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If someone ever tells you that nothing exciting even happens mid-week, they couldn’t be further from the truth.
This past Wednesday saw the official launch of the “Geelong Celebrant Collective” and it was more magical than we could have dreamed it would be.
Held at what we are sure now is the hottest venue in town – The Warehouse on little Ryrie - we spent the night drinking bubbles under a ceiling of lanterns and neon lights from Neon Collective Co. It was such a treat to celebrate all that we had accomplished; from an initial idea over a cuppa by Nicole and Chloe, to recruiting the rest of the girl gang, all the way to this most special of nights. The night we got to share our passion project with the wedding industry we so love and all our family and friends that have been in GCC’s corner since day one.
Even though we were competing with the ultimate girl boss Ita Buttrose, the room was filled to the brim of the creme del a crème of Geelong’s Wedding Industry and it was so awesome getting to catch up with friends and network with people we had all fan-girled over on Instagram at least once or twice.
For those of you who couldn’t be there, let me paint a picture for you. The room was dressed to die for, from the exquisite blush velvet lounge by Fat Duck to the breathtaking blooms created by the next level talent of Ebony Travers of Wild Folk flowers.
Cheeky selfies and group shots were taken care of by Zuster Photobooth, underneath our Geelong Celebrant Collective hashtag. GIFs are the new boomerangs – and we are okay with this.
There wasn’t an empty glass or stomach in the house! Thank you to Austin & Co for your delicious 6ft6 Prosecco, Oakdene for your sparkling, Scotchmans Hill for your selection of wines and Blackmans Brewery for letting Reginald come and visit us in the form of a few slabs. We were spoilt with such deliciousness in our region. All of this amazingness couldn’t be served out of just anywhere, it HAD to be presented from the chic vintage caravan so kindly provided and staffed by Boutique Event Co.
A literal cart of various meats, cheeses and fruits was our gathering’s centrepiece – arranged by creative genius Meg Schmidtke – we will never be able to eat brie that isn’t smothered in honeycomb ever again. The spread was complete food porn and something that we will be dreaming of for quite some time to come.
Keeping it in the family – Dave, Anita’s husband and all round great guy and talented photog was there to capture the evening for us. He also finally got us all in one photo as we did a pre-game photoshoot before guests arrived to make the most of us all glammed up, in the same country and not giving birth (we had a few interesting obstacles to our last group photo shoot!).
We schmoozed and mingled to the epic talent of Laura and Rob from Smitsband, who created such a fun party atmosphere for all the guests.
When it came time for formalities and speeches – the divine Samantha Krajina of Geelong Women and KRock had us covered. No one can MC like this little pocket rocket and we couldn’t have had a more amazing woman leading the night for us. Nic and Chloe explained what GCC was all about so eloquently and we know that people will have lots of amazing things to say about GCC moving forward.
Of all the amazing photographers, venues, HMUA’s and Geelong Business’s that supported us that night – maybe the support that gave us the most feels was that of the other celebrants that came to celebrate with us. A true testament to community over competition and how phenomenal the greater celebrant community really is.
The night flew by and as we have had time to reflect on how truly magical it was – we are left with a few simple truths.
That the future is VERY bright for the GCC and we truly are “Better Together”...
Written By: Laura Hayden for GCC