Real Wedding; Zach and Marc @ The Woods Farm, Jervis Bay

About You Two;

Now, How did you two meet?

Marc and I randomly met at McDonalds in Pitt Street one day – I had just moved back from the states and had an interview in the city. I was still using my old phone rom the states which didn’t have an Aussie sim in it yet, so was using Free Maccas WiFi. I walked down stairs and Marc was ordering at the counter and continuously kept on looking over his shoulder at me. I had no idea who he was. I went and sat down and he sat in the table in front of me an kept peering over his shoulder, he then proceeded to pull out his phone with Grindr open putting the phone in clear view pretty much signalling “I am Gay” I was still closeted at this point so didn’t get up to speak to him, instead I rushed to download Grindr but McDonalds WiFi was being rubbish and then when I looked up he had left. I proceeded to go to the bathroom and then when I was coming out of McDonalds he came back and told me how he couldn’t keep his eyes off of me and that I was everything he was looking for… at this point I thought this guy was crazy. He said he needed to take me out on a date and asked for my number. I gave him the number of my phone that was at home, he tried calling me but the phone in my hand wasn’t ringing so he became suspicious and said “why did you give me a fake number, I want that number” pointing to my phone. I reassured him this was the correct number and I will message him when I get home. He then grabbed me and kissed me then and there and then left. The next day he took me to Thai and the rest is history.

Who popped the Question and how did it happen?

Marc proposed to me at Disneyland in Paris. Disney holds a special place in my heart as I worked there for a year in Disney World in Orlando. He proposed in front of the castle just before the fireworks – it was truly magical.

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

Marcs Parents have a house in Culburra so we are often down there. We were there one easter when I was scrolling through Instagram, and saw a photo of the bush chapel and showed Marcs sister, she then told me that this place was only 20-30 minutes away. So Marc and I jumped in the car and rocked up for a tour. We immediately fell in love with the venue. It was a stunning destination wedding spot, and with enough accommodation to sleep all of our friends and family. the further into the farm we got the more we fell in love with it all. This was the first venue we had looked at, which was bad as it ruined EVERY other inspection we went to after this.

Quick Fire Questions;

How many wedding guests did you have?

127

Sit down of Cocktail Style?

Sitdown

What month?

May

Planning The Wedding;

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

Having had an events background I really enjoyed the process, every bit of the planning and design I had thought of, and with the help of vendors had all of my dreams become a reality.

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?

Marc always had input on everything but I (Zach) did 90% of all the planning and coordination.

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

Flowers – these were the very first thing I had booked, after randomly meeting one day with my dream florist Anna Wang – she made me realise that having her as our florist was actually a real possibility.

The Food – This was so hard to pick, and believe it or not was one of the last vendors we picked as we were super picky. We knew we didn’t want a formal sit down, but we didn’t want your standard boring wedding buffet. In the end, we went with Foodie Del Mar who provided a classy foodie experience for all of our guests, with Paella live cooked and a Mexican feast of tacos.

Tell us about your suit-finding process?

This was relatively easy – we knew we wanted to go with the black and white theme – it was more about us connecting with the tailor who could understand the exact look we were going for. After meeting Justine from BrentWilson we knew she was the one.

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

Classy, Fun & Timeless – Our Groom Squad was black on Zach’s side and Ivory on Marc’s side. I want to be able to look back on all these photos and them forever be timeless. The wedding itself we wanted to be classy but also wild and fun. All of our wedding decor, was class with touches of gold and burgundy, but our entertainment (The Drag Queen, Band) and the food was that touch of wild fun we wanted.

On the Day;

How did you both feel wedding morning?

Shocked… After going to sleep at 2:30 am and still seeing thunderstorms predicted for the wedding day and then waking up to bright blue skies. The nerves definitely kicked in, in the morning – the reality that we are about to get married hadn’t truly this until this point.

What was the best part or moment of your day?

For both of us – it was the first time seeing each other at the chapel and seeing all of our friends and family under one roof. The surprise Drag performance we organised was also EPIC.

Anything you would change about your wedding or anything that didn’t go to plan?

The only thing we would change is probably organise a professional dog sitter for our baby – He was so well behaved the entire day, but we were constantly checking on him tied up on the verandah in the reception area.

Someone to remind me to get my pocket square out of the fridge…. I walked down the aisle without this on.

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

Guest vows

Binding of our hands

After the Wedding;

Describe newlywed life in a couple of words?

Bliss, and excited for what is next

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

Firstly and foremost – WEC. Not only because I am writing this with you guys, but Jade and the team at WEC were phenomenal. Having had a large events backgrounds I went in thinking. I would be able to do this all myself. It wasn’t until I had spoken to a friend who recommended getting a coordinator for on the day and thank god I did! Vanessa and her team in the lead up to the wedding wer across everything and did so much organising in the background with all of our vendors that saved us so much stress and time. The true superstar was Jade and helped so much for the 3 days – having worked with the venue before Jade had thought of so many little things we just didn’t think of and on the day was great at keeping everything timed to a tee.

Secondly – We Are Origami: Definitely our biggest investment but after working with the team and now have received the photos and videos the best money we spent. We had a vision of what we wanted our photos to look like and the team truly brought these to life.