Self portrait taken by Brooke

A wedding in Queensland in the middle of winter? As the saying goes – ‘Queensland is beautiful one day, perfect the next’. Just add polka dots and yellow shoes  – what more could we ask for!
Brooke explains how the couple met. “2006. Both Vespa riders we met on a scooter ride in Brisbane a few months before Ulick and his brother rode around Australia on their Vespas to raise money for cancer research.

Scooters have been an integral part of our lives since. Ulick proposed when we were riding around Tasmania for a month. It seemed appropriate then, that the bride should make her entrance on a Vespa!

We describe our wedding as winter vintage picnic. While we wanted a fun  outdoors event we were very particular with every detail of our outfits. The groom knew the wedding dress would be 50s style, but he did not see it until I rode to the tree, then walked down the aisle. We had the best weather possible. Warm winter sun for day, but not too hot. We picked a winter date purposely as we love getting cosy when it’s cold outside.

I was extremely happy with the makeup by Cathy from Glamourous Makeup Artistry. She captured the 50’s vintage glamour look perfectly.

I had picked the shoes long before I had thought about the dress. I was on the search for yellow shoes for months and finally found these at Williams for $89. My pearl necklace was from Panda Pearls and earrings ‘something borrowed’ from my sister. My best friend gave me the garter she wore at her wedding for another ‘something borrowed’.

I measured Ulick up and we ordered online through Studio Suits in India. I was a bit nervous about this approach, but it arrived in plenty of time and with a few alterations it was great. This tailored suit cost about $250.

Because we met in a scooter club, it seemed appropriate that I made my entrance on my Vespa. The seat trim was recovered in yellow to match the colour theme of the day. The groom delivered the bride to the reception on the same bike with woollen pom poms tied to the back, made by Brooke’s work colleagues.

Photo by Grub

The groom had carefully tuned his guitar for a song he later performed for the bride during the speeches. He strummed the melody to this song as the bride walked down the aisle.

Photo by Grub

Photo by Grub

Photo by Lesa

Photo by Lesa

Photo by Grub

My dress was made by Bayside Bridal, Brisbane. I took four pictures I downloaded from the internet of 50’s dresses, one of which was of Audrey Hepburn. I worked with the dress maker (and advice from a work colleague who used to be in the business). As soon as I saw the polka dot organza I knew it was perfect for the style of the dress. The organza was sourced from Gardams in Brisbane and is imported directly from Italy and was worth every penny.

Photo by Lesa

Photo by Grub

We specified in the invitation ‘ladies wear your prettiest dress, men dress to impress’, and found that guests wore vintage style attire. We wanted our guests to be well dressed but not have to spend a lot of money in meeting dress standards. The homestead host commented that we had some of the most stylish guests she had seen!

Photo by Grub

Halfmoon Hideaway at Maleny is a private homestead set in the Sunshine Coast hinterland about an hour from Brisbane. The host is happy to have couples and their guests share the amazing view of the Glasshouse Mountains. There is a huge tree near a couple of ponds and the chooks (chickens) and the horses don’t mind sharing the property either. A large deck under the tree posed as the seating area with bales of hay. Our reception was held at a relative’s house in Montville.

We did not have a bridal party. This made planning things a bit easier. It was important for us to have our family and close friends sit back and enjoy the ceremony. Siblings and best friends were involved in other special ways (such as witnessing the certificate of marriage).

Almost everything was made as a DIY project. We made the save the date magnets with a magnet machine from Spotlight. We also made the invitations. With the invitations guests were sent a name badge to wear on the day.

As we had many relatives from overseas we found the save the date magnets very useful. Interestingly the photo’s we used in the save the date magnet were taken in the photobooth at my sister’s wedding the year before. Between the wedding and honeymoon we got four pics from the photographer and made postcards. We took these on our honeymoon and wrote them up as thank you cards from New Zealand. We thought guests would appreciate the gesture as our gift registry was towards the honeymoon. We personalised each postcard telling guests where we were and what we were doing at the time. The bride’s sisters helped make the flags, cloths to cover the bales of hay, the cupcakes and the bouquet.

Photo by Grub

The venue is pet friendly and it was nice to have Brooke’s 10 year old cocker spaniel sitting in the front row. Guests took turns  minding him during the day. He had a yellow ribbon and his own name badge. The dog stayed with us for five nights in the property’s luxury cottage. He loved it and it was nice to have him there with us.

Photo by Grub

Photo by Lesa

We bought the flowers from the Brisbane flower markets and my sister Lesa made the bouquet and the button hole. We chose flowers that went with the yellow theme and went for a vintage rather than a country look.

Photo by Grub

Lunch packs were served after the ceremony on the deck. We made the lunch packs and prepared the food ourselves. The groom was making the tubs of bocconcini, basil and tomato just hours before the wedding.

We put a lot of planning into the food in general and in particular the lunch packs. We prepared many items leading up to the wedding and finished packing them  the morning before the ceremony. They were served right after the noon ceremony. We wanted to ensure no one went hungry over the course of the day. They included ciabatta and olive oil, tomato, basil and bocconcini, lemon pepper potato salad with chorizo, crackers, apple, lollypop, nuts, cheese, and passionfruit kiss.

For dinner, we had a pig from Byron Bay that slow roasted from about 10am.

Photo by Grub

We had a very casual first dance. Our reception was outdoors and we had braziers set up, as it was winter. The bride changed into flat shoes for dancing on the grass. The bride also changed from veil to faux fur hat and vintage gloves for night time. We danced to ‘Married Life’ the main theme song from the Pixar movie ‘Up’. Immediately following this we played different couples’ wedding songs. It was lovely to surprise and it was a nice way to continue on from our special moment.

Our cake was made by a family friend. Chocolate, white icing and a flower on top. Simple and just what we wanted!

There is a luxury cottage just for the couple tucked away from the main homestead which was perfect for Brooke to get ready in for the ceremony. The cottage also doubled as a perfect spot to have tea, coffee and the cutting of the cake.

A friend that was helping set up the bridal table at the reception could not find the cake. She didn’t know we had cut the cake for afternoon tea. She raced home baked and iced a cake and had it on the bridal table for the couple’s arrival. She had even placed a special lucky penny in the middle. So we had two wedding cakes!

Photo by Lesa

We collected teacups from antiques stores everywhere. Family also helped with the hunt. Rather than hire cutlery we also collected silver cutlery which was all mismatched and we will use for many family dinners in the future.

Photo by Lesa

Guests enjoyed cupcakes made by the bride’s sister.

Photo by Lesa

Everyone says how quickly the day goes. We wanted to make the most of the day so we started with a 12 noon ceremony followed by lunch packs. We signalled the end of the ceremony celebrations mid afternoon with tea and coffee and the cutting of the cake. We then had photos taken and this gave the guests time to return to their hotels, freshen up and add more layers of clothes for the evening celebrations.

Ms Polka Dot says: There is such a family joy coming from this wedding, you can’t but help to be drawn in to the celebrations yourself! Thank you Brooke and Ulick for sharing your wedding with us.

All images without credits are by  Karen Harper Photography (phone: 0412 663913)