Contemporary art at Mona Farm

The Journal

14 Apr

Basilia and Scott chose the grounds of the stunning Mona Farm in Braidwood to celebrate their love.

Surrounded by incredible rural expanses, highland cows, contemporary art and vibrant flowers their day was filled with friends and family in a wedding exprience that was so uniquely them.

Read on to see the amazing day of Basilia and Scott…

Tell me a little bit about yourselves and how you become engaged

We met at our local crossfit gym. Scott trained by himself, and I was new to Crossfit, but somehow I got placed in his team for this state competition. I was super nervous, and Scott vetted me at our team training session (I had a lot to work on - and he made sure he helped me with them). But somehow we got talking, and by the end of it, it was just Scott & I sitting in the middle of the gym floor talking so easily about our goals and life dreams. That day he told me he wanted to go back to studying Visual Effects before he was 30, and by our wedding he was already finishing his 1st year working in the VFX industry! I love that he is a man of his word, and that he supports me and my dreams as much as I support his.

What drew you to Film and Foliage and why were flowers important to your day?

Flowers have always been part of Scott's love language to me. Over the years he has given me some incredible flowers, and even been 40mins late for a date because he was stuck in traffic picking up an enormous bouquet that was half my height. So choosing the right florist for our day was important to us. I had been following Film & Foliage on instagram for a few years now, and after speaking with a few other florists she was Scott's number 1 pick! (Yes, Scott made the final decision on our florist - he was very firm that we couldn't have anyone else). Ash was so warm and open to our ideas from the get-go, and always had great ideas to add. We love her sustainable approach, her creative flair and that she was so, so easy to work with. We loved working with you Ash and were absolutely blown away at our flowers on the day. Everyone could not stop talking about how beautiful they were! They really brought (even more) beauty and energy to the day.

Did you incorporate any special traditions or unique elements that represented you both?

Yes we did! As I am catholic and Scott is agnostic, I really wanted to get married by a priest but outdoors. Unfortunately, the one priest I really wanted was not able to do it, but we found Amanda, our Celebrant from Graced Moments, who was my brother's friend. She got us thinking about traditions in the church or part of our culture that were important to us - and for me, that was the sharing of communion as I view it as a real moment of connection and community. As she isn't a priest and can't serve actual communion, she asked us what food was important or special to Scott and I and that was Mango Mochi. It's a dessert Scott & I would have after ramen when he would wait for me to finish my course in the city, and it's a dessert that reminds us of our first overseas trip together to Japan. So the night before our wedding at our welcome dinner, we had 'communion' and served Mango Mochi to our friends and family - it was so special!

The planning process: What was your plan of attack? Budgets, making decisions, inviting guests?

Before we started any planning I made sure Scott & I sat down and brainstormed what we wanted our day to look like, how we wanted to feel, how we wanted our guests to feel and what were the most important elements to us. This really helped us when we were overwhelmed during the planning process, or trying to make a decision. We would look back at that board, and figure out how important or not important it was.

But I will be honest and say planning a wedding is stressful. It was definitely a fun and exciting time, but also a lot of stress. I found creating a google drive and using spreadsheets super helpful, and if I had my time again I would use a trello board to manage the chaos even better. Scott would like to say it was 60% me and 40% him, but I would say it was more 80/20.

Mona Farm is one incredible and unique venue! How did you find it and select it over other locations? What were you looking for in a venue?

Mona Farm is the most spectacular place. We were very close to booking another venue in the Hunter Valley, but just before sending the email I saw Mona Farm on Instagram and then my sister also sent it to me (and she knows us so well), so I decided to organise a site visit at Mona Farm. I'm so glad we did! It was the perfect venue for us. We were looking for a beautiful property that we could have our ceremony at, that could accommodate the majority of our guests, and that we could host multiple events over 3 days. Mona Farm ticked all those boxes and more! The art, the accommodation, the food, the people - everything was so great!

Art is so special to Scott and I, and it was what we bonded over during one of our first dates, so when we saw the art at Mona Farm our eyes just lit up and knew we wanted to share this with our family and friends. Beyond the art, it was talking with the General Manager Romy on the site visit that made us feel comfortable, excited and assured that the MF team was there to support us with whatever we wanted to create for our 3 day wedding.

Tell me about an unexpected magical moment you experienced on your day:

An unexpected magical moment on our day, was my 4-yr old nephew and flower boy going around after the ceremony while Scott and I were walking over to the post-ceremony drinks and picking wild flowers to give to me. It was the sweetest, and everytime I look at the photos of that moment it makes me smile.

What was your vision for the day and how did you choose your style?

I never had a vision of what my wedding day would look like. So in our brainstorming phase, we went to Bunnings and chose our colour palette by picking out paint swatch cards on the wall. Being very visual and creative people our approach was to think of our wedding as our very own art installation, and what drove the aesthetic of the day was when I chose our typeface for our Save The Date cards. It was the first thing we purchased for the wedding.

What’s some advice you would give to loved-up couples planning their day?

Figure out what is important to the both of you before diving into planning, or hearing the opinions of everyone else.
Schedule in planning days or dates so that you can both be in the right mindset for it.
Use project management tools such as Trello - honestly, I wish I had.
Enjoy the site-visits, food tasting, dress searching, moodboard making - it's such an incredible time, and you only get to do it once!
Trust the process. Take a moment before the day to really ground yourself and be present. The day goes so fast!

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your wedding?

A big thank you to my seamstress - I couldn't have done it or felt as good in my dress without her. She is an honorary bridesmaid!