Annabelle & Dean

What a beautiful Adelaide wedding Annabelle and Dean celebrated. An intimate church ceremony and a marquee celebration at Annabelle’s mother’s home. It’s pure elegance, with a touch of rainy days!

Annabelle tells how she and Dean met – over wine! “I moved to Sydney on Thursday 30th April 2009, knowing no one, an old school friend invited me to attend a wine evening at her house on the Friday (1st May).  Everyone had to bring a bottle of red wine and give a small presentation about the wine.  I arrived and was making myself busy in the kitchen when in walked Dean, as soon as he walked in, I quietly thought to myself, I am going to marry that man.  14 months later he proposed.”

Beautiful photography today by Event Imaging who have captured such elegance in the photographs.

Dean wore a suit he purchased overseas while his groomsmen wore their own.

Annabelle and her bridesmaids had gowns made by Faye Lienert. Annabelle notes, “Megan Russell at Pure Glam, did our make-up and tans.  She was so fabulous, worked with all our requests, nothing was too much of a problem and the make up on the day was flawless.”

Chill Flowers styled the bouquets.

Annabelle and Dean chose to marry at St John’s Church, Norton Summit. Annabelle explains, “This tiny Anglican Church in the Adelaide Hills has been the place where many generations of our family have been christened and married, you could not ask for a more intimate setting than this church. ”

Annabelle walked down the aisle to a pianist. Annabelle remarks “We walked down the aisle to Elton John’s “Your Song” it was just the instrumental as our dear friend Tony Woods played the piano.”

Guests were surprised with plenty of big musical moments. Annabelle explains “One of the highlights of the day was our decision to go with one of our favourite songs rather than a Hymn in the Church.  We chose to sing John Farnham’s ‘You’re the Voice’ in the Church, a song very popular with a friends yet not typically sung at a wedding.  We kept this element a surprise and to our delight it was spectacular.  A good friend lead the singing and all our guests sung at the top of their lungs, it was truly amazing.  To make it extra special our best man, as a gift gave us a ‘Bag Piper’ who entered the church at the chorus to make it feel like the real John Farnham song – we received a standing ovation and to this day friends still talk about they day they sang ‘John Farnham’ in Church.”

The bridal party used the St Peters “Gas Truck” as transport.

Of their photographer, Annabelle says “Pete Thornton is a magician and the easiest person in the world to work with.  Dean and I first met Pete at his house in Gawler and instantly felt at ease and relaxed.  He listened intently to both what we wanted and more importantly what we didn’t want.  On the day, Pete made all our family and friends feel at ease, he dealt beautifully with the 100 other family members trying to take photos and despite the torrential rain still managed to capture the love and spirit of the day.   Pete went beyond the call of duty during the wedding, standing in the rain to get the perfect shot, staying on at the reception to capture the speeches and ensuring that both the bride and groom where happy with the shots taken and importantly making sure no loved ones where missed.  We specifically asked Pete for photos that we could hang in our house, that looked like art rather than the traditional wedding shots and without a doubt he delivered to the brief.  We love Pete!”

Following photographs, guests and the bridal party began celebrations at Annabelle’s mother’s home. Annabelle explains, “We chose to have our wedding at home, to give it a more intimate feel.  This meant that our guests were greeted in the family room, drank cocktails in the garden and spent the night dancing on the tennis court.  ”

There were plenty of handmade, fun touches, including placemats which double as place cards. Annabelle remembers “On our RSVP’s we asked everyone to provide us with a ‘fact’ that we did not know about them.  We then used these to make game sheets for each table, whereby people had to match the name of a guest to the quirky fact listed on the sheet.  This got people talking and especially helped to break the ice on tables where not everyone knew each other.”

Tables were decorated with potted blooms. Says Annabelle “We didn’t want to use freshly cut flowers as they would only last a day and therefore used potted plants as the centre pieces on our tables.  My mum and her girlfriend Heather potted mixed flowers into individual pots 4 months before the wedding so that they were flowering beautifully on the day.  We then replanted the flowers into the garden and gave some away as gifts.”

“We were unable to find any lights that match the style we were looking for (oversized bulbs on single cords) and therefore my brother kindly sat down for  a whole weekend and made the lights by hand.  We used old metal wires to make the frame of a chandelier and my brother Toby brought my vision to life. We had some Silver Birch trees cut down in the garden and instead of throwing away the wood, we cut the trunk down into stumps and converted them to tealight holders.  These sat scattered down the centre of all the tables.  We also cut table numbers out of them”

Annabelle advises “One of the best things we did was have a drinks party the night before.  As most of our guests were flying in from interstate, we had a cocktail party on the Friday night and it made the actual wedding day so much more relaxing as we had already said hello to all our guests the night before.  On the day this enabled both the bride and groom to relax and enjoy the night rather than having to specifically walk around and say hello to everyone.”

For their first dance, Annabelle recalls “Our first dance was to Elvis Presley’s ‘Can’t help falling in love’.  We had 5 dancing lessons leading up to the big day and despite the nerves prior to the wedding, when the moment came we had not a care in the world and just loved having a dance to top off the days events.”

Budget Party Hire provided everything Annabelle and Dean needed to make the garden into a reception! Annabelle notes “These guys were fantastic, they were very professional, delivered on time, where very affordable and nothing was too much of an ask.  They helped us with last minute urgent requests (umbrellas for the rain) and I would recommend them to anyone…we’ll definitely be using them again.”

Guests ended the night dancing to live music from Lucky Seven Swing and a special cocktail. Annabelle explains “Both Dean and I love Espresso Martinis and we had these as a special treat with Dessert.  They were LOVED by all the guests.”

Congratulations Annabelle and Dean! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us on Polka Dot Bride! Thank you also to Event Imaging for sharing today’s images!