Tell us a little about yourselves!
I (Georgia) grew up in Sydney, have spent the last decade living in the Inner West, and am the Head of Strategy for a media agency based in Redfern.
Matt grew up in Brisbane, before spending a few years in Melbourne, and settling in Sydney. He works in data science and digital marketing and started his career in media agencies too.
We were actually a Tinder match and were working at rival agencies on the same street in Walsh Bay. We’d never met despite working on the same street for years, largely because my local pub was The Hero of Waterloo, and Matt’s was The Lord Nelson.
I’m happy to say my local won out! We had our first date there and spent many lunchtimes and evenings together at The Hero over the coming months, before deciding pretty quickly to move in together. Not long after that we bought an apartment together, and adopted our two gorgeous cat children, Dante and Drusilla.
Why did you decide to get married where you did?
We’d always talked about making a weekend of our wedding and were keen to have it somewhere neither of us, nor our guests knew very well. We wanted to create new memories, and have an excuse to go back and visit somewhere again.
Tasmania was our goldilocks bowl of incredible hiking, wine, and food (hence our decision to spend a month including the wedding and our honeymoon). The road trip from Sydney to Melbourne, and then getting the Spirit of Tassie over was such a great way to start the trip and get into holiday mode.
Once we settled on Tassie, we knew we wanted to get married outdoors in a homestead with beautiful gardens, in the hope the day would somewhat feel like one of the many long lunches we love to host for our family and friends. The other requirement was that we wanted a venue where we could fit the whole wedding on one table, keeping everyone together and connected without any kind of hierarchy was really important to us.
We gave a fairly loose version of this brief to Bek Burrows our amazing wedding planner, and she suggested Valleyfield New Norfolk. We saw a few photos online, and loved everything Bek told us about it, so hit go! I genuinely think Valleyfield is one of the most incredible venues in the country, and we feel very lucky to have such special memories there.
How many guests did you have?
We opted to have a big 120-person engagement party with all our friends and family at The Hero of Waterloo where we had our first date. Despite neither of us working in the area anymore, we’ve remained close with the incredible owner Kazuko, so five years later having our engagement party there was both sentimental, and a hell of a lot of fun!
For the wedding itself, we wanted to keep it as small as possible, so we could spend as much time with each other and our guests. We landed on having just immediate family (parents, siblings, their kids and partners), as well as about half a dozen friends each as our bridal party (plus their partners). That netted out at 42 people including Matt and I, which felt perfect.
What was your budget?
Spanning both engagement party and wedding we were aiming for c. $60K, we ended up going just slightly over budget which we were pretty stoked about! We were very lucky that both our parents contributed too. Having the smaller number of wedding guests also meant we could go all out on the wine and food.
Tell us about your outfits.
Georgia: I always knew that I didn’t want a traditional white dress, and had envisioned myself wearing a full colour number or party frock. Matt is a bit more of a traditionalist, so we negotiated, and I went for a off-white dress with big colourful florals for the ceremony, and then a white mini for after.
Because I knew I didn’t want something traditional, I didn’t expect to find a dress in-store. About a month after we got engaged it was Black Friday sales, so I jumped on Net-A-Porter and was googling floral dresses, when the Saiid Kobeisy one popped up. I absolutely adored it from the minute I saw it, and probably showed nearly everyone who asked me about wedding planning pictures of it over the proceeding 14 months, excluding Matt who had to wait for our first look.
The Elliatt mini I wore for post ceremony was such a different energy and I felt amazing in it. The Elliatt I’ll definitely wear again, and I’m still tossing up between getting the Saaid Kobeisy turned into a skirt and top or listing it on Still White.
I was also lucky enough to get to borrow the most beautiful hand-cut crystal necklace and earrings from Kozminsky, the jeweler we bought my engagement ring from, and who supplied Matt’s wedding band. Matt’s a total romantic and ended up buying the necklace and earrings for me as a wedding gift on the last day of our honeymoon.
Matt: My tuxedo was from P Johnson Tailors Sydney, with help from Will, who I see at PJT whenever I need a suit and cannot recommend enough.
I had a white, double-breasted jacket for the day, before swapping into the midnight blue jacket for the evening. I know that boots are not very traditional with a tux, but I wouldn’t have felt like me if I didn’t have my RM Williams on.
Finally, my amber cufflinks were from a silversmith and jeweller we found in Oaxaca City, when Georgia and I were travelling in 2023 shortly after getting engaged.
What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?
The obvious, and largely true answer was to make the day as relaxed, and authentic to us as possible. But the slightly truer answer, and the area of the wedding we probably spent the most time on, was the food!
We love entertaining, and whenever we have friends or family over, we will inevitably make a multi-course feast. Most of the cooking we do features Matt at his Komado Joe, so we knew if possible, we wanted to find a caterer that incorporated smoke and fire. Bek Burrows, our wedding planner, suggested Jimi and his wife Mabel from Season & Fire, who absolutely blew our socks off.
I think we may have had more emails and phone calls with Jimi planning the menu than we did with Bek planning the wedding! Jimi was an absolute legend to work with, and was incredibly flexible, somewhat successfully stopping us from getting carried away and massively overfeeding people (we still managed to have about 15 dishes) and letting us add elements like bone marrow butter which is a dish we always end up making when we entertain at home.
Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?
For us, it was less about incorporating elements, as we’d already designed the day to be as true to ourselves as possible, and more about cutting or adjusting.
We opted not to do a first dance, and instead of a traditional bouquet toss, all the wedding guests were invited to participate with a bottle of local Lark Whisky or Pirie Champagne up for grabs for the winner.
Any tips for couples getting married?
Be really clear on what your vision for the day is, and don’t compromise.
There are no rules, your friends and family love you and will respect whatever decisions you make, so just focus on making the day feel as much like the two of you as possible. The right vendors will make that happen for you.
The day itself goes by so quickly, one of the best things we did was to do a first look and travel to the venue together to get that extra time in, and to settle the nerves pre-ceremony.
And, if it’s in your budget, a wedding planner is worth every cent. The confidence they give you, and the chemistry you have with them makes such a difference. Having our wedding planner and stylist Bek and her husband Paul meant we knew we were going to get our perfect day, but could relax and almost feel like guests ourselves, vs hosts or organisers. There’s something totally freeing about someone else being in control with your best interests at heart, and that if the weather (or guests) decides to misbehave, they’ll handle it, and you can just enjoy the party.
Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?
I could go on and on about Bek Burrows our wedding planner and her amazing husband Paul, who were the firmest, and most friendly hands. They went above and beyond, surprising us on the day with hand illustrated menus featuring Valleyfield, gorgeous long candles to light up the interior dining table (a shift to accommodate late afternoon showers), and even packing gorgeous vintage jackets for both mine and Matt’s mums to combat the chilly Tassie night.
Jimi and Mabel our caterers from Season & Fire cooked one of the best meals we’ve been lucky enough to eat, and I think we had at least half of the wedding say it was the best pork they’d ever eaten. We will 100% be tracking down their food again the next time we’re in Tasmania.
Joseph and his team from Joseph Burton Wine were also brilliant. We had a lot of fun hosting two wedding wine tasing nights with friends, with Joseph curating boxes to suit our taste, and then shipping them over to us. We ended up having two sparkling, three white varietals, a pink, and three red, including a chilled number, plus a blend of beers and ciders. I ended up ordering an extra case of our wedding wine to crack open with friends and family for our first anniversary.
Maria Bond our celebrant put us at ease and injected so much fun into the ceremony. Coincidentally, she had also married Damien Milan our photographer and his wife when they eloped to Tassie, so it was gorgeous to see their happy little reunion too!
Lastly, Damien Milan our photographer managed to capture the most beautiful range of memories and moments. He was present for every moment, whilst also allowing us to be fully immersed in the day. He encouraged us to have fun in front of the camera, whilst also treating every guest through the lens as though they were the bride and groom themselves. There are photos of guests that genuinely make me tear up because of the emotion or the amazing way Damien captured their energy. Plus... Not only did he make myself, Matt and our guests look and feel incredible, he captured the detail and care of every wedding vendors contribution in the most incredible way. We could not recommend putting your trust in Damien more.
Photographer: Damien Milan @damienmilan_photographer | Planning, Styling + Stationery: Bek Burrows @bek_burrows | Ceremony + Reception Location: Valleyfield New Norfolk | Flora: Abigail Giblin @wildly.abigail | Celebrant: Maria Bond @mariabondtasmaniancelebrant | Entertainment: Sounds Good @soundsgoodaus | Makeup: Tamsin Nolan @tamsinnolan_makeupartist | Hair: Kara Coulson @hairbykaracoulson | Catering + Cake: Season & Fire @seasonandfire | Drinks + Glassware: Joseph Burton Wines @josephburtonwines | Ceremony Dress: Saiid Kobeisy @saiidkobeisy | Reception Dress: Elliatt @elliatt | Groom's Suit: P Johnson Tailors @pjohnsontailors | Engagement + Wedding Rings: Kozminsky @kozminsky | Necklace + Earrings: Kozminsky @kozminsky | Shoes: Forever Soles (Bride) @foreversole + RM Williams @rmwilliams | Getting Ready Location: Slow Beam, West Hobart | Slippers: Kip&Co @kipandco | Pyjamas: Sleeper @daily_sleeper