In the words of Wayne Campbell

The story of Madi & Will spans a decade as well as continents. They are from the chilled-out coastal town of Geelong in Victoria and have been together for 10 years. They have super cute dogs, a pension for renovating houses and, due to Covid, have changed the date of their wedding too many times and relocated just as many.

A grand wedding experience at a private resort in Bali on Halloween 2020 - Covid quickly saw that option squashed.

They then considered waiting out the plague and, as we are in the second year of a worldwide pandemic, they were right to bring their wedding plans back to Australia. After moving closer to home to have their wedding at Rockleigh Farm, Covid restrictions struck again, moving from inside the stunning barn, to outside under a tent. Not ideal, but at this point, they were happy to settle.

Finally, everything looked like it was going ahead on Valentine's Day 2021. Everything was planned, rehearsal complete, travel booked, bucks and hens partied hard, dresses and suits tailored, bridal makeup trials complete. Madi has something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue (we didn't see a sixpence though). Everything looked almost perfect for their Valentines wedding day.

Psych!

1 pm on Friday, February 12, Victoria announces a statewide lockdown from midnight that night. Tears are shed, cusses can be heard down the street, this wedding has been defeated by Covid again.

Madi wouldn't tell us the witchcraft she used to somehow move her entire wedding forward two days. There was a last minute approval for the use of the Botanical Gardens in Geelong as their new ceremony location (big ups to those guys for letting us stay after they closed) and a secret space was offered at The Westend bar for their reception. A stellar lineup of vendors dropped everything and pulled things together last minute: The Posie Place had made floral arrangements within two hours, The Wedding Sitter wrangled Huge the Saint Bernard and Mango the French Bull Dog and props to the legend who brought all the chairs.

In terms of catering, by this point we would have been happy with sandwiches from the ladies at the bowls club but Box & Boards and The Westend laid out an impressive spread with a vast array of cheese and cured meats, followed by a few hot options rolling out later in the night.

As for us, we started driving to Geelong from Melbourne before lockdown was even officially announced thinking that only Melbourne would get locked down so we wanted to make sure we were in Geelong and good to go for Sunday. When it was announced that the whole state was locked down we started driving back to Melbourne, feeling defeated, until we received a call from Madi saying the whole darn thing had been moved and off we were on the road to Geelong once more!

Oh, and of course the bride tribe, grooms team most of the guests still made it.

We are still chuckling at what a legend the celebrant, Jac the hitcher, was in her convo with the bride:

Short of a table to sign all the legal paperwork, they used each others backs to make their betrothed legal. Talk about having each others backs.

Madi & Will had everything planned within an inch of perfection for their Valentines Day wedding. Instead, they had the perfect storm. Somehow they forced the planets to align and their wedding was beautiful. Perhaps the witchcraft she used was the age-old trope:

Few people in this world can have their plans falls apart and still deliver a beautiful moment. Madi and Will are set for life.

Ceremony: Botanical Gardens Geelong; Reception: The Westend; Catering: Box & Boards and The West End; Dress: Made with Love Bridal; Photography and Videography: Dhyan & Benjamin at Boyfriend Photography; Florist: The Posie Place; Celebrant: Jac The Hitcher; Makeup: Maddi Nicholls Makeup; Hair: Mrs Concepts Salon; Dog sitter: The Wedding Sitter