Bride: Natazha Janina Elizabeth Veitch
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Bridgedroon: Russell Darin Bayliss
Wedding: October 31, 2014
The meeting
It was March 19, 2009. I had just signed up to Facebook and had no idea what it was all about and Russell and I met on one of those Facebook pages
Russell was 29 and I was 26 when we first met. Our first date was halfway between our houses at the Silk Tavern in Belmont, Western Australia.
We fell in love and never saying it to a man before, after spending three days together I couldn’t hold it in any longer.
Almost six years later I still feel like that moment just before I said to Russell “I think I’m falling in love with you”.
The proposal
I am a bit of a travel bug and had never stayed in the same place for long until I met Russell. I planned to take Russell to Bendigo for the first time and give him the full tour of Victoria.
Russell had never seen snow so I booked accommodation with www.stayz.com.au and on July 16, 2012, we were admiring the view from the top of the hill when Russell turned to me and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. He wasn’t planning to ask me then, but the moment was perfect.
We spent the day shopping for my ring. I fell in love with a one-carat solitaire ring with eight-stone channel set engagement ring.
We had renovated Russell’s first house but it wasn’t until November 2012 we built our first home together. We landscaped the yard and laid 6800 pavers, which tested our relationship and made it stronger.
One day Russell came home from work and poured me a glass of wine and ask me to sit down. He had big news for me. The company that Russell worked for wanted him to be the branch manager of the new Melbourne office and he had to be there in five weeks.
I quit my job that week and got straight in to it. Painting, packing, finishing off the yard, getting the house ready to rent out, flying back and forth to Melbourne looking at properties and in July last year, we set off to drive across the Nullarbor with three dogs in a sedan.
The wedding
On October 31, we got married at the Bendigo Botanical Gardens on a beautiful cloudless Friday afternoon with 78 of our closest friends and family follow by the reception at the Ted Harte Centre.
We had nine different wedding favours to choose from – local handmade soap, strawberry jam and candles, jars of lollies, and personalised keyrings, and guests were able to pick one or two things to take home.
We laughed at my mum because she brought way too much for the lolly bar but it was a huge hit with all ages and was all gone by the main course.
The cake
G’day Cupcakes – Cakes for all occasions by Zoe. We had 35 red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, a pick with “I do” tag, twine bow and a rose, and 35 vanilla cupcakes with butter cream and a fondant heart on a pick with a twine bow.
The top cake is a keepsake made of styrofoam covered in fondant, tinted off-white with lace, ribbon and silk flowers from Eternal Vase.
The dress
My dress was from a shop in Perth – a strapless satin trumpet gown with sweetheart neckline, hand-beaded lace dropped-waist bodice with matching beaded lace at the hemline and semi-cathedral train.
The photography
Owen Davies.
The honeymoon
On November 2 we left for 16 days in Vietnam 16. We spent three nights at The Pullman Ho Chi Minh City, six nights at the Intercontinental Danang sun peninsula resort and six nights at the Sunrise Hoi an beach resort. We had the honeymoon suite at the Intercontinental Danang hotel and we stayed in the King Son Tra terrace suite with ocean view. The perfect place to honeymoon!