Bess and Mitch's Orange & Pink Shark Island Sydney Wedding

Mitch and Bess

Our story began about 1o years ago when we first met through work. At that time, I was in another relationship, so Mitch ended up being my best friend. This I believe is the key to our strong relationship. After years of waiting, Mitch finally proposed on a deserted beach on Rottnest Island (Perth) in April 2010. We had a trip booked to Hawaii in November and Mitch was originally going to propose at Turtle Bay Resort but he simply could not wait and I am sooo glad! Mitch proposed using a single pink diamond and I was so speechless that I almost forgot to say yes. Mitch then designed our wedding rings with the pink diamond as a feature. The rings were made by Lawrence Sanders located in The Dymocks Building.

At first, we looked at having our wedding on water but it didn’t feel right. During one of our previous dates, I had taken Mitch to Shark Island and he really liked it so our ceremony location was decided. Next on the agenda was where to have our reception. Due to the location of our ceremony, the reception needed to be located near water plus it needed to have a dock. We came across Deckhouse in Woolwich when it was still under construction but we loved the views so without even meeting the wedding planner, we booked and confirmed the venue. Rosman Ferries was chosen as our mode of transportation for the day.

Our colour theme was based on our favourite colours, I had customised pink heels from Shoes of Prey on the day and Mitch had orange socks! My bouquet was made up of orange and pink calla lillies and orange and pink roses, the bridesmaids had white calla lillies and white roses to set a contrast against my white wedding dress. The white flowers also matched beautifully with their burnt orange dresses. Flowers were from I Do Wedding Flowers. My fantastic make-up artist created a different look for each of the bridesmaids and myself. Amanda from Glamorous by Amanda was great and my hair and make up looked perfect and lasted all day!

We needed to be able to transport our guests to and from Shark Island. Guests were picked up from Woolwich Dock and traveled to Shark Island with the Groom. The Bridesmaids and I traveled to Shark Island from Meadowbank Wharf. Guests were originally told the wedding was to be held on Sydney Habour so Shark Island was a lovely surprise. We were also very lucky and had the perfect weather for the day as I did not have a wet weather plan at all! All we had was 4 umbrellas that matched our orange and pink colour theme.

I had four different dresses on the day, from my one shouldered Pronovias wedding gown with a full skirt made from satin, lace and organza and a fitted, bodice with assymetrical ruching purchased from Fashion by Farinas to my traditional Chinese wedding gown, to an orange Chelsea evening gown, to my short white dress for dancing the night away! Originally I wanted something slim and straight but once I tried on my princess gown, it felt right and I actually had tears in my eyes. I thought it was a lot of rubbish when people said you will know when it is the right one but I guess they were right. After all you are only a princess once in your life.

We made our own wedding invitations and they were tied together with an orange and a pink ribbon. Guests were provided with personalised water bottles on the day along with personalised chocolates in orange or pink organza bags.

The wedding cake was created by Something Blue Cakes and was a tower of square mini cakes with a bigger one on top. The flavours were marble chocolate, cherry chocolate and lemon and was finished with white chocolate pieces around each cake. Our bombonierres were photo frames that we had together with our Funbooth photo booth on the night. The photo frames also acted as personalised placecards that Mitch had created using his nerdy skills. Mini wedding bells were also given out on the night and every time a guest would ring the bell, Mitch and I had to kiss. It was something silly but provided lots of fun for the guests.

We had taken classes for our first dance but Mitch was not used to my big princess wedding dress and kept thinking he was going to step on it. Our song choice was Heaven by Bryan Adams. At the end of the evening another surprise for our guests was the transportation we organized. We hired a party bus to take guests back into the city as it was hard to catch a taxi at Woolwich. This allowed Mitch and I to spend more time with our guests! Perfect finish to a perfect day.

Photography by Milk and Honey Photography