Love Blooms at The Old Dairy Maleny

RAJEENA & CLINTON

The Old Dairy Maleny

What was the most memorable part of your day?

‘It has to be seeing each other for the first time, walking down the aisle. We both cried as soon as we saw each other, it was so emotional, and it still brings tears to our eyes when we think about it.’

If there was ever a wedding to go back and redo this would be it! Not because it was bad and we should ‘redo it’ in fact its quite the opposite actually. Everything about Rajeena and Clinton’s Sunshine Coast Hinterland wedding was PERFECT so much so I want to relive their day over and over!!!!!!

If you could relive your day again is there anything you would change?

‘Not at all!! Everything was incredible, it went above and beyond what we could have ever imagined. It was perfect!’

I first met this gorgeous couple when I was showcasing at The Old Dairy Maleny for the Sunshine Coast Hinterland’s Summer-showcase in January 2020. We hit it off instantly and they say the rest is history. I sure as heck am gonna miss seeing these beauties at the Summer showcases as the last 3 I was able to catch up with them and of course outside of these too! Lets hope they pop in again this January to say hi!

From starting your wedding planning journey to the date of your wedding, how long did it take you?

‘We got engaged in December 2019. Naturally I got caught up in the wedding planning excitement and found the Hinterland Showcase in Jan 2020. We fell in love with The Old Dairy Maleny and from there we got the ball rolling. We decided we were too broke to get married in 2020 haha and pushed it out to 2021, also deciding we wanted an August/September wedding.’

The Old Dairy Maleny is sublime. It is truly breathtaking overlooking the Sunshine Coast Hinterland Valley’s. The owners of this gorgeous property have covered every element in its building construction and wows people every time they drive down that driveway.

I asked Rajeena and Clinton why they chose The Old Dairy Maleny –

‘We went to the Hinterland Showcase in Jan 2020 and basically started from the top at Montville and worked our way down and around the Hinterland, viewing all the open venues and meeting suppliers. The Old Dairy was our last stop for the day and as soon as we drove down that driveway, Clinton declared, “This is it. Nothing will ever compare to this.” He also noted he could see the Crohamhurst tower from the venue and as he grew up in Peachester it was a good way to tie his childhood into our wedding.’

We were fortunate enough to not only coordinate their amazing day but also do all the styling. Working alongside our pal Court over at Fiesta Flora for our styling and florals was a dream. Rajeena and Clinton actually had a completely different vision from when I first met them until a couple months out from their wedding! They 100% wanted earthy tones with a bit of modern rustic to tie in with the Sunshine Coast Hinterland landscape. Clinton collected pine cones from his family farm just over the ridge and asked that we incorporate them on the day. They left the styling and florals to us to create some magic. Its wonderful when couples trust their suppliers implicitly and give free reign to create.

In terms of styling when we first met your vision was completely different to the vision on the day with a changeover in the last few months leading into your wedding. Tell us about your initial vision of what was created on the day. –

‘When we first started talking about our wedding, we envisioned it to be full of the natural elements, like a rustic, earthy style. As we had so much down time from when we locked our suppliers in, to when we had our wedding, it gave me a lot of time to see other weddings and my Instagram feed soon became one big wedding spam feed.

It gave me a lot of new ideas and in the end, we decided to simply let our venue do most of the work and just add the basics to elevate it. We fully trusted Maple and Fiesta Flora to take over where necessary and do what they knew best. We ended up with what I would say was a modern woodsy elegance theme, which was better than what we had envisioned.

Clinton also really wanted to include pinecones into our theme and at the last minute he had his family collect a big bag of pine cones from his family home in Peachester and Maple and Fiesta Flora did an incredible job of incorporating them into our style, they didn’t look out of place at all and we felt it added to our style perfectly.’

What platforms did you use to select your suppliers?

‘I spent A LOT of time googling, researching, and reading reviews to select our suppliers. We met Angela and Kristy and Naomi that day at the show case and vibed instantly, we knew you were both going to be involved in our day one way or another! From there the rest of our suppliers easily fell into place and we feel we picked a team of fun, easy going, yet super professional and talented suppliers.’

You booked Maple Weddings for both coordination and styling. Did you find that easier having one supplier do the bulk of it all?

‘We weren’t going to have any coordination on the day in the beginning as we were trying to save money. Kristy convinced us in the end to have a half day coordination package with our styling and can we just say, THANK GOD FOR KRISTY!! I cannot imagine how stressful and busy our day would have been, had Kristy not been coordinating for us! Everything just ran so smoothly, if anything went wrong, we didn’t know about it and we all had the best day!

For us as well, the styling was such a huge part of our wedding, it just made sense that you would also coordinate the day for us. It was definitely easier having the one supplier doing the bulk of the work.’

Would you recommend to other couples to have a coordinator on the day?

‘YES!! Our day went by so fast; it was almost a blur. Everything was perfect and we didn’t have to think about a single thing. We could just enjoy our day from the moment we woke up, to saying goodbye to our guests without any stress or worry in between.’

I often ask people what the one most important part of their day is and couples can never pinpoint one so tell us what the 3 most important things to you both were for your day.

‘Our ceremony has to be one. We didn’t want to have the normal ceremony that people usually tune out of halfway through. We wanted it to be fun and inclusive for all our guests and Sommer smashed it out of the park

The next thing was probably just making sure our guests had a good time. For us we wanted everyone else to enjoy the day as much, if not more, than us haha.

Last but most certainly not least, was the styling/setup. Our venue was so stunning, and we wanted our styling to match that, and Maple and Fiesta Flora did such an incredible job. It was one breath taking moment from walking down the aisle to another when we entered our reception.’

What is some advice you would offer to other couples planning a wedding- and in a pandemic!

‘Have a coordinator for your day! If you can afford it as well, having someone to come in and set up our ceremony and reception for us also made a world of difference. We were so busy with hair and makeup and then photography and videography before our ceremony, I don’t even know, where we would have fit the time to style and coordinate the day if we had too. Not to mention, during these COVID days, having that extra support on hand to help guide you through your planning was so reassuring.
Also DO NOT watch the news in the lead up to your day, the media over exaggerates everything and just adds stress you do not need!’

As an approx what was the cost of your wedding?

‘Haha that’s a funny question!! So, we started our wedding planning, estimating it would be about $20,000 – $25,000. As we started locking in suppliers and our venue, we realised it was going to be more, so we went up to about $35,000, then $45,000 and then the budget was just out the door! I think overall it was probably more like $60,000 with every little expense included.

You certainly don’t have to spend as much on your wedding but for us, having our wedding in the Hinterland was a must and as we started planning other things became just as important, like having our day documented in a certain style for us to look back on, having an expert to come in and style/setup our day and having our florals a certain way, all became important to have. I also have a habit of having expensive taste, so naturally I had to have the best.’

One thing about Rajeena and Clinton’s wedding that stands out for me (apart from the amazing styling and florals! haha) is the ‘team’ of suppliers. We all know each other well and have all worked together before and what a friggin fab team we all make! Having suppliers who have worked together is a such a bonus not only for us coordinating but for the couple too as they know they dont have to worry about a single thing knowing they have a team of support who all work and connect together. It was such a vibe on their wedding day and one I will cherish for a loooooong time. The photos that the amazing Angela of Angela Cannavo Photography took encapsulate their day just perfectly. It really sums up what a great crew we all are working together and also how beautiful, genuine and humble Rajeena and Clinton are.