You’ll fall for this bright and cheerful Australian Bushland wedding

The Offbeat Bride: Tessie, child care worker

Her offbeat partner: Gianni, Auto sales

Date and location of wedding: Beaufort VIC, Australia — September 5, 2015

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

Our Australian Bushland wedding was all about fun and joy. We are not traditional or religious so we wanted the wedding to be a celebration of our love of nature, animals, art, and each other.

Tell us about the ceremony:

Our ceremony was held at our block of land that we bought, the place where we will build a house and start a family, so it was a special location. My bridesmaids and I arrived on the back of a ute which was the most fun I have ever had.

Both my parents walked me down the aisle to “A Face to Call Home” by John Mayer. My niece and nephew joined the parade and my sister held the hand of her baby boy on the walk down the aisle. We had Flower Aunties instead of flower girls and all our aunts left flowers around the ceremony area before I arrived.

Our ceremony was not religious because we are not. We are very spiritual, though, and so took words from different philosophical readings that we like. We avoided the word “promise” and used only “will you?” and similar phrases. Our vows were about looking after every living creature and being a kind and compassionate person, not just about our relationship. We had a ring warming where our rings were passed around in a little yellow duck box that Gianni had put my engagement ring in.

Our pet cockatoo was our “best bird” and one of the groomsmen. Since we rescue birds and consider them family, we wanted to have one their as representative.

My dress was peach pink and I loved it so much. For a while I was nervous about the choice but I am glad I was brave now because it was very me.

Tell us about your reception:

Our main objective of our wedding day is that we enjoy it and don't worry about details that don't matter. With this attitude, we allowed ourselves to have some lovely surprises on the day. The bridesmaids chose their own dresses in mint green and they all turned out completely different but looked AMAZING together. The groomsmen were told they could wear anything they like but just to stick to navy, tan, and white. They ended up looking so cute and nobody had to wear anything they didn't like or would never wear again.

My cousin offered to make us wedding cakes as a gift and I had no idea what they would be like until they day, but I didn't mind at all because I knew she'd do something fun. The cakes ended up being so gorgeous! We had a wood-fired pizza truck for food and saved time and effort by not having a sit-down meal with tables and chairs.

We bought a marquee and decorated it with a dance floor made of recycled wood and a whole bunch of couches and chairs that people were throwing away. We used scraps of lace curtain to line the walls and fresh flowers from the market to make everything look gorgeous.

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• Photography: Dave Glover

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