Inside Brisbane couple’s unique book-themed wedding

This couple’s book-themed wedding featured handmade centrepieces made out of pages from old books as well as personalised bookmarks for each guest.

Jane Armitstead

@JaneArmitstead

3 min read

July 13, 2023 - 4:00PM

QWeekend

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When Zac Thompson and Emily Peacock first shared their passion for fantasy novels, they knew it was love. It was only natural it also became a pivotal theme at their wedding.

The couple, from the Brisbane bayside suburb of Warner, tied the knot on April 28 at Ocean View Estates, 45 minutes north of the Brisbane CBD, before 55 guests.

Their book-themed wedding featured handmade centrepieces made by Emily and her mother out of pages from old books as well as personalised bookmarks for each guest .

The pair have been together for seven years after they met at university while studying physiotherapy.

The proposal? We booked a weekend away up at Montville at a property that overlooked the lake. We went for a walk and Zac asked me to turn around and pose for a silly photo. When I turned back around he was down on one knee.

How did you choose your wedding venue? It had every type of photo opportunity we wanted, including the lake, vineyard and bush-style photos with the red road.

The wedding of Emily Peacock and Zac Thompson. Pictures: Jep Cain

What was your wedding theme? Books! Books were something we bonded over right from our first date. We have the same taste for anything fantasy and have a lot of our favourite books in common. The first birthday Zac had while we were dating, I bought him one of my favourite books as a gift and we now have two sets of the entire series because he loved it as much as I did. He’s shared a lot of his favourite series with me. We now have an overfull bookshelf and share an Audible account where we have to debate who gets to listen to the next book in the series first. The majority of books we had on our wedding tables we have both read and loved, with only a few exceptions, with our absolute favourites being on the bridal table (Name of the Wind and the Lightbringer series).

What would you spend more or less on? I wouldn’t change what we spent money on. We tried to keep it to a budget where possible but weren’t shy on splurging on the things we really wanted (like my dress, and the firepit and lawn games).

What was the budget for your wedding?$30k.

How did choose your wedding dress? I wanted a ball gown and had a rough budget. I went to a few different shops and eventually bought my dream gown because I’ll never get another opportunity to wear a princess dress!

What was the most stressful part of wedding planning? Organising transport to and from the accommodation for guests who wanted it.

The wedding of Emily Peacock and Zac Thompson. Pictures: Jep Cain

Any unique or surprising details about your wedding? My mum and I made the centrepieces out of old books that we folded into candle holders for LED tealights. These were stacked on top of Zac and my favourite books from our bookshelves at home, making our centrepieces book themed. Our favours/name plates were personalised bookmarks for each guest and instead of table numbers we had chapters.

What was the standout moment of the day? Reading our vows to each other and discovering we had managed to match them perfectly without even realising.

Honeymoon? Three nights at O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat. We will have a delayed honeymoon to New Zealand for a Lord of the Rings tour in October.

Best advice for other couples planning a wedding? Start planning everything early and book things as early as you can. I started planning our wedding in January 2022 and by about September I was done except for small things. Knowing I had the major things sorted early allowed me to actually enjoy the planning process and the lead up to the wedding.