Joylee and James

I love kicking off the real weddings of the week with such a fun and quirky wedding. Joylee and James married outdoors with so many touches that were just “them”! Twirling ribbon sticks, decadent cupcakes, balloons, quirky shoes and an amazing first dance- it’s a pretty beautiful Tuesday here!

Joylee recalls how she met her husband. “James and I were friends for about 7 years before we got together. We met through our church. All of my friends used to tell me that we were perfect for each other and he thought so too a long time before I finally realised it! He tried several times to tell me how he felt but I always seemed to stop him in his tracks because I was afraid of losing our friendship. After returning from a year overseas he finally got up the courage to ask me one last time if there was any chance for us. My feelings had just begun to change so we gave it a shot. Two years later. Almost to the day, we were married. (We got together on Easter weekend and got married on Easter weekend)

“Photos today are by Corey E Sleap who has a way of capturing the complete fun of  a wedding while still capturing the classic shots that so many couples want. I love the freshness of Corey’s work!

Joylee wore a gown from Mariana Hardwick with a veil from by Linda Gorringe Couture . She carried a pink, red and white bouquet styled by Heaven Scent Floral Design.

Joylee wore custom made red ballet flats. She recalls “They were actually made specifically for me in Vietnam, my sister-in-law got them done while she was there. Converse. James wore red Chuck Taylors.” The bridesmaids wore gowns they had made in red and charcoal.

The ceremony was held in the grounds at the Werribee Park. Joylee says “We wanted our ceremony to be in a location that was easily accessible for our family and friends as we invited about 300 of them to the ceremony. We also wanted it to be outside, have live music and to be able to have an afternoon tea following the ceremony (it was a big ask for any outside venue). Werribee Park perfectly fit all of these criteria. The Parks Victoria staff there were incredibly kind and helpful to us. It was a gorgeous day which made it even better! ”

Joylee walked down the aisle to “All the Lights Went Out” by Marcy Playground. “I had been dreaming of walking down the aisle to this song since I was a teenager!”

Following the ceremony, the couple held an afternoon tea filled with sweet treats and pink lemonade. Even the children weren’t forgotten. Joylee says ” At the ceremony we gave out activity bags to all the kids (I work with kids so there were a lot there) with an Eye-Spy game, a colouring book and crayons, lollies and we gave each of the kids a special brightly coloured ribbon stick to wave.”

Home made scrabble signs directed guests to the goodies.

Joylee described the wedding as “Everything about it was fun and quirky and delightful and completely ‘us’!”

After their photographs, the couple and their guests headed to a family friend’s property is Gisborne (near where James grew up) where a beautiful marquee had been set up. “Our reception was in a marquee and was all done through Prestige Event Hire. The Prestige Events staff did an amazing job setting up a stunning marquee and making the entire reception fantastic in the middle of nowhere really.”

The seating chart was made by Joylee and James with a twist. Joylee tells “We made little cards with everyone’s names and table ‘name’ (we used names of jazz songs I love instead of table numbers) with random pieces of fabric on them and stuck them to a board for everyone to find where they were sitting.”

In lieu of a traditional wedding cake, the couple had cupcakes made by Cupcake Central with toppers in pinks, whites and reds.  Glass jars were filled with flowers as decoration.

The marquee decorations were simple – white daisies in jam jars, homemade flower pins made out of felt, fabric, ribbon and buttons by Joylee and her friends at each place setting and large glass jars filled with lollies. Joylee says “Instead of buying a bonbonniere we decided to give money to my cousins in the USA who were adopting and we gave each guest a little card explaining our gift with a picture of my cousin and his family together including their new son.”

The first dance was incredibly memorable. “Neither James or I wanted a mushy, traditional sort of first dance SO…instead we decided to involve ALL of our bridal party and a few extra friends in a huge “flash mob”, musical theatre  style dance to a song called “Without Love” from the musical Hairspray. James’ sister (Bess Kilpatrick) is an incredible dancer and choreographed an amazing dance for us. All of our friends were so committed to heaps of rehearsals in the weeks leading up to the wedding and kept it all a big secret until the night! The dance involved people ‘randomly’ joining in throughout the song until there were nearly 20 of us all dancing in unison! It included a cannon, a bunch of lifts and spins and flips and finally James and I being lifted up into the air by our bridal party while they set off streamers and stuff!! This was possibly my favourite part of the day!! So fun and all our guests were shocked and LOVED it!”

Congratulations Joylee and James! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us on Polka Dot Bride! Thank you also to Corey E Sleap for sharing today’s images!

Photos by Corey E Sleap