During an unforgettable holiday to Australia, HELLO! Online readers Victoria Sales and Adam Buckley, got engaged in the most romantic way possible.The couple, who met in 2008 through mutual friends at the Austrian festival Snowbombing, had been together for three fabulous years before Adam popped the question.On their way to New Zealand for a wedding, Adam and Victoria stopped off in Australia to climb Sydney Bridge. While Victoria spoke to the guide, Adam went to the 'toilet', and unbeknown to Victoria, Adam was being fitted with a ring device around his wrist. As you can't have any loose items on you during the climb, Adam had to have the engagement ring attached to him.
"Adam was very quiet and I kept checking to make sure he was okay," said Victoria. "But he just mentioned that he was a tad nervous about the height of the bridge so I didn't think any more of it. "As they climbed the bridge they passed many photo opportunities, with Victoria joking, "Perhaps we should get separate photos done as well as a couple one, just in case we break up in the future and don’t have to tear up the photo. "Before Victoria knew what was happening, Adam got down on one knee. "And then he said those amazing words that were going to change our lives forever —'Will you marry me?' Of course I said 'Yes!'" recalls Victoria.
The bride
As a young girl, Victoria had two dream weddings which took two different themes; one a traditional white wedding in a church and the other a Robin Hood/Maid Marion style forest wedding. "When I first started looking at dresses, I really thought I would choose a Grecian-style dress to fit in with my Robin Hood and Maid Marion style wedding idea," Victoria said. But after spending hours trying on different dresses, she found her perfect gown called Allanah and was awed by its beauty. She paired it with the Emmerling veil from Isabella Grace Bridal Boutique.
With the old vintage feel that the couple were aiming for in their wedding, Victoria felt the dress fitted in perfectly. "The mermaid skirt, chapel train, delicate floral lace and the corset back detail were just incredible and the fit was amazing. The hand-beaded detail gathered at the start of the skirt added the glamorous touch to the dress that made you feel so special," she said.
Feeling a sentimental link with her dress before she'd even worn it, Victoria said, "It sounds silly but the type of lace within the dress reminded me of my Nan who had not long passed away and the lace table cloth she always had on her dining room table. "Victoria wanted to keep her look natural and elegant for her big day. Her hair was half up, half down with extra volume keeping her look very simple but stylish. "The make-up was organic and kept very natural but focused on accentuating my eyes," said Victoria. "Both me and my bridesmaids had a mixture of shimmery brown and neutral colours for our eyes, rose blusher and bronzer, just to give us a little bit of a glow."
The wedding rings were made especially for the couple. Adam's was engraved with "AdamandVictoria1stJune2013" in roman numerals and Victoria's was designed to fit her engagement ring and then engraved with the date on the inside.
For Victoria's jewellery she wanted to keep it simple so wore a dainty pearl bracelet, hair pin and veil comb all from Chez Bec. "The hair pin replaced the veil comb once I’d taken the veil off, just to keep a little bit of that sparkle in my hair," she said.
The reception
When Adam and Victoria started looking for venues it seemed like a big task as they wanted to have it in the UK so that everyone could celebrate with them. They decided to keep the wedding as near to Kent, their hometown, as possible but still in par with their idea of a "natural setting with character".After viewing the website for The Museum of Kent Life, Victoria said, "I instantly fell in love with it and after going to view it, well, there was no way we were getting married anywhere else!"It had everything the couple wanted — a historic building, tractor rides for the guests, play barn, farm animals and great photo opportunities for the bridal party.
An instrumental rendition of Beyoncé's song Halo played as the bride walked down the aisle and after the "I do's" the newly-weds had their photos taken by
The ceremony took place in the Ulcombe Village Hall and the wedding breakfast was in the Wagon Store, both decorated beautifully for the big day. "We went along the lines of a vintage/afternoon tea theme because we love a cream tea," said Victoria.
The bride and groom chose all the different aspects from things they felt reflected their personal taste. "We did a lot of it ourselves, from the suitcases used for the table plan and card box, paper flower bouquets — something the bridesmaids could keep forever — paper buttonholes, cupcakes, wedding cake, cake topper and even love heart sugar cubes," said Victoria.
The table favours were little polystyrene aeroplanes and for the ladies, little wooden love hearts with the bride and groom's initials and wedding date on.
Anthony Elvy, who the couple felt really made their day extra special. "Anthony is such a fantastic photographer; he made us feel so relaxed and was open to all different options for photographs," said Victoria.
As the wedding guests sat down for their wedding breakfast, they were greeted with more of the classic vintage theme that the bride and groom wanted. "We hired some vintage china tea sets and the table centrepieces were cake stands filled with scones, cupcakes, pots of jam and cream and slices of sponge cakes for people to tuck in to," said Victoria.
The evening reception was held in both the village hall and the Wagon Store with a delicious barbeque for everyone to enjoy before the first dance I Won't Give Up by Jason Mraz came on. "The whole evening was fantastic and the dance floor was filled with people throughout; our friends and family love a good dance," said Victoria. "It was the most amazing and most perfect day and we'd both love to do it all again. The pictures Anthony took throughout the day really tell our story and it will certainly be a day that neither of us will ever forget with so many memorable moments," said the bride.