Rachael and Luke

I love ending the week of with a wedding and this beautifully intimate and simple celebration of Rachael and Luke’s marriage is just the ticket to kick off the weekend!

Rachael tells the story of how they came to be. ” We met at a party – we were introduced by Jen, one of our bridesmaids, and spent a while chatting about our mutual love of scooters! It took a few years for us to get together, at another party, again involving Jen! We both knew from early on that this was for the long term.”

Making his Polka Dot debut is photographer Mark from Gold Hat Photography I love his fun and festive shots from Rachael and Luke’s wedding!

Rachael chose a wedding gown by Lisa Ho with silver Jimmy Choo shoes. Her bridesmaids wore blue gowns by Alicia Hollen. Hair by Jo Bridal styled the bridal party’s hair styles while Paula Lambros (0416 236 230) styled their makeup. Rachael notes,”Paula created gorgeous natural makeup for the bridal party – she was a joy to work with and really listened to what we all wanted. Jo did some amazing work with in-between hair lengths. Those styles stayed put despite the breeze.”

Beach side Coogee was chosen for the wedding celebrations, Rachael explains. “We did the whole event at one location – Wylie’s Baths at Coogee. It has a stunning view and a choice of fabulous areas for the ceremony, for drinks, and for eating and dancing.”

Rachael walked down the aisle to “Here Comes the Sun- the only song that didn’t make me cry when we tried them out! ”

Rachael and Luke were married by a friend Danielle Waples (0438 630 864) – Rachael recalls “Danielle really took the time to write a ceremony that reflected our relationship.”

For the bouquets, Rachael explains, “We needed a lot of flowers, so we did them ourselves. It involved getting up at 4am to go to Sydney Flower Markets. Rachael, her sister, her mum and sister in law Pip got together to make the arrangements two days before the wedding. We used natives, which can be made up into arrangements several days in advance and don’t start to wilt.”

Rachael tells, “The details that really stand out for us are the contributions from friends. Nathan dropped everything to DJ for us. Jay made an invitation for emailing. My mum made the cake. Jen spent weeks helping me find a dress – and organised a brilliant hen’s party. Cass lent her car – and her brother Matt chauffeured me to the venue. Adrian provided cake decorating tips. My dad calligraphed place cards. Judith, my sister, flew out from the UK to be bridesmaid. Pip, Judith and Alice helped make ten flower arrangements and three bouquets. Erik organised huge cheese platters.”

Of their photographer, Rachael says,  “Mark from Gold Hat Photography shot our wedding. When we were searching for a photographer, we were drawn to his candid and natural style – we didn’t want too many staged photos. He has totally exceeded our wildest expectations. His photos were brilliant and captured so many details of the wedding. He stayed right up until the end of the night – and we had images waiting for us when we returned from honeymoon a few weeks later. We didn’t tell Mark when we hired him, but a lot of our friends work in photography, graphic design, or picture editing. They’re a critical audience – and so many of them have raved about his images. He also just happens to own an awesome scooter.”

Rachael remembers, “While we were having our photos taken in the park next to the venue, a little boy sat down in front of us and refused to move, despite his mum urging him to. He told his mum he wanted to watch ‘the princess’.”

There were plenty of handmade touches, including the wedding cake, Rachael notes. “My mum made a traditional rich fruit cake three months ahead and my brother and I decorated it. It was a bit harder than we expected to get a smooth coating – we ended up covering the cake in icing flowers to hide the mistakes, and it looked fabulous! “”

Rachael notes, “We didn’t dance! We skipped a lot of the usual wedding details – no bouquet throwing, no garter, no first dance, no favours, no paper invitations, no wedding registry. We wanted to keep our wedding simple and as relaxed as possible. We also chose to organise the wedding with only three months notice – so skipping some details made a lot of sense.”

Congratulations on your marriage Rachael and Luke! Thanks for sharing your stories with us! Thank you to Mark from Gold Hat Photography for sharing today’s images!