Living at Lauderdale Cottage, it's hard not to envision the perfect wedding. I often found myself strolling through the garden, imagining various garden ceremonies and photo locations. So, when it came time to plan my wedding, I was thrilled to turn those dreams into a reality.

We spent a considerable amount of time discussing where to set everything up, what changes we needed to make to the garden, and more. As we had a relatively short engagement, we felt the pressure to make some necessary changes quickly. We transformed the red brick greenhouse into a grassed dance floor, painted the little white cottage (which was much-needed), and spent many weekends cleaning, tidying, and preparing. This was all in addition to the vast amount of gardening my parents do throughout the year, including planting, pruning, and maintenance, to keep the place tidy.

My sister Annabel, who resides in Launceston, started planting a flower garden as soon as I got engaged and ended up supplying 99% of the flowers we used. It was a mammoth effort that required the bridesmaids, mothers, friends, and me to spend Friday arranging numerous bouquets for the ceremony decorations, tables, bridesmaids, and myself. This was probably my favorite part of the wedding, and having a bouquet I made myself (with guidance from Annabel) meant a lot.

I had engaged a friend and wedding planner, Stephanie Brodeur, from Blossom Gatherings to handle the details and coordinate on the big day. She was fantastic and thought of all the things that I wouldn't have, such as how many glasses we'd need, what type of tables and linens would work best, and handled those suppliers on our behalf. Of course, that still left a lot for us to do, but I must say, I enjoyed the process, especially since most of the tedious details were in Steph's capable hands.

At present, Lauderdale Cottage doesn't have a large covered space, so we booked a marquee through a friend and set it up ourselves early in the week. Unfortunately, the windy days that followed led to some sleepless nights, and if I had to do it again, I'd either set it up later in the week or book one of Salters’ rigid styles. In any case, we didn't end up using the marquee as the weather was perfect, and we dined in the orchard. Of course, if I hadn't booked the marquee, it most certainly would have rained!

Overall, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day, and we were thrilled with the result. There's very little I would change, but I definitely learned a lot throughout the process.

Planner: Steph at Blossom Gatherings

Photographer: Kate Von Stiglitz

Catering: Season & Fire

Bar: Pink Lemonade Events

Furniture & accessories: Salters

Flowers & meat: Annabel Archer

Music: Oberon Lane & Cathy Diver

Celebrant: David Closs

Makeup: Trinity King & Sophie McDermott

Cake & dessert: Little Missy Patisserie

Event notes: 103 guests, ceremony time 2:30PM, dinner served 6PM