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We couldn't get the smiles off our faces when we saw our picnic wedding featured in the very first edition of the the devine online magazine 'The Brides Tree'.
I had the pleasure of meeting Jenny and it was a totally delight to see someone just bursting with passion and enthusiasm for what they do. Now after seeing their gorgeous magazine I can see why jenny and her team are so proud.
For us small business owners, the Sunshine Coast is such a supportive place to create and grow, you get to meet so many enthusiastic people who really really love what they do and in this story is a perfect example of 3 ladies (and thier helpers & husbands) who are so happy to share and support each others little businesses. Here is a short story of how a farm, a foodie and a magazine editor ended up meeting and how it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy when we see all the hard work pay off.
We found Mango Hill Farm online while looking for a farm with a Jacaranda tree for our own wedding, when we went out and saw it there was no if's or but's it was so serene, so beautiful and Elenne and Peter were so happy and relaxed that we were stoked!! (we actually drove away so inspired by what they had done there that we day dreamed all the way back to our share house of how one day we would love to have our own little farm, 1 year on we now do! ).
We plucked a random date out of the air in the hope that the jacaranda would be in full bloom, and even when we had all sorts of events trying to change our date I refused to give in, I just knew that Nov the 12th was perfect. Luckily I didnt because mother nature was in a great mood that day! the jacaranda had not one green leaf, it was vivid purple and all day it snowed its flowers on us.
I really dont think that I could actually sum up what a magic place mango hill farm is?? you really have to go there to feel how relaxing it is. But one of the most wonderful parts of our wedding was having all the boys in the day spa and all of us girls in the main house, we could hear all the laughter drifting across the farm. I was a perfect piece of heaven and our day was SUPERB!!
Just going through the photos to find these ones has put the biggest smile on my face, mango hill farm and our day was beyond perfect, it was devine in every single way!! I could go on all day but I will get to part two.
Now for part two, the foodie!!
Our budget was rather tight as 'Love My Food' was still in its baby days and all of my focus (and energy was going into that) so being the foodie that I am, I had grand ideas of long tables and bone china plates with 5 courses and waitstaff. But alas I had to get creative, so as Pete and I do, we put our positive hats on and thought of all the things we love to do.
For me picnic's are it!! I absolutely LOVE them, we pondered the idea and the more it grew the more wonderful it became. We had friends come and add things to our hampers and our local stall holders from our farmers market were proud as punch that we chose their wares to add to our baskets. It became one of the most feel good parts of our wedding (apart from marrying my gorgeous smiley Pete of course) We made up little menu' s so that everyone knew exactly where there food came from and luckily I had been collecting baskets and vintage odd's and end's for ages so our country fair wedding was born.
We wanted a nice relaxed, classy, fun day with awesome food of course!! and we couldnt have had a bigger hit!!
Serving our food in picnic baskets was a roaring sucess. We had 3 courses and we got our family to deliver the hampers, everyone LOVED it, we are still getting compliments to this day about it.
It was a unique, delightful, delicious experience one guest told us.
So what started as a budget cutting exercise actually became the new beginning for LOVE MY FOOD, we had so many people interested in our idea that they did a few stories on us (which came from our friendly farmers markets, because we wanted everything to come from people that we knew, and this not only made them happy but made people feel inspired).
I honestly believe that it was all in the sharing, sharing food, sharing joy of the food that people have proudly made, sharing our day and our passion for what we do with our family and getting everyone involved. Sharing the beautiful venue that Elenne and Peter had made.
Everything at our wedding was touched by us or our guests and because of that they all felt so involved, it was truely the most magical wonderful day!!
Now for part 3 how we met the wonderful Jenny from the brides tree and how she helped Love My Food grow!!
After hearing about our wedding from a friend who read the story on us, she contacted me to have a chat. Her passion for all things wedding, vintage and unique was infectious. She loved supporting local like me and it was great to be able to share the love.
I had the pleasure of making a few picnic hampers for her and her team for thier style shoots and with each hamper I got more creative. With her enthusiasm my ideas grew and when she asked if we would like to be in the very first edition of their gorgeous magazine I was thrilled!!
So to cut a long story short (well shorter, as this is my longest blog ever!!)
From a bride with a dream, came an amazing venue that inspired.
Then came an idea to entertain, which is now become the new 'Love My Food' line.
Then came the stories that brought 3 ladies and their hard work together for all to admire .
Since our wedding 'Love My Food' has grown so much we now do vintage wedding catering and cater picnics to all sorts of occasions. Mango Hill Farm continues to inspire me and now it makes me almost jump out of my skin with delight to soon be moving to my new kitchen on the farm!!! where I can cook with herbs fresh from their cottage garden (where the photos above were taken) and plant the vege's straight into the ground!
We will never stop supporting local producers and our stall at the big pineapple farmers markets is where we network every week (by network I mean have a hoot!! every saturday morning as the sun comes up).
Mango hill farm has some wonderful plans for the future, with wine and cheese picnics on their new lawn, with music and vintage garden games. I couldnt think of a better way to spend a sunday!!
SO A VERY BIG THANK YOU TO ELENNE FROM MANGO HILL FARM, for inspiring me to keep my food real and to JENNY from THE BRIDES TREE for pumping up my enthusiasm for what I love to do.
And what I love to do is Cook great food from local ingredients and watch people love sharing it!!!
here is the link to the brides tree story on us (we are on the last page) and here is a link to the beautiful mango hill farm, perfect for a weekend away
Happy reading!!
Alisa and Pete xxoo
http://www.mangohillfarm.com.au/
http://www.thebridestree.com.au/magazine
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