A rustic garden wedding on the Gold Coast: Amy & Nathan

I recently wrote about a groom who had planned to propose on a holiday in Bali, but once he’d collected the engagement ring, couldn’t even wait 48 hours without popping the question.

Today’s groom was just as eager to propose. Twenty-three-year-old Nathan Thompson purchased a pear-cut diamond engagement ring for girlfriend Amy Scarr and the very same day, without planning a thing, asked her to marry him.

Amy says, “I had found a ring that I loved, and took Nathan into the city to show him. He liked the ring, so I just sat back and played the waiting game! But then a few weeks later he called to tell me that when he went to get it, it had been sold. I was gutted, but there was nothing I could do about it. That afternoon after work went down to our local park for a bite to eat and a relaxing walk. As we went to leave, he was suddenly in front of me on his knee with the beautiful ring I had shown him, asking me to marry him. I couldn’t believe it! He had picked it up earlier that day, and couldn’t wait to plan a proposal; he just had to do it that day.”

The Brisbane couple held a rustic garden wedding for 60 friends and family in Tallai on the Gold Coast – a six bedroom private home set on acreage overlooking the Gold Coast skyline from the front and the Hinze Dam from the back. “It is not a wedding venue,” says Amy, “but we certainly turned it into one!”

Nathan, a soldier in the Australian Defence Force, wore a sleek black slim-fitting suit from Roger David, with French cuff pleated shirt and classic black long tie.

High school teacher Amy found her gown at Coffs Harbour bridal boutique, Melanie Jayne Bridal. It was the Bella Donna ‘Harley’ style; a strapless sweetheart gown with tulle overlay skirt and floral detail at the waist. “Melanie was fabulous and also made me a matching veil,” says Amy. “She has such a great range of dresses in her store, I wish I could have had more than one!”

Amy’s shoes were bridal wedges. She explains, “As the aisle was grass, I didn’t want to risk high heels, so I went on the hunt for wedding wedges… I didn’t kick them off until 10pm!”

Amy’s ‘something old’ were an antique marquisate watch, and a brooch which she attached to her bouquet; both gifts from her late grandmothers. “It was very special to have those items with me on my big day,” says the bride.

Amy tells, “We had the ceremony on the back lawn of the house and the reception on the upstairs deck. We didn’t need much in terms of decoration and kept it quite simple, as the view of the water with surrounding gum trees was enough.”

“At the time of the wedding my maid-of-honour was going to be nine months pregnant so I needed to find something to suit her growing belly,” says the bride. Wrap dresses from Dessy were the answer – multi-way twist dresses that could be styled differently to suit each of the five bridesmaids’ body shapes.

Karen from Flower Hunt provided the country-feel bouquets that included white daisies, pink roses and yellow billy buttons. She also did the table styling which included what Amy calls “country bunches”. “They were so beautiful, I did not want to throw them out!” beams Amy.

“The wedding cake was soooo yummy!” says Amy. “We both find chocolate mud cake too rich in flavour and we don’t eat traditional fruit cake – so we opted for banana mud and strawberry mud flavours instead.” The beautifully decorated gold wedding cake was designed by Deliciously Decadent Cake Design.

Photos courtesy of Red Apple Photography.