Chas and Darren's Rainbow Beach Wedding

Chas and Darren

What says beautiful Summer’s day like a joy filled beach wedding? Especially when it’s at a place so aptly named Rainbow Beach!

Photographs are by Sabra Creative Photography who captured the amazing scenery and love story with one set of very beautiful photographs.

The bride chose a special way to spend the morning. Explaining “I had a wedding morning brunch with my closest girl friends at the fantastic Penthouse #4 at Rainbow Ocean Palms which overlooks the magnificent ocean and beaches of Rainbow Beach, extending north to Fraser Island. Plenty of room for all the fuss and fun of the morning accompanied by breathtaking views. The Groom held a bbq breakfast down at Inskip point followed by polishing of the 3 bridal troopy’s. This was done as we chose not to have a bridal party – instead wanting to involve all of our friends in their own special way.”

Chas wore a Vera Wang gown. She explains “My grandmother had given me money which I chose to put towards the purchase of my wedding gown. Soon after our engagement I went to visit a friend who lived in New York City and for fun we went wedding dress shopping – I came back from the States with 2 wedding dresses – I maintain a girl just can’t choose without her mum. I later discovered once I arrived home, the dress I chose turned out to be a Vera Wang gown named ‘Joan’ – my grandmother’s name! Talk about meant to be! Of her flowers, Chas remarks “Mater Florist made my bouquet and the buttonholes for the groom and fathers. All profits are fed back into the services the hospital provides. ”

Chas tells her favourite parts of the ceremony. “I got to the church entrance I started to feel the tears coming – I promised myself I wouldn’t do that. But they came and as I walked down the aisle I felt the need to declare that they were happy tears which lightened the mood. ” Chas and Darren married at the Church of the Good Shepherd.

“But perhaps the funniest part of the ceremony was when my Dad went to walk away after giving me to my future husband and my veil got caught under his arm. I was leaning so far backwards I could see the roof as my mum and dad got tangled and then untangled from my veil.”

Of their photographer, Chas remarks, “Super star! Shawn (and her husband who was an extra bonus!) are very similar spirits to Darren and Chastina. Both have a love for troopy’s, 4wd-ing, camping and their dogs! We have a massive collection of artistic and portrait style photos to remember our special day thanks to the talent of this team. I have had many comments along the lines of “your photos look like they belong in a wedding magazine”. I love and appreciate the raw talent and skill that is required to shoot using natural light – without the need for massive, intrusive flashes and umbrellas. Shawn felt like one of our friends participating in our wedding day. She was extremely good at making the camera shy groom feel relaxed too. I particularly noticed she was a true professional when she observed the groom had “had enough camera time” and needed a break which was when she changed things up to take some single shots of the bride. The photos are breathtaking. Stunning. I don’t have words worthy to describe.”

Describing the wedding in a sentence, Chas says, “I think that it is best summed up by the title of my photographer’s wedding preview: ‘It doesn’t get much better than a barefoot, four wheel driving bride in a Vera Wang gown.’ ”

The reception was held at the Pavilion Restaurant, Rainbow Shores. Chas recalls, “The wedding co-ordinator Amy was the most accommodating person I could have imagined – even helping me to source fishing themed wine for the tables. The outdoor dance floor next to the bar was a huge hit – allowing for plenty of room for extreme expressions of dance. We specifically requested the chef tailor the menu to achieve this – we had fresh snapper fillets from a local boat and fresh prawns from Tin Can bay. I honestly sent probably 70 emails to Amy at Rainbow Shores – she was always prompt and very accommodating – a bride’s dream.”

Chas loved, “Choosing to do it our way – like Chas n Daz in a place of special meaning and happiness to us both. Rainbow Beach is a place where we love to holiday – a small beach-side community with genuine, friendly people, excellent 4wd-ing and spectacular scenery.”

Chas and Darren put their own touch on the reception. “We made our table decorations. Table runners were fashioned out of lengths of hessian. Upon these were stationed tea light candle holders made out of circular slices of timber. Posies of flowers from my mother’s garden in amber preserving jars softened up the tables. Each table was distinguished by a fish species. The table ‘number’ had the name of the fish plus on each side a photo of the bride with that fish and the groom also with his own catch of the same species. A blackboard at the entrance to the reception had the Catch of the Day: Daz ‘n’ Chas with the guests’ names. My mum made the 3 tier wedding cake – with the top tier being gluten free. The wedding topper was a Willow Tree figurine sourced second hand from ebay. My mum also sourced giant king proteas and geraldton wax for 2 large floral displays at the church altar.”

For their first dance, Chas remembers “Our first dance was to the lyrics of “all my life” by kc and jojo. We were in love with the meaning behind the song but found the cheesy-ness of the 90’s tune a bit off putting but despite hours of searching on the internet we could find no other appropriate version. We had come to the conclusion of using the 90’s version as we truly felt the lyrics were ‘us’. Then, as a surprise gift, my good friend recorded a version of her singing and playing the piano to use. So romantic. It was one of the best wedding gifts we received. I felt so rich having a song personally recorded for us, for our first ever dance together as husband and wife. An incident occurred at the start of the night whereby our MC lit ALL of our long burning sparklers (that we had intended to use at our first dance) as we entered the reception but as they were being lit, all ignited causing a flash like that of a welder. Our reliable DJ had back up bubbles and even one of my girl friends brought along ‘surprise’ sparklers of her own. It was great as everybody was on the dance floor soon after – even some of the groom’s mates were slow dancing arm in arm.”