Relaxed Templewood House Wedding // Kirby and Ash

Cute moments, an incredible collection of fine wines and an overflowing of joy in every direction you looked is the way I would describe Kirby and Ash’s wedding at Templewood House. It was clear that a lot of effort went into putting this day together, and boy oh boy did it pay off. They were going for “relaxed picnic vibe at the start, and dance party at the end” and they absolutely nailed it, it was the kind of wedding you want to be invited to with no less than three bars, impeccable food from Chopping Board Catering and picture perfect, high 20s weather.

Tell me about your The Beginning!

We met at the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court (as lawyers, not as defendants)! Ash called me up a week or so later and sought some “advice” on a professional matter, which turned into coffees, which turned into lunches, which turned into dinners. Weirdly, we each had no intentions of romancing and became best mates. Although, ask our friends and they will tell you we started “dating” many years ago. Upon reflection, there was a romantic flavour to our friend dates…horse riding lessons, picnics, degustation dinners. But we were both really none the wiser. About 6 years later (…yep), Ash’s mates wife told him to pull his neck in and ask me to go steady. He elected the perfect time to do this was when we were driving home from doing a lawyer task of signing a death bed will (romance). He has taken his wanky tie off and I had it on my lap. It was raining. He dropped me off home and confessed his feelings. I was so shocked that I didn’t really know what to say. I honestly couldn’t tell you how we ended the conversation, but I got out of the car in a really awkward fashion. The next morning, I found his wanky tie in the gutter, covered in mud. I threw it in the wash but it come out looking like a zig zag. I looked up what it would cost to replace it and regrettably my legal aid wage didn’t cut the mustard. RIP wanky tie. It took us another couple of years to get our shit together. I had moved back from some time overseas and we caught up for some hikes. The tables had now turned and I realised I had a crush on Ash! The rest is history. Our friend describes our relationship as…two best friends that caught on fire.

When and where did you get engaged?

We got engaged on a hike in Queenstown, New Zealand. Ash was uncharacteristically keen to get to the top and when we got to the top he was flapping about asking whether this was the top and whether I was happy with this “spot”. Out of context these were peculiar questions! Ash and I have wildly different tastes so he cleverly proposed with a cookie which featured a picture of a personal joke. At first I was confused as to what he was doing as I was still sweating and troubled as to why he kept this delicious energy dense snack a secret (it was a hard hike and I could have used a snack tbh). I turned over the cookie and it said “will you marry me”. We then flew to Wellington and had a cute time going ring shopping.

What style/theme have you chosen for your Wedding Day?

Ash is the style king/master of farshun of the relationship. So this was a wedding whereby the theme awaited several meetings with his tailor and the colour selections that came out of that. Other than that, we hope the theme turns out to be a relaxed picnic vibe at the start, and dance party at the end!

What are you most looking forward to on the day?

We have received various tips for the day. The best one we have received so far is taking 5 to 10 minutes are the ceremony just us to have a massive high five and a cute little moment together to reflect on what we have achieved. This tip has now turned into what we are most looking forward to. We are also super lucky to have so many pals coming from opposite ends of the earth to be there with us. We are beside ourselves that we will get to party with all of our favourite people from every corner of the globe.

Top Tips!

See above – have a little moment completely alone with your favourite person
Pick one thing each that is super important to you for the day…could be the music, food, flowers…whatever. Make sure you both champion your thing, and your partner’s thing, and then….let the rest of the stuff go. It’ll be fine
Try and incorporate things that are personal to you guys as a couple. People are there for you guys and will revel in knowing, or learning, how you identify as a couple. For example, instead of a cake cutting, we are sabre a champagne. I know it’s extra, but we randomly picked up a sabre on our travels and now just love doing it whenever we are popping a bubbles