AJ and Mark

I can’t seem to get enough of weddings on the south coast of NSW – they’re always so beautiful with their gorgeous backdrops Mother Nature provides and the couples always look so relaxed and happy.  I love to soak it all in and the relaxed but beautiful nature of today’s wedding allows one to do just that.

AJ and Mark met at a pub.  AJ recalls, “Mark and I met each other in late 2005 at the Oxford Tavern, Wollongong. I spotted him out from the crowd telling my best friend I thought he was gorgeous. The band started, I forgot all about him. Then after a while, he came up to me from behind and told me he thinks my jacket was inside out. I corrected him and told him that it was just my tag!!”

Photographs today are by Michelle Fiona Photography. I love the soft, elegance that Michelle captures in her photographs – the way she captures the sun streaming through the trees and the glowing couple, is almost dream like.

AJ wore a gown from Trenz Bridal Boutique.

AJ adored her bouquet by BUNCHES. She says “My bouquet was a bunch of Easter daisies, it was everything I had always imagined!!! When the bouquet was delivered, I could stop smiling, then I didn’t put it down ALL DAY.”

AJ did without bridesmaids, instead her nephew was her best boy and dressed himself in a funky grey suit and tie.

There was a minor “oops” moment before the ceremony, not that it worried AJ much. She recalls “Well, during the photos at my Father’s house before the ceremony, we were up beside a barb wire fence patting a horse when the horse started to nibble my arm, I tried to step away quickly but my dress got caught on some lantana and I ended up scratching my hand on the barbwire. I didn’t realize my hand had started bleeding at the time. By the time we were just about getting ready to get into the car to go to the ceremony, we realised I had blood down the front of my wedding dress. My girlfriends and our photographer, Michelle had to get baby wipes and try to smudge the blood out, running on very limited time. But I didn’t care, the photo’s we managed to get with the beautiful horse made it all worthwhile!! Unfortunately I had to wear an ugly looking band aid on my hand the rest of the day plus a slight yellowish smudge down the front of my dress!!!!”

AJ and Mark were married at Mount Keira Scout Camp. AJ explains “We wanted to keep the theme very natural so we chose the bushlands of the scout camp which is on the side of Mount Keira overlooking Wollongong. On the morning of the wedding Mark and his father tied Tibetan prayer flags through the trees, and with the sun pouring through the tops of the tress, it was very magical.”. AJ walked down the Aisle to “Happily Ever After In Your Eyes” by Ben Harper. Anthony Hughes provided the tunes.

AJ says “Mark held my hand really tight throughout the entire ceremony, I remember that the most.”

The couple had a few little visitors during their photos in the rainforest. AJ explains, “After our ceremony we took a walk into the rainforest for some more photo’s, along the way Mark checked me for leaches, and sure enough one was in one of the layers of my dress, all the ladies stated shrieking while a few people we all looking up my dress to get this leach out and check for others. But I didn’t care, I had such a huge smile on my face from our ceremony, I couldn’t do anything else but laugh!”

Aj says “We just wanted everything, even the theme of the wedding to evolve naturally. We didn’t want some big ideas wedding. We wanted it to be fairly simple. We wanted the day to be more about our marriage, rather than all the ‘must have’s. I think Michelle Fiona captured the meaning of our day perfectly. We had so much fun during the photos, when I look back at them, it brings back so many memories of funny things people had said, or a sweet comment that had been made. I could tell you an emotion for every photo!!!”

The couple held their reception in Mount Kembla. AJ recalls “Our reception was held at Ruby’s in Mount Kembla. We had the reception in the marquee, my 2 lovely Aunty’s put together wildflower arrangements for the table and the cake. The Chef at Ruby’s was a pleasure to deal with in the lead up and the staff on the night were absolutely wonderful. We still have people commenting on the food and service.” NatalieJane Creations made the stationery for the day.

The couple decorated their reception with the help of their family members. AJ explains, “We bought the wild flowers ourselves from the Sydney Flower Markets and my Aunties arranged them into different size vases for the tables. We collected jars from family and friends eg, sauce jars and we glued rope around them. The different shapes and sizes looked great. Some vases had wildflowers and some had silk fans of different colours for the ladies to take with them. Silk fans were from Pink Frosting. We also had birds cages with small lights in them hanging out of the trees, along with tealight candles. And lots and lots of fairy lights!!”

The newlywed’s first dance made AJ and Mark a little dizzy. AJ recalls “Well, we danced to ‘Stand By Me’, Ben E King. We started off good, but we ended up just swaying in a circle, around  and around.  Mark said to me he was getting really dizzy so we had to look at our MC and ask him to call everyone up to take the pressure off us!!!!”

Congratulations on your marriage AJ and Mark! Thank you for allowing us to share it on polka Dot Bride! Thank you also to by Michelle Fiona Photography for sharing today’s photographs!

Photos by Michelle Fiona Photography.