Cheerful Montville Wedding - Polka Dot Bride

Chrissy and Marty

There is plenty about today’s wedding that makes me beam- from the bride’s red shoes to her red lips and dancing down the length of the old country hall. This is the stuff stories and memories are made of.

Marty tells us how they met. “In the year 2000. Chrissy had her eye on a guy in her science lectures at uni. The one that stood out in a room full of hundreds of people. He wore band shirts that fit Chrissy’s taste in punk rock very closely. This was Marty. A few months later. To Chrissy’s delight and shock Marty happened to be working at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron while her and a friend were there sailing in State titles. They were introduced by a mutual friend and although Marty hadn’t noticed Chrissy before at uni……… it wasn’t long before he became very fond of her………..and on August the 22nd 2000 Marty held Chrissy’s hand in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens. From that moment on it seemed that they were inseparable……… their passion for sailing and punk music built a friendship that would no doubt end in a life-time of love. It was obvious even back then that they were meant to be together.”

Today’s bright, fun photographs were captured by Bonnie Jenkins.

Chrissy chose a tea length wedding gown by Black Rose and paired it with red shoes.

There was one mishap which thankfully turned out okay, Marty explaining, “As expected, the bride was late, but due to really unfortunate circumstances. Chrissy’s hair was done by her sister-in-law, Heidi, and was due to start at 10am. However 20 minutes prior to starting, her daughter and flowergirl-to-be, Jazmine, fell and split her head open. Jazmine and Heidi were rushed to the Nambour Hospital. Luckily Jazmine’s injury was not too bad and she was seen to quickly and things got back on track. (The fact that Chrissy was half an hour late only made the groom nervous as the beer had begun flowing and all the guests started drinking in the meantime!) ”

For her walk down the aisle, Chrissy remembers, “We had family friends play classical music on the guitar and flute.”

Montville Village Hall was chosen as the wedding venue, the ceremony in the garden and the reception inside. Marty tells, “Montville Village Hall was the ideal venue for our wedding and we could not have asked for a better venue. Right in the heart of the picturesque Montville, the backdrop of the Sunshine Coast and surrounding hinterlands during the ceremony provided the perfect setting for our wedding. The hall was fantastic and once decorated provided the perfect atmosphere for a fantastic reception, with many personal touches which reflected our personalities. The hall co-ordinator, Frith, was very helpful during the planning process and was always willing to make arrangements for viewing the hall and to provided us with all necessary details of what was included along with suggestions of how we may want to set the hall up on the day.”

Of their photographer, Marty says “Bonnie is an old school friend of Chrissy’s who we were delighted to have take the photos for our special day. She is an amazing photographer with a great artistic flair and being good friends meant that the photos did not feel staged or cheesy.”

Chrissy remarks, “The whole wedding was DIY. Although stressful at times (particularly trying to organise a wedding in Queensland from Melbourne), the day was even more special due to all the personal touches that we included.”

For their first dance, Marty recalls, “We had our really good friend, Dan Topp’s ‘rock n roll’ band, Lucky 13 play and decided on “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks as our wedding dance. We had not planned our dance prior to getting up and just improvised once we were there and we encouraged everyone to join us on the dance floor before the end of the song, this provided for a fantastic introduction to the night’s entertainment. Nearly everyone in attendance was on the dance floor at least once during the night (even those who ‘never dance’).”

Marty notes, “The whole thing was special but the thing that stands out most is the relaxed atmosphere and the personal touches that we included. We had the wedding we wanted and not the wedding that was how other people said it should be done. We were able to keep to traditions that we liked and totally abandon those which we did not feel represented the people we are. This led to many people telling us that the wedding was the best they had ever been to. We feel that our personalities and the fun day overall has been captured perfectly in Bonnie’s photos.”