworld
coordinator @wedeventcreators
catering @rossopepecatering @oysterlux
