Real Wedding: Nicky & Jonny - Photography by Anitra Wells - Together Journal

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship…

We met 11 years ago through a mutual friend – we were both DJ’s, we bonded over music and fun times. Our relationship started very quickly, with me (Nicky) telling my friends, that I wasn’t looking for a realtionship and it certainly won’t be serious! I was very wrong!

We are very different in many ways, but the balance of our relationship is perfect. I am very creative. I work as a wedding photographer and as a commercial photographer. I work A LOT. Jonny works in Compliance for an energy company, and he also does a bit of work with music lineups for a music festival. We don’t really DJ anymore as we have a beautiful 3 year old daughter, and life with working and family doesn’t really allow time for DJ’ing. Though we both love and miss it very much!

I am very lucky that I have a husband that LOVES cooking amazing food. When we met, he was a terrible cook, but now he owns the kitchen! (He also loves doing the clothes washing!) I picked well! Haha I also love that he takes me out for dinners. Life with a child, and running your own business means that you don’t think about yourself very much. He makes me stop and live life in between my manic work life, which is amazing.

Tell us about your special day, was there a specific theme or style? Tell us a little about the setting, the styling and some of your favourite details…

I really wanted to get married on my dad’s property in North Queenland, where I grew up. I love the place. There are gumtrees everywhere. It was basically in the bush! Dad spent the whole year preparing the property mowing sections of grass, as I wanted long grass around the ceremony and reception. He built flushing toilets in the old stables in the paddock. I was happy with porta-loos, but he took it to the next level! The toilet block even had a shower!

I really wanted a super relaxed wedding with long tables, good food, wine, music and friends and family. My favourite thing about the wedding was the venue! Home! Home is where the heart is. Getting married on my dad’s property was always my dream.

I styled the whole thing the morning of the wedding. I don’t recommend it, unless you have heaps of hands to help. I mean heaps. I had about 15 hands helping, but it just wasn’t enough! I had Anitra (photographer) and Leanne (H&M and video) and the celebrant all helping me the day before. Everyone helped out, and I could not have done it without all the help. I did the bouquets, everything. Dad made the arch, we had a teepee fire pit, a bedford converted bar and festoon lighting. We set tents up in the yard, for family and friends who wanted to stay.

It was such an emotional build up. I was running an hour late from setting up, which meant I was an hour late to the ceremony. (In the back of my mind I was okay with this, as I knew that the light would be better for the ceremony photos. It’s the photographer in me!) There was so much that didn’t get set up, but it didn’t matter in the end.

I really should have had a big cry before the wedding, as the emotion was so built up! But I let it out as I was walking down the aisle. Seeing all my friends and family, and Jonny standing there waiting, was just so amazing. I was a mess walking down the aisle. But it was perfect.

Tell us about your main outfits:

I have always loved the Rue De Seine gowns, and fell in love with the one I wore. Jonny is super tall so we had to source extra long pants from America, from American Eagle.

What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day?

There were so many amazing moments! One of my favorite moments was Dad driving me in his favourite car, and watching a tear from his eye in the rear vision mirror. He was silent the whole drive in.

Also my family throwing rice at us; I had no idea that they were going to do that! Apparently it’s a good luck family tradition. Rice was stuck in my hair all night! I think the most amazing moment was seeing Jonny hold Lily (our daughter) when walking down the aisle.