James and Fiona

James proposed on our 6th anniversary whilst we were on holiday in Port Douglas. Celebrating over a beer or two the next day, we planned our wedding weekend!!

We chose Greens Beach as James’s  family has their beach shack there, the location meant a lot to both of us! It was quite a logistical feat to accommodate and cater for 85 people in such a small town! We enlisted countless family and friends to help out and are so thankful to them all.

Our families and the wedding party all arrived the day before, so they joined us to celebrate three of our parent’s birthdays – it was great to relax with our nearest and dearest before the big day. The boys started the day playing golf, apparently James has never played a faster round as the nerves had kicked in!

The girls and I started our day with a walk along the beach to the point – very relaxing! Our hair was styled by Priscilla Stone (Mojo Hair Launceston) and we did our own makeup. The afternoon of my hen’s, we had a lesson at Mecca Cosmetica so we would be pro’s by the big day (and all looked stunning at the hens)! We had a fantastic time getting ready, honestly when else do you get to spend a whole day with your closest girlfriends chilling out and dressing up!

My stepmother in law sewed our wedding date on the hem of my dress – it was a lovely ‘something blue’.

As we were getting ready, we could see the guests gathering to make their way to the ceremony (the exact location was a surprise), which suddenly made it all very real! We then followed the same path along the foreshore to the ceremony location. Our celebrant Dee Potter was fantastic and coped wonderfully with the windy conditions. I walked down the aisle with my dad to ‘Love Serendade’ by The Waifs which has long been a favourite song of mine!

Everyone commented that the wind made it seem as if my dress had a mind of its own – it kept wrapping around James and I throughout the ceremony bringing us together! My dress was by Carla Zampatti – I caught up with my bridesmaids one night after work and Jess spotted the dress. I was adamant that I wasn’t going to have a strapless dress, but once I tried it on, I was sold (and Jess cried she loved it that much)! Not long after, I spotted the bridesmaids and flowergirl dresses in Myer – they suited the beach location perfectly! The boy’s suits were from Bell and Barnett and ties from David Jones.

Photograph by Lauren Brookes

Straight after the ceremony, the caterers appeared with canapés and the boys pulled eskies with drinks for all out of the bushes!

The path to the reception was decorated with paper baubles (which Alesha, my niece and the flower girl had a great time counting) and signs that I made  – these were a fantastic surprise to all the guests as the wandered along the path to find the venue!

The tables were in an E shape, with the wedding party and partners in the centre – we were really happy with it as it was a bridal table, but not in the traditional sense. We wanted the meal to reflect the casual party vibe, so arranged for family style platters heaving with beautiful food as the main meal. Rachael from Country Catering was fantastic in understanding the style we wanted for the food.

 Photograph by Mike Castley

Instead of dessert, we had wedding cake (made by James’ mum) and a sweet table. This was an absolute winner – there was a lot of sneaking back for another cupcake wrapper full of lollies!

 

Photograph by Mike Castley

The meal was followed by brilliant speeches from our Dads, Nick, the best man and Jess, the maid of honor. Our wedding dance was to ‘Dance like nobody’s watching’ by Donavon Frankenreiter followed up ‘Set it off’ by Timomatic to get the party started! DJ Dan did a brilliant job going above and beyond to keep the party going late into the night!

All photography unless otherwise specified by Bret Salinger Photography

Ms Gingham says: I love this sunny yellow and blue wedding! A gathering of families and friends with love and hospitality is what shines through here. Beautiful!

Fiona says: “I had never thought about submitting to a blog, but am just to happy with how everything looked on the day that I would love to share it with other brides.”