November has always been one of our peak months, and 2015 was no exception! We were flat out with weddings all around the southwest including quite a few in our fabulous Ferguson Valley. Organisation was the key for us to get through November with happy clients!
The first weekend in November saw us dry hiring to Old Broadwater Farm, Bunbury (private property), Denmark, Busselton, and Flutes Winery in Margaret River. We also assisted with this stunning wedding at Hackersley Winery in the Ferguson Valley.
Hackersley is a small cellar door/winery restaurant overlooking a lake and the rolling hills. These guys do the most incredible food and in fact won a gold plate award last year. The restaurant can only seat around 70 people so it’s great for smaller weddings where the focus is on the food.
Florals and the ceremony chandelier for this wedding were by Scentiment Flowers, another Ferguson Valley local. We provided furniture, props such as parasols and games, installed lighting over the dancefloor, assisted the couple and venue with the floorplan and layout, and more – it was a big one, but so worth it to see the beautiful photos!
We also had a cocktail reception set up fo around 80 people, including lighting, at Evedon Park in the Ferguson Valley on the same day. This is another gorgeous local venue overlooking the water. Luckily we could set up the furniture and lighting on the Friday which left us free at Hackersley on the Saturday. The bride, Loren, left us this message … “the set up looked great and that lighting was fabulous at night. Thanks again Charmaine”
The following weekend saw us dry hire to Hayshed Hill in Margaret River, Old Broadwater Farm in Busselton, lighting at Alverstoke in Brunswick and wooden trestles and white Tiffany chairs out to a private property in the Ferguson Valley. With careful planning and good communication with the venues, most of these deliveries and lighting installations were done on the Thursday or Friday rather than on the wedding day itself, which leaves us free to assist with styling work.
On the Saturday of that weekend we sent styling assistant Bec to Old Coast Road Brewery in Myalup, to set up the ceremony and assist friends of the bride with styling for the reception. It was really helpful for them to have someone there who had set up a few weddings before and knew instinctively what needed to be done.
In the meantime I was in Busselton at the Aqua Resort, installing lighting and setting up a sit down reception with decorations by the bride, with assistance from a couple more helpers (it takes time to get it right and the more hands, the better!). This wedding looked beautiful in photos but the overhanging peppi trees dropped a fair few leaves on the table settings – so if you’re planning an outdoor under-the-trees wedding just keep this in mind!
On the Friday of the following weekend we delivered hire furniture to Erravilla in Yallingup ready for Saturday, and installed festoon lighting. Then we headed off to set up a ceremony on the beach at Bunkers Bay in front of the resort.
Saturday morning saw us back at Erravilla for the whole day for another outdoor sit-down wedding reception, with a very cool serpentine table arrangement, as well as ceremony set up, games, we organised a dancefloor to be installed, table setting, and generally helped make it al happen on the day. Absolutely loved this venue, very Aussie!
Also this weekend, we had dry hire to Wise Winery Dunsborough, Stonebarn in Pemberton and St Aidans Winery in the Ferguson Valley this weekend.
Last weekend in November was pretty special. I had my teenaged niece and nephew visiting from Queensland – lucky them, they got to spend their holidays driving around in the truck with me, setting up weddings! It was also our assistant stylist Bec’s wedding which my boyfriend and I attended as guests on Saturday night and had a great time! They had their ceremony at Ferguson Farmstay and reception at Lighthouse Beach Resort. Also on this weekend, my dogs had a huge fight and spent the weekend at the vet getting stitched up – $900 later. So needless to say I was very happy when November ended and I could get some rest!
Anyway back to work. This weekend we had dry hire to Arimia in Yallingup, Hayshed Hill in Margaret River, Aqua Resort in Busselton (furniture and lighting (self-installed)), Meneghello Estate in Yallingup (before it was an olive farm/holiday home/wedding venue, this property was owned by my grandma and her husband as a very simple cattle farm!), we also had of course Bec’s wedding at Ferguson Farmstay and Lighthouse Beach Resort, and finally, an outdoor wedding to set up in full at Alverstoke for 120 people. Not a huge amount of photos from this weekend as I was rather busy but here’s some from Alverstoke – we provided all furniture, lighting, linen, tableware, with decorations by the bride.
