Real Wedding; Karina and Josh @ Bundara Farm

About You Two

Joshua Gorham and Karina Smith now Gorham 🙂

Who popped the Question and how did it happen?

Josh proposed Christmas morning 2018 in his parents family home living room. It was the last present to be unwrapped and looked like a gift voucher so I wasn’t paying too much attention when I unwrapped it was the diamond booklet when I looked up confused Josh was down on one knee. We were meant to be saving for a house and agreed no presents that Christmas so I only got Josh a pair of happy socks haha. It was meant to be after we called my parents and grandparents we found out they all got engaged at Christmas (Josh was clueless about it).

Why did you choose your venue and how was the venue choosing process?

We didn’t want anything too fancy or formal (as that isn’t us) so the focus was to have an amazing weekend with the main people in our lives. We were looking for a venue that everyone had the option to stay for the weekend if they wanted to and also have always loved the South Coast. I had spent hours on WedShed and got our shortlist of properties from there. We found it quite hard to find a venue we could still have a weekend event with such small guest numbers and also a big number stay onsite. We had been to a few different places for inspections but once we got to Bundara Farm we both loved it – location, different options the property had for both ceremony and reception plus Anna and Greg were so friendly in the viewing.

Wedding Snapshot?

How many wedding guests did you have?

Sit down of Cocktail Style?

A sit down family style long table

What month?

February 2020 (so lucky looking back on it inbetween the bushfires and corona starting!).

Planning the Wedding

Was planning the wedding stressful or did you enjoy the journey?

Bit of both. I do a lot of logistics with work so I like being organised and know what’s going on but weddings are a whole nother ball game (really clueless until you get engaged and start haha). I thought I would be able to do it all and started listening to The Wed and Event Podcasts to get hot tips and lists on how I could stay on top of everything for DIY weddings. One day I said to Josh & I think I’ll be a psycho and running around like a maniac on the wedding day if we don’t get help. Next day we booked Vanessa from The Wed and Event Creators and what an investment! Worth their weight in gold! After that decision, I felt like I was all over it and the wedding was sorted. It freaked out a lot of my friends (that have been brides) that I was so relaxed but it was all from The Wed and Event Creators amazing google docs and constant help/communication!

How involved were you both in the wedding planning, did one of you take more of the lead on certain aspects than others or were you both equally involved?

Josh’s main focus was the music, food and booze (pretty much what he wanted for a good party haha). Everything else he didn’t mind but we always went through things together before locking in something.

When it came time to choose your suppliers and vendors for the wedding- what process did you go about doing this/how did you choose your suppliers?

We wanted to stay local to the area and support those businesses. We have family on the South Coast so we had a few recommendations for main vendors like catering, celebrants, hair, makeup, etc. The rest was from online research or tips other vendors gave us. Again working with
local vendors were great as they all know/work with each other from the area and can help you out if you need to find something.

What was the top couple of non-negotiables or important must-haves at the wedding for you both?

We are both foodies so catering was our number 1 (plus we have hated weddings where we were starving). Other than that was mainly we wanted everyone to have a good time, relax and not have to worry about getting home so that’s why we wanted onsite accommodation available to the majority.

What sort of theme, vibe or style did you go for?

Relaxed

Are there any rituals, sentiments or traditions you incorporated into the day?

My mum surprised me that morning with a package of something borrowed (the commitment ring my dad first gave my mum), something blue (mum made me a garter with a blue ribbon through in – not that I threw it), something new (engraved initials handkerchief) and something old (a pin I had got my mum from my overseas travels 10+ years ago).

Quite a few! My mum and Joshs nan made our wedding cakes, Josh’s nan gave us her engagement and eternity rings to remodel the stones for our wedding bands. Josh’s dad made the wedding signs to mark the turn-offs coming into the venue, my bridesmaids and I did the florals ourselves while waiting for hair and makeup, our place cards had handwritten personalised notes to everyone on the back saying why we love them.

We also wanted to share the love in our ceremony as after our first kiss we got the celebrant to ask everyone to kiss or cuddle the person next to them. This got some amazing pictures of our guests as they weren’t expecting it but so nice to stand there watching so much love being shared in our ceremony not just from us.

On the Day

How did you both feel on the wedding morning?

The boys (pretty much all the male guests) went off to Gerringong GC for 18 holes for a bit of fun and kept them distracted for a while. We were both nervous and excited but it was fun when Josh did get back from golf he was trying to peek into the windows to see me getting ready but I had a wall of bridesmaids plus hair and makeup telling him to move on have to wait at the end of the aisle!

What was the best part or moment of your day?

We loved our relaxed intimate ceremony that we could be ourselves even including laughing through it when we both stuffed up bits of our vows. Also popping the first bottle of sparkling for the champagne tower to cheers with everyone and get the party started was a pretty unreal feeling. We are so glad we went for a weekend wedding away with our closest people to have that quality time together was amazing and something we will always cherish.

Looking back, was there anything you would change about your wedding or anything that didn’t go to plan?

There were a fair few things that didn’t go to plan but at the end of the day we got married so that was the main thing, nothing else matters. We would just want to change the date so we can do it all over again!

After the Wedding

Best investment or money well spent on the wedding that you made?

Our Vendors! Couldn’t fault any of them and all worked so hard to make our day so incredible! The Wed and Event Creators with the lead-up communication, day before site inspection and all-day coordination saved our sanity and did things we didn’t even know we needed. Bundara Farm beautiful property with amazing owners making sure everything was perfect including the lawns even removed because of all the rain overnight. Duck Duck Goose catering good enough to start arguments between guests over who gets the last bits left and still arguing after about if the pork or lamb was the best. SallyAnn Beauty and Whyld Hair for making all the girls look a million but also being beautiful to deal with. Jamie Borg for the best celebrant that will roll with the punches and still make sure your ceremony is a tear-jerker. The Rambling Rose Bar for keeping everyone hydrated all night, having a nice chat to guests and helping out in everything they can.
Glenn Whitehall of Valley Beat Music Co for unreal live music keeping everyone happy from oldies to Bride and Groom even if it means playing in a horse stall. Ed Summerhays photography for capturing stunning pictures of two normally awkward people. Also a shout out to Wandering Wood Fired Pizzas who made the pre-wedding dinner a tasty occasion that everyone loved.

Let’s talk budget, did the wedding end up costing what you budgeted for, or do you have any advice on this?

Again until you start wedding planning, you don’t have a clue of what’s involved so it is so hard to stick to a budget before understanding everything that is involved. We went about 25% over our initial budget but the majority were all for practical things that we just didn’t think of like
cool rooms, catering ovens, staff wages with catering etc.

Was there anything in the planning process that you spent a lot of time, effort, or worry on that on reflection wasn’t really worth bothering about?

I had spent hours getting a list of songs for different parts of the day and honestly don’t remember any except walking down the aisle and first dance all the rest were a blur and didn’t matter. The main thing for us was probably the layout of things for the ceremony and reception. We had a few hiccups and light showers on and off on the day so things changed compared to what was planned. This question is the only time we have thought about it though with everything that happens in the day you don’t notice the small stuff. Plus we had Trinity the amazing coordinator from Wed and Event Creators so she probably picked up more things.