Chloe & Sam

Oh Perth, you do rustic, relaxed beauty so well! A stunning garden, a sweet and cheeky flower girl and plenty of beautiful moments make Chloe and Sam’s wedding a celebration I know you’ll think is just as beautiful as I do!

Chloe tells their story. “We met at our local Surf Life Saving Club on a Patrol. Chloe was doing a shift in the tower and despite it being a 45° scorcher, Sam bought Chloe a coffee and stayed in the tower to chat as he was new to the club. Not much came of this until a few days later when Sam chased Chloe down through a mutual friend and asked her to dinner. We were together for just under 5 years when Sam proposed. “

Photographs today are by Merge Photography. The shots capture the rustic beauty of today’s wedding beautifully!

The stationery for the wedding was created by Mitchell & Dent. Chloe explains ” We had bespoke invitations designed and made by Angela and Leah at Mitchell and Dent. They featured a hand drawn, water coloured peony and also kept the colours simple and neutral. The invitations, along with the RSVP cards were tied together with a few loops of twine and a knot. ”

Sam looked dapper in a suit from  Cubec and shoes from  Ginger’s for Gentlemen. His groomsmen wore suits from Cambridge they found at Tony Barlow.

Sue from Flowers on Scarborough did the flowers. Chloe explains “I wanted all the girls to have the same bouquets to tie in their different dresses, hair and jewellery. Their arrangements had cream and white peonies and lisianthus. We all had succulents added randomly in the arrangements as a little splash of natural colour and texture. The bouquets were wrapped in twine and had long stems to keep them ‘not so perfect’ as if they had just been picked. Because the groomsmen all wore matching suits, I wanted their button holes to be different. These were made with different succulents, nuts and berries, rosemary twigs and small flowers. They were also tied with twine.”

Chloe wore the Johanna Johnson”Ava” gown complete with a French tulle cathedral length veil. She wore Benjamin Adams shoes and Jan Logan aquamarine and 18ct white gold drop earrings (her something blue) and her sister’s bracelet (her something borrowed).

Chloe and Sam married in a beautiful garden. She explains “The Queens Gardens in East Perth was the perfect setting for our wedding. As soon as we went for our first visit we were sold. It is a beautiful tranquil garden nestled away from the buzz of the East Perth office district. It has a lake, busy with water life like ducks and water birds and the flower beds are all immaculately kept. We decided to stand under the shade of one of the biggest trees on the West side of the park. This provided enough shade for the perfect spring day.

Bride + Groom styled the wedding. Says Chloe, ” We used their walnut (wooden) Tiffany chairs and ribbons of different lengths and colours (lattes, creams and white) were tied along the back of the chairs. We had a blackboard to welcome the guests and a little ‘drink station’ set up with water bottles and ice in glass buckets to keep the guests hydrated as there was a heat wave that week and the wedding was outdoors under a big willow tree.  At the beginning and end of the aisle we had wooden crates of different sizes set up with arrangements of peonies and natural flowers.”

Chloe walked down the aisle to ‘Like Fire Like Ice’ by Jack Johnson. The couple were married by family friend Ruth Hillen.

Chloe remarks “It was so good to see how well the day turned out and how much fun our guests had after all the planning that had gone into the day.”

Chloe’s bridesmaids wore different gowns. Chloe explains “The three bridesmaids were given a colour scheme of ‘neutrals, nudes and lattes’. They then found their dresses from their own favourite stores. The maid of honour had a change of heart on the day but the new dress choice was even more beautiful. I didn’t know how dresses would come together until the day so I was so glad it all turned out perfect in the end. I also had a man of honour so keeping in line with the ‘casual and natural’ colouring; he wore cream chinos, a white shirt to tie in with the groomsmen and a navy blazer to break up the nude colours. No tie was worn as it was a warm day and kept the mood relaxed.”

Of their photographers, Chloe says, ” Carolina and Jodie were amazing photographers. The photo’s they took were beautiful and candid and they never tired of taking shots from start to finish. They were organised, professional, always cool and calm and great fun. They fit into the wedding like two more guests (people actually thought they were). ”

The couple held their reception at The Boatshed Restaurant. Chloe says ” We has such an amazing setting, The Boatshed is situated on the South Perth foreshore of the Swan River. Its rustic timber flooring and elegant fit out, with 180 degree views of Perth City on the water lent itself to the perfect reception. Claire and Graeme at the Boatshed were the most fabulous hosts a bride could ask for. Claire worked with me for months making sure she had every detail accounted for and every decoration organised exactly as I wanted. Together, Graeme, Claire and Owen (Restaurant Manager) ensured that the night ran smoothly at all times.”

The couple hired the Camacho Duo  for most of the night until a DJ took over the serious dancing. The couple entered their reception to the tune of their first dance Chloe remarks “We decided to mix up the order of events and we did our first dance straight after the entry of the bridal party. The guests all stood around the entry point and got involved and clapped when the bridal party arrived. Then, the DJ switched from the entrance song (Feel So Close – Calvin Harris) and played Bats by Paul Dempsey for the bridal waltz. A pleasant surprise for guests, the dance finished on a high before all were seated for entree.

Camacho Duo strummed an acoustic guitar and crooned cover songs by artists such as Stevie Wonder and Angus and Julia Stone for the first 3 hours of the mingling and cocktail style welcome. In between sets, DJ JMac spun a mix of ‘dinner music’. After the speeches the DJ took over the festivities and got the dance floor pumping.”

The cake was an added part of the decor. Chloe says “We had a double tiered cake and cupcakes. The cake was a mix of white chocolate mud and brown chocolate mud with butter cream icing. Both the main cake and the cupcakes were decorated with flowers such as peonies and spray rose buds. The cakes were arranged on a table using props such as little wooden crates, candles in jam jars and flowers loosely thrown into lace and twine decorated jam jars.”

The couple spent months collecting old frames which held the table numbers and seating charts. They also collected all the old jam jars and decorated them with lace and tine, filling them with flowers or candles to decorate the reception.

The female and male guest each received a different sweet treat. Chloe explains “Each favour had a little recycled gift tag with ‘love chloe and sam’ stamped in black ink. The girls received a small tin of organic flavoured lip balm wrapped up in a recycled matchbox with twine and the boys received ‘manly mints’ wrapped in a parcel of hessian and fastened with twine. They were displayed in a woven basket and handed out at the end of the night. We wanted the favours to be something memorable and something the guests could use and still a little quirky.”

Congratulations Sam and Chloe! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us! Thank you also to Merge Photography. for sharing today’s images!