Rosie and Drew’s Byron Bay Wedding

Drew and Rosie

Drew and I initially met through surf lifesaving and 4 years after our first date in Byron Bay Drew proposed (also in Byron Bay).   Byron was a natural choice for our small outdoor wedding.

Despite trying on a number of dresses, I ended up having my dress made based on a design I had seen in a magazine a few years ago. My dress was made by Colin Bellert (0417733159), who I found through a friend.

The first vendor we booked was our photographer, Stewart Ross. Neither of us like having our photo taken and we loved Stew’s candid photography style.

My fabulous bridesmaids chose their own dresses in Ivory. My something old was my great grandmothers ring (who I was named after), which was tied to my bouquet.

I spent hours searching wedding blogs to create our DIY wedding and came across these Badgley Mishka shoes which I brought online at Piperlime.com.

Drew had my cushion cut engagement ring made by Adam Graham, who also made our wedding bands.

We made the invitations using Kraft paper which featured through out the wedding.

We spent hours on the internet searching for properties in Byron where we could have both our ceremony and reception.  With the help of Divinity Signature Events, we found Asoho in the Byron Bay Hinterland. We were married on the very wet “Royal Wedding” day 29/04/2011.

We wrote our ceremony and own vows with the help of our celebrant Zenith Virago. The ceremony was short but very meaningful and we included our family and friends as much as possible.

We had planned on having the ceremony outside under a fig tree, but at the last minute, due to the rain, held the ceremony in a marquee.

As favours we made our guests “Wedding Survival Packs” which included bandaids, breath mints, panadol and lollies.

We used a bird cage for guests to put their cards. We also asked guests to write us a note to open on one of our anniversaries over the next 25 years. Straight after the ceremony we served Mojitos, one of our favourite cocktails, in glass jars that we had collected.

My flowers were a mixture of lisianthus (which I also wore in my hair) and freesia’s by Flowers on the Run in Byron Bay. The bridesmaids carried hyacinths.

Despite the mud and rain Stew managed to capture some amazing shots, but the bottom of my dress and shoes will never be the same!

Our two MCs were were fantastic. In keeping with the “Royal Wedding” date they made royal wedding paraphernalia with our heads stuck over Kate and Wills.

We bought flowers from a flower market in Brisbane for our table decorations and put them in glass bottles that we had collected.

Originally we had planned on having our guests out on the lawn, playing bocee and croquet, sharing these cheese platters we made whilst we had our photos taken. Due to the rain we had to scrap this idea but our guests still enjoyed the cheese.

I found the DIY cupcake idea from a wedding blog, which our guests loved. One of our friends made the cupcakes and my sister made the icing. Our cutting cake was a red velvet cake made by The Larder, who catered the reception. The food and staff from The Larder were amazing!

We had a photobooth instead of a guestbook and we got some fantastic photos. My sister and I made the bow tie, moustache and lip props.

The “yay” flags were another idea I got from a blog and guests waved them though out the ceremony. Despite things not going the way we planned due to the rain, we had a fantastic day and by all accounts out guests had a fabulous time too.

Photography by Stewart Ross Photography