April and Mitch kicked off their wedding day with a private first-look (sans photographer) and a pre-ceremony pub lunch with friends. This pretty much set the tone for their relaxed country bash, which was held at a family property in Noojee, West Gippsland.

The couple did consider choosing a for-purpose wedding venue (and admit it would have been much easier!) but their hearts were set on Noojee and wouldn’t budge. Mitch’s proposal might have had something to do with it – April tells us how he popped the question. “After we got back from a day of hiking, Mitch drove us into the very dark backyard at Noojee and asked me to go for a walk with him into the forest. I was not keen! I took a few very tentative steps, and then all of a sudden the forest lit up with festoon lights. Our friends had spent the afternoon stringing 180 metres of lights through the trees, and it looked so magical. There was a picnic in the middle, he popped the question, and we laugh-cried for a full minute before I said yes. It was ridiculous. We got married in the same spot nine months later.”

When it came to styling, April and Mitch were keen to let the beauty of the property do a lot of the talking, and engaged Pop Up With Style to bring their natural vision to life. “Making a wedding pop up out of nothing is no joke,” April shares. “Kahlie and Jess helped us pick and organise vendors, and they knew who to go to for a fancy portaloo.” Blonde Florals created a stunning floral ground arch for the ceremony and unstructured bouquets in natural hues.

After the I do’s, April changed out of her dreamy polka dot Delphine Manivet dress and into a simple slip. She joined Mitch and their 120 guests to party in the Sperry tent and feast on share plates of salads and slow cooked meats from Fat Cats Catering Van, and a drool-worthy dessert table put together by her mum. Aside from the speeches, the bride tells us the dance floor was the highlight of the night. “We knew our friends and family loved a boogie, but they really outdid themselves. Things kept kicking on well after Mitch and I left, and a bunch of our guests crashed in tents in the backyard after.”

Steph of Long Way Home photographed the day in her signature candid style, and April and Mitch tell us “she was a highlight of our whole wedding experience”. Even so, the couple decided their first look would be just the two of them. “We decided we wanted to have a first look, but alone. So we had a beautiful moment together outside, seeing each other for the first time and processing what was about to happen, and got absolutely no photos out of it – which we don’t regret at all.”