Bride Name: Maddie Oliver
Groom Name: Tom Mathieson
Where do you live? Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Wedding Date: 24/4/2019

Tell us, how did you meet? Was it Love at first sight?
We met back in High school at a mutual friends house as one of Tom’s friends (groomsman) had invited me over. We started going out when we were just 14 and 16 and have not separated ever since.. young love!

What about the engagement story? Can you give us a snapshot?
We went to Hawaii just after Tom’s 21st birthday. We had been together 5 years at this stage and a lot of our friends had suggested he would propose to me over there, because of the speculation I just didn’t expect it to happen. 

We were walking along Waikiki beach, the fireworks had just finished (so funny because I was about to say to Tom this would be a perfect setting for someone to propose), Tom suggested we go out onto this rock pier that led out into the water.

I was taking photos of all of the buildings lit up over the beach and next to me Tom started to get down on one knee. I burst into tears straight away.

So you decided to become Mr & Mrs… Why Bali?
We had originally booked somewhere in Geelong however I always wanted something really small as I get very nervous and hate being centre of attention. 

I started to freak out a little and suggested to Tom we do our wedding somewhere else so that we can keep it small and intimate.

I suggested Bali as we had both been there multiple times and love it and its still easy enough for friends and family to travel to.

I also loved the fact that our wedding would be remembered not only for just the day itself but the whole week of celebrations. 

It took Tom a while to come around to the idea but now we would not have had it any other way. It was the perfect setting and everyone was so excited to come over and celebrate with us.

It was a holiday for everyone and everyone had the best time over there.

How did you choose your Bali wedding planner?  What was her/his Super Power?
I had been looking at all of the Bali vendors on Instagram (Can’t believe how many there actually are) and I come across Hitch’d. Straight away I absolutely loved their style and every wedding of theirs was so different, every last little detail and their styling was incredible.  

Kristen from Hitch’d was our planner and I loveee her. She did not miss a detail, I just feel like she is superwoman all together.

She can do anything and everything and she is the most beautiful, bubbly person.

Did you have a theme for the wedding? And was it a late night Pinterest obsession?!
Soo many screenshots!  I basically sent all my screenshots of everything that I liked to my planner and then she put together a design brief for me and we adjusted it from there if need be. 

In the end our theme was ‘Modern, Romantic and Tropical’. 

We had all natural teak furniture  from Bali Event Hire and white and green florals with a touch of pink to fit with the romantic theme. 

We added touches of black throughout also to fit in with that modern theme (Black candles, signage/menus, our amazing black broadway bar from Bali event hire etc.) 

I also knew I wanted lighting everywhere to set the mood and light everything up. My favourite was our pink neon ‘But first cocktails’ sign again from Bali Event Hire backdrop to our bar. 

I am just obsessed with how it all turned out, every last detail couldn’t have been more perfect.

Did you sit down for a formal dinner or party the night away with canapés and cocktails
We did a buffet style so that everyone could help themselves and then sit down in an amazing setting to enjoy.

Once the formalities were finished everyone was straight onto the dance floor and did not sit down again for the rest of the night!

Did you have a special song to walk down the aisle to?
We had said for years that when we got married our aisle song was going to be ‘How long will I love you’ by Ellie Goulding, it was perfect.

We were both teary just in our rehearsal listening to it.