Bride: Janae Evans
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Bridegroom: Christopher Paquin-Bowden
Wedding date: December 20, 2014
The meeting
We first met through work, as we are both teachers. At the time, we were in different year levels but had rooms with a connected office.
The proposal
Chris made me my favourite French meal: duck l’orange with celeriac dauphinois and French beans. While we listened to an old Edith Piaf record, he got down on one knee and proposed.
The wedding day
The dream was to have a great party on our own block of land and we were really pleased that we were able to have our wedding on our newly purchased property in Lyonville. The ceremony was up a slight hill in the midst of the old pines and our black-faced Suffolk sheep, and the weather was perfect for it. I drove up with my father and sister in my vintage 1964 Beetle, Ruby. The flowers were locally traded (Grown & Gathered Flower Exchange) for one our lambs and all the food provided was grown within 15 kilometres (Spade to Blade). There was a large marquee with fairy lights and vintage chandeliers for lighting. We danced the night away to Motown, drinking dirty martinis and Old Fashioned’s.
The dress
My dress was made by Preston dress designer, Vera. I came with the design I had seen in a Vogue magazine 10 years ago while living overseas, and it has stuck with me ever since. I always knew I wanted to wear blue, because white would definitely look terrible on me! I thought that the black straps were a bold statement. At first Vera didn’t quite see my vision, but as the design was developed, she came to understand that the dress was made for me.
The cake
The cake was a layered banoffee pavlova, with salted caramel and a cashew brittle. While the cake was mainly Chris’ domain, it included both of our favourite tastes. We spent an entire week making batches of pavlovas, tweaking the recipe and trying to find a version everyone would enjoy.
The photographer
Our photographer was Beck Rocchi, from Melbourne. She photographed my best friend’s Bernadette Curran’s wedding in Mildura a couple of years ago, and I really liked her creativity.
The honeymoon
After having Chris’s family over visiting from Canada, we decided to have a quick getaway down to Tasmania. We spent some time at the Henry Jones Art Hotel, enjoying the history tours, MONA and as many culinary adventures as we could fit in. We then decided to totally splash out (this was our honeymoon!) and spent three nights at the Saffire Freycinet resort, an unforgettable experience.