Megan & Andrew

Destination weddings can be so much fun when they’re close to home and show off the patriotic beauty of Australia! Megan and Andrew headed to North Stradbroke island for their wedding extravaganza and invited their guests from Australia and Scott to join them!

Megan tells their story. “Andrew and I met through work, a friendship that turned into romance over time… in the end I couldn’t resist his cheeky sense of humour and his fabulous Scottish accent. We are both adventurous and love to travel.

Andrew and I chose North Stradbroke Island because it has special meaning to us both, having lived in the Redlands most of my life ‘Straddie’ was like my second home.  And one of the first dates Andrew took me on was to Stradbroke. He wanted to share with me the one place in Australia he found, which he thought was amazing (another thing we both found we had in common).”

David Ferguson Photography captured today’s wedding and if every sunset is as beautiful as David captures it, then I could happily live life through his camera lens!

Andrew and his groomsmen paid homage to Andrew’s Scottish heritage with traditional Scottish attire. Megan explains, “Although we are both beach lovers it was very important to us that Andrew’s ancestry and Scottish background was woven into the wedding. We bought the kilt from Heritage Of Scotland and his jacket I hired from Highland House.

Our love of travel is one of the strongest qualities we have in common and the groom’s shoes were actually picked up at lovely little shop tucked away in Camden Market London. It was during my first trip to the UK and Andrew’s home of Scotland last year.  The shoes were a one off and fitted so perfectly that we carried them around for the whole trip so he could wear them a year later.”

Megan and Andrew hired Bespoke Occasions to help them plan their wedding day, Bespoke Occasions also put together the wedding bouquets, Megan remarks “I wanted to keep the flowers simple and pretty with a vintage theme so chose Babies Breath for all elements throughout the wedding. The bouquets, buttonholes and reception flowers were all styled and organised by Bespoke Occasions.”

Megan did her hair herself, explaining “I am constantly updating my own hairstyles and trying new trends and I can often be found on Youtube and Pinterest gathering tips and tricks for new looks. In true ‘DIY bride’ style I decided to do my own hair on the day as well as all the other the girls with the help of a family friend. To make sure the day would be a stress free experience we had a few trial runs beforehand over a bottle of wine.” She wore a gown from Bi Bowden Bridal.

Megan and Andrew chose Point Lookout at North Stradbroke Island for their wedding ceremony, Megan explains “We are BIG fans of the beach and always knew we would hold our wedding ceremony near the water. Point Lookout at North Stradbroke Island has a special place in our heart as we are avid scuba divers and have spent many holidays there. There was never any question that it would be the perfect place for us to exchange our vows.”

The homage to Andrew’s heritage continued with a bagpiper performing during the ceremony. Megan remembers, “Pipers are traditional elements of Scottish celebrations in particular weddings. To acknowledge Andrew’s heritage and all of the Scottish guests we organised a piper through the Redlands Scottish Celtic Society  to play at the beginning of the ceremony and again during the signing of the wedding certificate.” As Megan walked down the aisle,  the piper played “Amazing Grace”.

Megan’s bridesmaids all wore black gowns of their choice. Megan explains, “I wanted everyone to feel relaxed and comfortable on our special day so the bridesmaids were given a colour to stick with and were allowed to let their imagination run wild! This allowed them to choose a dress that suited their style and personality.  The flowers girl’s outfits were lovingly made by my wonderful Aunt.”

Megan remarks “I have to say the people in our lives made the day amazing, having Andrew’s family and friends fly in from Scotland along with everyone here just made it the biggest celebration, we all spent a few days before and after the wedding on Stradbroke so it was almost like a great big holiday that everyone attended.”

Of their photographer, Megan says “David Ferguson was simply amazing! I knew from the first contact with him that he would portray our special day perfectly. As a budding photographer myself it was vital to me that I found a photographer who could capture the magic of the day naturally and in an organic way rather than set up and posed. David was easy going, organised and completely put us all at ease. I would highly recommend him to anyone.”

Megan and Andrew continued celebrations with their guests at La Foccacia. Megan explains, “We kept our guest list to an intimate number of family and friends some of which travelled from Scotland and Europe to be with us on the day. It was very important to us to select a reception venue that would provide a warm welcoming atmosphere that people could mingle in. We selected La Focaccia (restaurant located on Home Beach at Point Look Out) as it provided an amazing venue for our special day. The food was delicious.

La Focaccia is perfectly made for intimate celebrations. It’s a clean and crisp space with hardwood floors and beautiful large bi-fold windows that are sea facing.  Jo (the owner) is one amazing lady, she gave us so much freedom with the menu and couldn’t have been more flexible and accommodating.  We were able to access the venue from 8am in the morning allowing myself and Hannah from Bespoke Occasions an early set up. The reception was planned to finish at 11pm however Jo was having such a great time with all our guests the party went on until 1am when the final guests left the dance floor.”

Wedding favors were packaged in sleek black boxes explains Megan.  Traditional homemade Scottish shortbread was lovingly made by a Scottish friend and shaped into hearts. This was gift boxed with personalised tea bags as a ‘night cap’ for guests to take home.”

The majority of the wedding was DIY! I really wanted the wedding to feel like us, and enjoyed making and putting together special touches such as twine balls, lanterns and the personalised tea bags for the gift boxes.  I did a lot of research so I had a clear vision of what I liked. We chose venues that were naturally stunning and fitted our vintage style theme. I discussed the vision I had with Hannah at Bespoke Occasions and we incorporated special touches such as old books from second hand shops on the table and black and white photos of places we’ve visited as part of the table numbers. Family and friends all put their hands up to make the cakes, favours, flower girl dresses etc and it was a true labour of love.

Th guests dined on red velvet cupcakes for dessert. Megan recalls “The cupcakes were made by a talented friend Vanessa Lang who I met backpacking through Vietnam. She made Red Velvet Cupcakes with cream cheese icing as well as vanilla and fresh raspberry cupcakes with vanilla cream icing. The cupcakes were displayed on vintage books and cake stands by Bespoke Occasions as a ‘Love is Sweet, Take a Treat’ dessert buffet.”

Something different for a guest book too! “As I am an avid reader Hannah from Bespoke Occasions came up with the wonderful idea of using an old dictionary as a guest book, having guests choose and circle a word they felt described our day and they then left a personal message.  This matched perfectly with the vintage feel and guests had a great time thinking of and finding words to use. This is something I will treasure from the day.”

To ensure a fantastic dance party, Megan says “As part of the wedding invitation guests were asked to choose one song that was guaranteed to get them on the dance floor. Playlists were then compiled for after dinner once the real party started. Some of my fondest memories of the night is watching everyone leap up and dash to the dance floor once their song came on!”

Congratulations on your marriage Megan and Andrew! Thank you for sharing it with us! Thank you also to David Ferguson Photography for sharing today’s images!