Tara and Tim

Don’t you love a wedding by the water? I must admit I think there is a serenity about marrying by something that is always so beautiful and today’s wedding? Well not only did they envelope the beauty, but they threw out tradition and did some beautiful things their way to celebrate their relationship! That I love!

Tara and Tim met years ago and Tara tells their story. “We  met in 1997 in Darwin. NT, when I was 17 and Tim was 19. We met through Tim’s sister Anna whom I was friends with. We finally married in early 2011 after 13 happy years together!”

Photography today is by Photography by Emma Pointon. I love Emma’s dreamy captures. They have a soft, soulful feel without taking away from the subjects and what’s going on in the photograph – they simply enhance it!

Tara and Tim threw out of lot of tradition on their wedding day and it all started with seeing each other before the ceremony. Tara says these were some of her favourite moments. ” I loved making it personal and individual, and doing what we wanted to be true to ourselves on the wedding day, and not feeling pressure to succumb to norms or traditions that didn’t suit us. For example, we walked together ‘down the aisle’,  had photos before the ceremony.”

Tara wore a gown from Bride’s Selection, Leederville. Her bridesmaids wore individually styled gowns from Studio Collections, Mt Lawley . The groom and his groomsmen wore suits from Roger David.

The photos before the ceremony were as much fun for the bridal party as they were for the almost newlyweds, Tara explains. “We wanted out wedding photographer to be able to capture the day without needing us to spend hours posing and we were keen to have pics that were candid, natural and truly reflective of the day.

When we met Emma and had a look at her work it was clear that this was her approach and she was going to suit us perfectly! On the day she was fantastic – friendly and approachable and was snapping away constantly, directing us discreetly and unobtrusively capturing many beautiful shots both in the photos taken with the bridal party before the ceremony, and during the ceremony. We decided to have the bulk of the photos of the bride, groom and bridal party taken before the ceremony, to allow us to get straight into the celebrations with all our guests right after ceremony, instead of keeping them hanging around for hours waiting for the reception. This suited us really well, and helped calm the bride and groom’s nerves as we were able to meet up and see each other before the formal ceremony and have a bit of fun with the bridal party getting the pics taken.”

The floral arrangements were styled by Paulik Flowers ((08) 9418 1651).

Tara and Tim were married at Green Place Reserve, Mosman Park. “We wanted a summer wedding and one of our main criteria for the ceremony/reception was somewhere outdoors and by the water! The spot where we had the ceremony – Green Place Reserve – on the river in Mosman Park is a secluded, quiet and beautiful little gem on the Swan River. It is peaceful and sheltered from traffic and passers-by (other than occasional people on boats, and dolphins and swans that regularly swim past!) so it feels very intimate, and is just perfect for such a special occasion. It feels like a bit of a secret garden, and the photos of it from the day are just beautiful.

Tim’s sister Anna and her boyfriend Danny are talented musicians, and they played a beautiful acoustic guitar version of a gorgeous and moving old Irish folk song called ‘O’Dowds’, which was significant as both Tara and Tim have Irish ancestry. Generations ago Tim’s surname was ‘O’Dowd’ but somewhere along the line the ‘O’ was dropped and is now just ‘Dowd’ but the connection remains.”

The couple had a different kind of walk down the aisle, Tara explains. “We had been together so long and it seemed silly to have my dad ‘give me away’ and we weren’t keen on such an old fashioned tradition – so instead the bride was led in by her 3 bridesmaids, and she then met the groom at the bottom of the steps, they paused to take it all in and then walked up the human aisle of friends and family together, and met the groomsmen and bridesmaids at the front with the celebrant.”

The celebrant Sandy Bayly helped the ceremony run smoothly. “Sandy Bayly our celebrant was great fun to work with, and we would recommend her to anyone. She did a marvelous job of running the ceremony, and of ensuring it was very personal and reflected us as a couple.”

Having family and friends involved as much as possible was important to Tara and Tim. “We are close to our families and were keen to involve all of our immediate family members in their own special and significant way on the day, and it was wonderful to be a little bit different and creative to allow this to happen. Tara had her 2 sisters as bridesmaids (along with a girlfriend); Tim had his brother as a groomsman (along with 2 best mates); Tim’s sister Sally was ring bearer; and his sister Anna played the music at the ceremony and while ‘walking down the aisle’; the fathers acted as witnesses and signed the wedding register; Tim’s dad was MC at the reception; Tara’s dad filmed it all; and really breaking with tradition the mothers gave the speeches at the reception.”

A bird theme ran throughout the reception. Tara remembers “Our close friend Edd Shepherd is a graphic designer and he created our gorgeous wedding invitations for us. Tim and I liked the idea of love birds, and this inspired the simple design on the invites, and the wedding cake toppers were beautiful little fabric handmade love birds made by Ashley Anna Brown in the USA, which I found online and ordered from her website in time for the wedding! The invites and cake toppers tied in sweetly with the bird cage wishing well.”

Tara and Tim held their reception at the Mosman Park Golf Club catered by Katrina Sykes Catering (0413 869 988.). Tara explains “We chose the Mosman Park Golf club as we wanted to be by the water and the views over the river from the club are spectacular. It was also nice and close to the ceremony venue which was important to us as we wanted it to all be as easy and hassle free for ourselves and everyone else as much as possible! We were also able to hire our own caterers this way, which was our preference as we wanted to have a lot of choice and say on what food was served. We went with a Moroccan flavoured theme/influence for our buffet meal.”

The personal decisions for the day extended to the sweet treats and decorations explains Tara. “The cake (made by Takes The Cake) was a little different – we both love carrot cake and so went with that instead of traditional fruit cake or done to death mud-cake – and it was so delicious and was devoured by the guests! We had the cake as dessert along with some great big cheese platters put together by the caterer, for a dessert a little different but still delicious. Our mothers set up the decorations and tables at the venue with some simple and elegant glass vases of white lisianthus flowers, with lots of tea lights and pillar candles throughout the venue.”

A friend of Tara and Tim’s acted as DJ for the reception with a fun first dance. Tara says “We wanted our first dance to be a fun and funky love song with a celebration feel to it, and we didn’t want to do a stuffy ‘waltz’ to anything. Instead we wanted to be able to dance more naturally together – so chose Al Green ‘Let’s Stay Together’, which had everyone else dancing before too long also!”

Congratulations Tara and Tim! Thank you for sharing your wedding day on Polka Dot Bride! Thank you also to by Photography by Emma Pointon for sharing today’s images!

Photos by Photography by Emma Pointon