it's a love story ~ lala belle weddings

"But to see her was to love her, love but her, and love her forever."

-Robert Burns-

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share your love story & wedding pictures

Angela and Bradley (Thirtieth of October, 2010)

How we got to i do!

Brad and I met in May 2009 at a gig that our mutual friend was playing in. At that time I was not in the dating mode so we became “just good friends” immediately. Through countless emails, walks along the lake and some coffee dates, the romance started to bud. I couldn’t deny the fact that we were attracted to each other and had feelings for each other, so when he “officially” asked me out on a date in August, we “officially” became a couple.

I am Brad’s first everything - first love, first girlfriend, first kiss, and now wife! It has been such a privilege to be his one-and-only true love. He may not have been my first love or kiss, but he is my forever love and lifelong partner. We are true soul mates!

We did have challenges along the way - it wasn’t all roses! I am from California and my family still live there. When Brad and I met I was supposed to move back home, but I decided to stay in Australia after I met him (I now had a good reason to stay!). My family and friends were not convinced that this was the best decision I could make. We travelled back to the US at Christmastime so that he could meet everyone and they could be at peace with my decision. He asked my father for permission to marry me in February, and we picked out a ring. Then I just had to wait on the edge of my seat until he asked me!!!
Here’s the day we got engaged:

I know you want all the details so here goes…
We went to the Hunter Valley (which is essentially the same as the Napa Valley) for the day. So we headed to the Hunter Valley which is about an hour’s drive from Newcastle (NSW Australia). When we got there he told me that we were going to relive some of my childhood. We went horseback riding! It was so cool and I have wanted to go for ages. We were the only two there because it was raining, but this really nice couple took us out into the bush and it was beautiful. We got to run the horses quite a bit and we saw kangaroos jumping around in the fields. It was a little drizzly but they gave us fluoro green ponchos (we looked like Caltrans workers). We got to ride through the vineyards and back into the bush. It was magical.

After that I was so nervous I could hardly eat lunch because I thought he was going to ask me! So I didn’t eat much! Then Brad said he had booked me in for a massage as a surprise, so I relaxed while he sat in the car and stressed for an hour! After he came and got me and was carrying a bag of burger rings (they are like cheetos shaped in a ring, burger flavored) so then I knew what he was up to. He has always said that when he proposes he was going to give me a burger ring as an engagement ring and that he called the factory and had one made especially for me. He took me to this little gazebo on this hill which was in front of the restaurant. He had set up a little table with a tablecloth and two glasses of champers (champagne). He had put rose petals all around the place - it was so cute! Then he told me how much he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me and got down on his knee and showed me the RING! It was absolutely stunning - I couldn’t believe it. The whole place started cheering and clapping and were shouting “say yes!” and so when I did they all said, “ahhhhh!” it was so embarrassing, yet also very flattering. So then we sat there and drank our champagne and ate burger rings. We asked a girl to take a picture of us and she did, and then our camera died so she took one with hers to email to us. When we got the email she sent others she had taken while Brad proposed! It was so sweet. The place where we were was kind of touristy so there was a bus of tourists leaving and they were hanging out the windows yelling “congratulations!” and giving us the thumbs up. So Aussie!

The big day!
October 30, 2011

St. Augustine's Church, Merewether
Caves Beachside Resort, Caves Beach

The big day that eventually sparked this blog was everything that I had dreamed for. We went with a 1950's style theme, which was actually inspired by the bridesmaid dresses. My bridesmaid Rachel and I found the perfect material and the dress was born. We had them custom made by Tracie McCook in Charlestown. They were perfect in every way!

After the dress design everything else sort of fell into place. We purchased fedoras for the groomsmen from Ebay and hired walking sticks from Rundle's Tailoring in Newcastle, where we hired the suits. Rundle's also made the groomsmen fatboy cravat ties from fabric matching the bridesmaid dresses. I made the boutonnieres myself from feathers and silk flowers. To save money, we also made the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets from artificial flowers.

We spoke to Luke Gow from Something Blue Photography (Newcastle) and he really helped to make the day complete. He sourced dozens of locations to find the perfect 1950's backdrop for our photos. They were absolutely amazing and perfectly captured the feeling we were aiming for. Luke even treated the entire bridal party to gelato and the bride and groom to hotdogs! Luke went above and beyond everything we ever expected of him and we were very blessed by him.

All photographs taken by Luke Gow and Ella Dice from Something Blue Photography, Newcastle Australia