Bride & Groom: Emma Court, Cameron Muirhead
Planning & Styling: After the Rock
Gown: Monique Lhullier Bloom
Accessories: Helen Rodrigues Veil, Jennifer Behr headband for reception, Linneys Rings, Jimmy Choo and Sergei Rossi Shoes
Bridesmaids dresses: Custom Paris Georgia (Cam’s Cousin)
Venue: Mona Farm
Photography: Cassandra Ladru
Videography: Moon and Back
Floral: My Violet
How did you and your husband meet?
I met Cameron on my first day of university. As fate would have it, we both happened to pass each other at the gates of the University of Melbourne’s Ormond College – Cameron was starting his postgraduate medical degree, and I was studying Commerce. I had moved from Western Australia and Cameron from New Zealand, we both came to Melbourne not knowing anyone, but ready for a new adventure.
I feigned ignorance as to where the Commerce building was to spark up a conversation at the College gate. Looking back, I must have really liked him given I hadn’t slept in week and had just met 500 new people at Orientation week, so I certainly wasn’t starved of human interaction! I genuinely don’t know what it was, but I just knew that there was something about Cameron that completely captivated and enchanted me.
Of course, I’d like to say the rest is history, however, there were many ‘sliding doors’ moments until we actually started dating.
It’s been an interesting 10 years – living on opposite sides of the world from one another (I spent a period working in Milan and Cam was on a surgical elective in India) and opposite sides of the country (Me in Melbourne, Cam in Perth… which sometimes felt like worlds apart due to the COVID border closure and Melbourne lockdown). However, through these various chapters, our relationship has really continued to evolve and become a great support no matter what the adventure or circumstance.
Our relationship has been quite the lesson in patience, as it only took 10 years of dating, 4 years of engagement and 5 wedding dates to get us to the wedding day!
How did he propose?
My parents were living in Japan at the time, and it was a place we had visited together many times and absolutely loved for its enchanting beauty and culture. Cam had planned out an intricate treasure hunt around Tokyo, sneaking out in the early hours of the morning to hide clues in envelopes around the city. However, his carefully laid plans were somewhat derailed as I had planned a trip to explore a part of Tokyo that day. Not wanting to give up the surprise by insisting too strongly, he anxiously went along on my adventure hoping that his envelopes would still be in place by the time we got to them! At first, I thought it was a fun activity but started to realise that something more was unfolding. The clues were in all sorts of places from a book inside a library, behind a bush or given to shop attendant. The final clue led us to a Japanese garden (at this stage the sun was setting thanks to my detour). As I opened the final envelope, I turned around to find him down on one knee.
What was your vision for your wedding day?
Originally our wedding was planned amongst the mountains of Lake Wanaka in the South Island of New Zealand (as that is where Cam grew up), but like so many others, COVID forced us to re-think our original plans. To allow the best possible chance for both our Australian and International guests to attend, we were guided by our wedding planner Georgie to explore the beautiful surrounds of Braidwood, NSW.
We wanted our guests to be removed from the day to day and be immersed in beautiful breathtaking surrounds. The gardens of Mona Farm truly provide a sense of sanctuary and other-worldliness. We instantly felt immersed in nature amongst the beautiful trees surrounded by sweeping gardens and flower fields, and loved the nod to Cam’s Scottish heritage through Mona’s cooler climate and cobblestone bridges.
Our styling inspiration came from our wish to honour and complement the natural surrounds of Braidwood and Mona Farm. The Ceremony on the crabapple lawn truly felt like a secret garden – it was so intimate. During our planning, we aimed to create a sense of intimacy with our guests and with the surrounds, to really take in each special moment of the weekend. We selected locations within Mona where guests could be immersed in nature but it still feel intimate.
You could really feel so much love on the day and there was such a warm atmosphere of joy. It was such a special time to be surrounded by people who had shown us so much love and support in so many different ways, both individually and as a couple.
I had a vision in mind to keep to a colour palate of whites and greens, so my guiding aesthetic was very soft, romantic and ethereal. We wanted the styling to accentuate and build on all of the love, care and design that is been put into each exquisite element of Mona Farm. I also took a lot of stying inspiration from the first thing I selected in our wedding planning process, which was my wedding gown from Monique L’Huillier, which I absolutely adored.
The brief for the florals were to create a meadow of flowers within the garden and for it to look beautifully imperfect. Similarly with the reception florals, I wanted it to feel like an intimate dinner party with an eclectic mix of ceramics rather than perfectly symmetrical and over-styled.
I was particularly excited by the prospect of creating a suite of stationery that our guests could keep as special keepsakes of the weekend. In designing the stationery, we took inspiration from the historical elements of Mona, and small details such as marble finishes, which created a softness that we both loved. I really loved this aspect of the planning process – we had bespoke welcome packs, door handles, wedding cake boxes, coffee cups… you can tell I really loved it!
Georgie: – ethereal, soft Romantic, picturesque, understated elegance. we chose Mona Farm due to the nod to Cameron's Scottish heritage (cooler climate, beautiful Palladian stone bridge near the lake and misty mornings had a scottish feel for them) - Emma particularly loved the english inspired gardens and wanted to work within that environment and enhance that look and feel with every decision she made on her styling throughout each event. ]
Where did you look for your wedding inspiration?
The venue was a big source of inspiration and we wanted to highlight the beautiful gardens and landscape through the styling.
When we made the decision to move the wedding to Australia, we were in the midst of full lockdown in Melbourne with no ability to travel outside of our 5km radius, yet alone to see a wedding venue in another state. Georgie sent us photos and videos and we were instantly in love. What really sealed the deal though was the bridge over the lake. Pre-Covid, we had travelled to Scotland to commence the kilt design process. Cam reveled in the Mona Farm bridge’s likeness to those in the small towns of Scotland.
The gardens at Mona are just spectacular and create a meandering journey through secret passageways and old stonework from the original buildings.
We had the Ceremony on the Crabapple Lawn amongst the garden then after a champagne and canapes hour the bagpiper led the guests over the bridge to the other side of the lake, where the reception was held under the marquee.
What drew you to your gown from Helen Rodrigues Bridal?
I saw a video of the gown in some behind the scenes footage from the campaign before it was launched and fell in love with how ethereal and light it looked. The video had the model running through a secret garden and the movement of the gown was so special. I love an off the shoulder design so it was just perfect.
The soft folded detailing on the bodice and the texture of the fabric added a subtle but beautiful element.
The gown hadn’t been released yet when I first went to try it on so we had to have it shipped from the New York atelier as a sample. I tried on a few other designs just to be sure but I really knew it was the one because it felt so timeless and truly a reflection of my style. It was a testament to the enduring nature of the design that the wedding ended up being nearly 3 years after I did the initial fitting and I love it just as much on the day as I did when I first tried it on. I would say my style is more understated and I love to play more with tone, structure and texture rather than embellishment and colour so the dress was very true to this style.
What was your wedding planning journey like for you? How far out did you start planning?
Like many brides, it will come as no surprise that I had my fair collection of wedding inspiration on Pinterest before we were even engaged (it had been 7 years of dating after all).
As we both have busy jobs, we knew we needed help. I had known of Georgie and her team at After the Rock for quite some time, so it took us less than 48 hours post-engagement to get in touch with Georgie to ask about the process.
While I love planning (indeed my job is to plan and execute Mergers and Acquisitions – and what is a Wedding if no the ultimate Merger!), I didn’t want to lose the joy in the process by being consumed by navigating the minefield of the wedding industry. Additionally, with an overseas wedding we didn’t have any expertise or contacts. So enlisting ATR wasn’t just about capacity, it was capability and being able to bring our vision to life and really help us collaborate with vendors to articulate and refine that vision.
Georgie had 80% of our vendors locked in within months and we learned that navigating this alone would have been near impossible.
We received great advice to prioritise was really mattered and not be fixated on certain wedding elements just because we felt like that was what needed to be “done” at a wedding. Georgie guided us to approach it like just planning a party, rather than fixate on “wedding” traditions just for the sake of it.
We designed the day to feel like everyone was disconnected to the outside world and connected and fully present with one another. We had a strict no phone policy so everyone would enjoy the moments and be fully present.
We knew we wanted to incorporate elements of Scottish heritage such as the hand fastening ritual and Scottish dancing, as well as some Ormond College traditions, as a nod to where we first met. While we had been at Ormond, Cam had championed the return of an old tradition ‘The Masters Dance’ which was a night of Scottish dancing. It was so much fun and we wanted to incorporate Scottish dancing to the wedding night. We were very fortunate to have Bruce and Jan from the Scottish Society in Canberra come to Mona on the night of the Welcome dinner, to lead all of our guests through a Scottish Dance lesson. It turned out to be the perfect ice breaker for everyone to meet and get to know each other. Shoes were flung off as everyone spun around the lawn as Bruce taught the moves. It was certainly high energy! For the Wedding night we had a Scottish bagpipe ensemble and everyone had picked up the dances so well from the night before, so there were hands flying and an abundance of laughter as everyone danced the night away.
‘Spooning In’ was another Ormond tradition we wanted to incorporate, so instead of entering the reception to a song, we entered to the sound of 100 spoons meeting the dining tables conducted in the Ormond rhythm by one of our bridal party. It was so fun to share these traditions with our friends and family and it was certainly a big energy to walk in to!
We knew from the outset that having our closest friends and family in the same place was going to be a truly unique time, so we planned the wedding over 4 days. We didn’t want to only have a few fleeting moments with people on one night who had travelled so far to share the milestone with us.
Summary:
Day 1: Family and Bridal Party Arrival and Dinner
Day 2: All Guests arrive, Welcome Dinner and Scottish Dance Rehearsal
Day 3: Wedding
Day 4: Recovery Brunch in the Garden
Day 1: Our bridal party and parents arrived on the first day which ended with a family dinner prepared by Mona Farm.
Day 2 all other guests arrived and we had a welcome dinner and Scottish dance rehearsal overlooking the lake as the sun set. Although it was so cold, the Scottish dancing managed to warm everyone up! Dinner was prepared by the team at Mona farm from local produce, accompanied by local wines. Afterwards, me and my bridal party retreated to the homestead where we had facial boxes prepared by Mecca – so we masked and chatted then got an early night before the big day.
Day 3 was the big day. I started the day with Pilates with my bridesmaids overlooking the garden. Then we grazed on food from Mona farm, talked and lounged around as we cycled through getting our hair and make up done.
Day 4: Mona farm set up a barista cart and full brunch in the garden the morning after. It was so lovely to relax in the sunshine and reminisce on the festivities with our guests then have a proper opportunity to say farewell.
What was the biggest decision you had to make?
The biggest decision we had to make was whether we move the wedding from NZ to Australia even though we had already planned the whole wedding in NZ and locked in all the vendors there. Ultimately we weren’t willing to take the risk that our guests (or indeed we) wouldn’t be able to physically get to NZ amidst lockdowns and travel restrictions.
Even though it was hard to let go of the NZ vision, ultimately it was the right decision and Mona ended up being the perfect location.
What was the highlight of your wedding day for you?
There was the most intense wash of emotion as I was waiting to walk down the aisle. My bridesmaids walked down to a string quartet version of ‘LOVE’ by Lana Del Ray then the bag piper started with ‘The Skyboat Song’ for my Dad and I to walk and I was just completely overcome by emotion. I looked to my Dad who had a tear in his eye and as soon as we rounded the corner into the garden I just kept my eye on Cam to get to the end of the aisle.
Our niece Evie who is 18 months old was our flower girl and was to walk down with two of the bridesmaids’ tossing petals. We were, however, fully aware of the old show business adage ‘don’t work with children or animals’ so if she wasn’t feeling it on the day were more than happy to let her do her own thing. Moments before the bridesmaids song started playing, Evie threw off a shoe, face planted into the grass and thew the petal basket to the ground. I still have the image of Georgie patiently negotiating with her holding one foot to get the shoe back on as Evie was clawing the ground. As we went to make the call to ‘cut’ her from the line up – the second we went to take the basket of petals, she stood up, put her game face on and strode down that aisle perfectly throwing petals. Clearly the prospect of losing the lead role was less appealing than grass face planting!
Is there anything you would do differently?
I think sometimes it can be easy to get caught up in the idea that every element has to be special and perfect, but on the day you are so swept up in love and emotion that you don’t notice a lot of these things. Focus on the elements that genuinely matter the most to you and your husband and be willing to let go of other things as they will just cause unnecessary stress.
Is there any advice you would give other #HRBride’s?
Wedding planning and execution can ironically place significant strain on your relationship with your husband-to-be – whether it’s the never ending to-do list, the heightened emotion, the pressure of significant financial decisions or in our case the added stress of planning a wedding in the midst of a pandemic. Remember you are the team and together you can get through anything – whether it be the 5th reschedule or a mis-printed invite. Approaching the wedding as a team and always having each other’s best interest at heart is so important.
I don’t think you realise how complex a production weddings can be until you have one and Hollywood really mis-sold us that it was a fun breeze. So just be aware there are highs and lows but come back to the fact that this is such a rare opportunity where you can celebrate your love surrounded by your friends and family.
Helen’s curation of the leading wedding designers is second to none and having access to the phenomenal craftsmanship of these designers in Australia is truly unique. Helen helped me select a stunning design and my love for my dress only grew over the three years we refined and fitted it (due to pandemic related wedding delays).
As I wasn’t from Sydney, Helen was able to flex around travel requirements for fittings and the final collection.