Belinda and Christian

There is an elegant, quiet beauty about today’s beach side wedding. The backdrop of the ocean, the golden Summer sunset and the most beautiful story to tell. Whale Beach always provides a spectacular backdrop, and today’s wedding is no exception.

Belinda recalls how she met her husband Christian.We had both grown up in the same area, but I moved away into Bondi 10 years ago, and just happened to be back in Cronulla taking our staff out for our work Christmas party, and a mutual friend introduced us.  He actually introduced us by saying to each of us separately that he really thought we’d like each other, and instructed Christian to take my number there and then.

Well he was right, and Christian asked me out the next day, we went on our first date on Christmas Eve for lunch that stretched into dinner, and he ended up coming over to our big crazy family Christmas gathering at Mum & Dad’s the following day and we have been together ever since.  I called my best friend on Boxing Day and told her I’d met the guy I was going to marry! We’ve worked out since we have several friends in common and have even been to a party or two at the same time, but we never met then!”

Photos today are by Deus Photography who is making his Polka Dot Bride debut (hooray!) along with Chris of AtDusk Photography. I love the stunning images they have captured of Belinda and Christian’s wedding day!

Belinda wore a gown designed by Connie Simonetti. Belinda explains “For my dress, I saw the picture in a magazine when I first started looking, but it was made by Connie Simonetti in Melbourne, so I went with Mum to appointments in the bridal stores in Paddington and Woollahra in Sydney , but just couldn’t find one that I loved as much as the one I’d seen, so Mum, Dad and I decided to fly down to Melbourne.  I tried it on, and just knew straight away it was the one!  It was such a special moment and so lovely to have both Mum & Dad there with me too.  Connie was amazing, she made everything so easy, once I’d decided on the dress, I only had 3 fittings in total – the last one on the morning of the day I picked up my dress.  It was a couture gown – made to fit me, and I was so happy with it – felt like a princess, it was so beautifully made.”

Belinda wore a Johanna Johnson veil with accessories by Stephanie Browne. She finished her look with Jimmy Choo heels. “I had always had a thought in my mind of wanting Jimmy Choos for my wedding, and found these beautiful shoes online, was so happy when I received them from London as they were so comfortable and fit perfectly – and then saw the beautiful silver Jimmy Choo bag in the Jimmy Choo store at Bondi Junction, and had to get it 😉  I have used both the bag and shoes already a few times since the wedding – and the same with my beautiful wedding jewellery from Stephanie Browne in Armadale in Melbourne – my bracelet, earrings and stunning headpiece I wore for the reception, when I took my Johanna Johnson veil off – have worn all my jewellery since also.

Belinda was lucky enough to have her and her bridesmaid’s makeup and hair styled by friends. She says “My beautiful long time girlfriend Jane Wales did all our make up and made us look beautiful on the day, and her friend Susan did our hair.”

Christian and his groomsmen were outfitted by Peppers Formal Wear.

Belinda’s bridesmaids wore gowns from Rachel Gilbert with accessories from Stephanie Browne and shoes from Peeptoe Shoes. Belinda remarks “We are family friends of the Gilbert Family so it was a no brainer that I wanted a Rachel Gilbert dress for both my bridesmaids and found the perfect one.”

Belinda describes her absolute favourite moment of the day. “It was walking to the top of the stairs holding Dad’s arm, and seeing all our family and friend’s beautiful happy and emotional faces looking up at me, and then looking to see Christian’s beautiful smile and so much love in his blue eyes as I walked down the aisle.”

Belinda and Christian were married by Jan Littlejohn. Belinda recalls “We would thoroughly recommend our beautiful celebrant – Jan Littlejohn, she’s just such  warm lovely lady and was so helpful in the lead up as well as on the day – brought such a warmth and lightness to everything.  She also made a point of standing to the side of us during the ceremony as opposed to how many celebrants stand in between the couple throughout the ceremony and then appear in between them in all their photos.”

Belinda and Christian hired one company for all of their music and chose beautiful romantic songs. Belinda explains “For our music we had used Paul Chenard from Chenard Entertainment for our engagement party and he was so good we used him again.  He plays the sax and organised a DJ and bongo player for us – and all 3 together were just awesome – exactly what we wanted, all our guests were up dancing all night!

We walked down the aisle to ‘Kissing You’ (the love theme from Romeo & Juliet) by Des’ree – such a beautiful romantic song, signed our Wedding Certificates to ‘The Wedding Song’ – Angus & Julia Stone, and ‘Sweet Disposition’ – Temper Trap, and were congratulated at the end to our favourite song together – ‘Burn Your Name’ – Powderfinger.”

Belinda and Christian chose to hold their wedding celebration at Jonahs Whale Beach. Belinda says ”  We stayed at Jonahs for a weekend just before we became engaged and had such a beautiful time there – such a beautiful location in the northern beaches of Sydney, gorgeous shops, cafes, beaches – perfect for a weekend away, and the hotel and service we experienced then was exceptional – we even saw the whales migrating across in the ocean out the front when we were eating our breakfast.  So when we got engaged – Christian proposed over the water when we were in Positano on the Amalfi coast of Italy, we immediately agreed on Jonahs as our wedding venue, and planned a whole weekend away for everyone.

We all had lunch and afternoon drinks at sunset at the Boathouse in Palm Beach on the Friday afternoon, and the boys then went and played golf at Palm Beach golf course, then we all had dinner at Beach Road Restaurant in Palm Beach.  We were married in the clifftop gardens of Jonahs with the late afternoon spring sunshine overlooking incredible ocean views – it was a dream come true!   The staff at Jonahs – particularly Dale and Jasmine were fantastic.”

Of their photographers, Belinda says “We had two photographers – Matt from Deus Photography and his good friend Chris from At Dusk Photography – and they were just absolutely amazing – as you can see from our wedding photos.  I knew Chris already from Bondi, and he recommended Matt for our engagement party as he wasn’t available.  The photos that Matt took of our engagement party were just so beautiful that we immediately decided we wanted him to photograph our wedding, and we wanted two so chose Chris also.  We love the photojournalist style Matt uses – we hardly even noticed him around, and he managed to capture the most amazing shots of every single special part and emotion of our day.  We will treasure our photos forever! ”

The floral arrangements on the day were styled by Verde Flowers.

Belinda says “Our wedding was just the most beautiful romantic and wonderful day of both of our lives – the weather had predicted rain all week, but a few hours before the wedding ceremony the sun shone – so bright and beautiful – (it) was a blessing.”

Belinda and Christian hired Oscar & Ruby Event Design to plan and style the wedding. Belinda says “Jess was just amazing- so good, would so recommend her, she totally understood the theme and style I wanted – and she was also our wedding co-ordinator on the day – she organised the flowers and florist exactly how I’d requested them, little loveheart blackboards with B & C written on them directing our guests to the garden, candles and lanterns, our wishing well, and a little Wishing Tree board where guests could write their wishes for us on cards and pin them on the board during the night.”

Belinda recalls “Our first dance was to “You’ve got the love” by Florence and the Machine, and got our families and wedding party (then our guests) on the dancefloor to “Canned Heat” by Jamiroquai.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxWjYgV8tfo&hd

The couple had a beautiful film shot of the day. Belinda recalls “Our cinematographer Blair Jocelyn was just amazing too – he put together a 7 minute clip of our wedding which we just LOVED – and shared with our friends and family – was very moving.”

Congratulations Belinda and Christian! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us on Polka Dot Bride! Thank you also to Deus Photography  for today’s imagery!