Henrietta and Chris’ Intimate Byron Bay Wedding

Henrietta and Chris

Everything about today’s wedding is beautiful. A sweet story of a couple that reconnected after high school and planned their wedding quickly to beat the arrival of their first baby later this month. The couple chose an intimate setting in Byron Bay – a private property with only their closest loved ones, for a day full of romance, love stories and the sweetest baby bump.

Henrietta tells their story. “We met in highschool at St Peters Lutheran College in 1994, we then reconnected at the School Reunion in 2007 and became Facebook friends. Then finally last year I was single for the first time in a long time and was updating my Facebook status to single and decided to peruse my male friends on Facebook and came across Chris. I Facebook’ stalked’ his photos and noticed for the first time how very good looking he was and that he was still really good friends with a really decent guy who was recently married to my sister Johanna’s best friend Joey and I thought – Chris must be a really fantastic guy if he is mates with Rob. It just happened to be Chris’s birthday on this particular day (25 March), so I sent him a little happy birthday message and hoped he might ask me out on a date. Chris is a very popular man with a lot of friends and there were many happy birthday wishes from a lot of women, so I wasn’t sure he would even notice mine…The very next day he sent me a private Facebook message asking if I would like to catch up and go out for dinner? I responded with an immediate YES! The rest is history…”

Hannah Millerick captured the beautiful, romantic images for today’s celebration!

“With such a creative bunch of women – I am a fashion stylist, my Mum is a textile designer and Chris’s sister is an Interior decorator – it made sense to do the flowers ourselves. We had so much fun putting together my bouquet and my sisters did a stunning job on the men’s buttonholes and it was a real bonding moment for all the women of both families.”

The bride’s hair was styled by Stephie at Getsteffed. “Stephie came to Incatrole on the morning of the wedding and singlehandedly did a beautiful job on not only my hair, but my two sisters and my sister-in-law’s hair as well as my Mum and Mother-in-laws hair. She was incredibly friendly and professional and followed our briefs perfectly and even managed to squeeze in fixing up the groom’s hair. I would recommend her to anyone getting married in the Byron area, Stephie was fantastic!”

For her veil, Henrietta says “I refashioned the veil my late Grandmother wore on her wedding day in 1947 , I also wore Heirloom pearl and diamond earrings given to me by my late Grandmother”. Henritta chose a gown from Anna Campbell.

For her walk down the aisle, Henrietta recalls, “We chose ‘Hallelujah’ – played on the acoustic guitar by the Groom’s brother Andrew Young. At the end of the ceremony, Andrew played ‘Forever Young’ as I have now joined the Young family and taken my husband’s surname.”

Michelle Shannon married the couple, Henrietta remembering, “Michelle was an absolute delight to work with from the get go. I found her online and discovered on her testimonial page that a former colleague had used Michelle for her wedding and I was sold! We booked Michelle 4 weeks out from our wedding and she very kindly squeezed us in (as she had another wedding later on that day). Michelle was incredibly professional and made the whole process very easy and smooth – from deciding on our vows and readings to what style of ceremony we wanted. Michelle also gave us great tips and ideas for the day including an aisle of rose petals to walk on. With Michelle I instantly felt like I had known her for years the first time I met her, she felt like an old friend which is really important for making your wedding ceremony, relaxed, fun and happy.”

“We played croquet on the lawn after the ceremony whilst enjoying champagne and delicious canapés by Eat Drink. It created such merriment and laughter. Plus it kept our guests entertained while we went off and did our photos with Hannah.”

Henrietta says, “Our wedding was a beautiful, relaxed, romantic and joyous day celebrating our love and commitment to each other with our families.”

“Our traditional fruit wedding cake which was baked and decorated by Chris’ Grandmother, Mother and Sister. It was absolutely delicious, not surprising given the Young Women are amazing cooks. Simon Ruffalo, owner of EatDrink, understood instantly what sort of catering we were after for our small wedding and on the day the service and food was superb. The staff at EatDrink are very accommodating and picked up on little details on the day to make the presentation of food that extra bit special and unique. The best part was that while Chris and I were out and about on the property having our photos taken – the waiter kept finding us and feeding us with more canapés. The dinner was a Morroccan Feast and it was sensational!”

“My Mum Biggan is a textile designer and incredibly creative. She created a stunningly elegant yet simple table setting with beautiful flower arrangements. Chris’ sister Caroline is an Interior Decorator and she had the very clever idea of using scrabble tiles as the place settings. Both sets of families are very keen scrabble enthusiasts – so it was very fitting.”

Congratulations Henrietta and Chris! Thanks for sharing your story and all the best with your new arrival! Thanks to  Hannah Millerick for sharing today’s wedding with us!