Nick and Mandy

I can honestly say that our wedding was one of the best parties I have ever been to. With all of our friends and family travelling to Kingscliff from all over place (both interstate and overseas) we effectively took over the main street for a three day wedding celebration. Having been together for almost ten years, Nick and I both knew all our guests and set about making sure that everyone got to know each other too. Festivities began with barefoot bowls at the Kingscliff Beach Bowls Club on the Friday afternoon, continued with the wedding and reception on the Saturday and finished with a fantastic BBQ put on by the Kingscliff Lions Club on the Sunday.

Nick and I got engaged in November 2011 overlooking the White Cliffs of Dover on a last minute weekend away to Kent. Nick had asked my Dad’s permission almost four months previously and was waiting for the English weather to cooperate with a nice sunny day to propose. I was so shocked and there was a long gap before I could put words together to say yes! On the hour long walk back to the car we’d virtually decided on the place, wedding party and general feel of the wedding. Without a doubt the whole planning process was just as easy in the lead up to the wedding. We had different things that were important to us, but had a mutual agreement on the feel of the day and absolutely no DIY.

On the big day my bridal party and I got ready in the top floor apartment in Nor Nor East whilst the boys did their preparations at a rented house up the road. The lovely ladies Nicole and Andrea from She’s Styln arrived early to get started on the seven people who were getting their hair and makeup done. I’d had a trial a few days beforehand but had no firm plans about what my bridesmaids would have. The ladies were happy to wing it and created gorgeous individual styles for each of the girls that still matched well with everything else. I gave my bridesmaids a robe that I sourced from Etsy. I thought they would be fun for the photos and to keep us all relaxed and chilled out. Our flowers were stunning and were created by Crystal Creek Flowers.

My dress was a style called Diciembre from Pronovias in New Bond Street London. Nick and I have lived in London now for almost four years so we did a lot of the organising from across the pond. Whilst I did do some dress shopping when we went for trips back home, for practical reasons I was always going to get the dress over in London. Dress shopping was not my favourite part of the planning process, but I needed to decide early as everything hinged on the style of the dress. It was difficult to decide on “the dress” and in the end it came down to two very different styles. I’m really glad I went with this one as I truly felt like a proper bride and it was actually very comfortable on the day. My shoes were a steal from Nine West and as I figured you would hardly see them under my dress that it wasn’t worth the cost to go all out.

Since we were getting ready across the road from the ceremony location looking over Kingscliff Beach, we were right on time. Our MCs, celebrant and wedding stylist Penny from Circle of Love Weddings were all still running around like crazy trying to stop the bands playing at the surf carnival nearby! When we finally did make it over the small ridge to the aisle I was blown away by all the familiar, smiling faces. I was trying desperately to look up but I was so overwhelmed. Part way down the aisle my Pa jumped out to give me a hug. It was such a gorgeous moment that I almost lost it then and there. When I looked up Nick was there grinning, trying desperately to keep it together and all I wanted to do was give him a hug. Our celebrant Chiquita Mitchell was fantastic. She directed us through the practice run the day before and was so laid back and accommodating. Each of our siblings gave readings during the ceremony. We asked that they pick something without telling us which saved something for a surprise on the day. They all did such a good job and we were so pleased to have them included in the day.

We walked along the boardwalk beside Cudgen Creek for our first photo spot. This is where our amazing photographer Stewart Ross captured my favourite photo. We didn’t want too many posed shots and Stewart and his assistant Nick basically just snapped away while we mucked around with our wedding party.

Just before heading back to the reception we took a few group shots on Kingscliff Beach where Stewart took Nick’s favourite shot of just the two of us. We had the most amazing sunny weather on the day which was pretty lucky considering the preceding days had been rainy and overcast.

The reception was held at Babalou Restaurant, a place we stumbled across after an exasperated attempt to find the perfect reception venue in Kingscliff. Right across the road from the beach, the restaurant was a short walk from the ceremony and offered just the right mix of style and sophistication. With the assistance of Jazera’s Party & Event Shop, we chose to decorate in a simple, understated theme as the restaurant was already very colourful.

My brother Andrew, a very talented graphic designer, was sufficiently exploited to help us design all the stationery and did a particularly fabulous job on our invitations (with the assistance of talented illustrator Siobhan Sellick) and this poster featuring “our story”.

Speeches were the big feature of the reception with six people getting up to the mic, but we couldn’t have been more blown away by the rap written and performed by our extremely talented MCs Rach & Jake or the telegrams featuring friends in New York dedicating their version of the Harlem Shake to us.

As soon as the formalities were over our awesome band, Rendition Boys, put down their acoustic guitars and flipped to being the best DJs with all the right tracks. I have never seen so many people young and old burning up the dancefloor in an outrageous fashion. There were definitely more than a few sore bodies and heads the next day. One final feature that we would also recommend is a photobooth. As you can seen the photos captured that night were truly memorable.

 Images by Stewart Ross

Ms Gingham says: Love the story poster that Mandy’s brother put together. I would have loved to have heard the rap speech too! Congratulations Mandy and Nick on their beautiful beachside Kingscliff wedding.

Mandy says: “I’m currently living in London with my husband Nick but will soon be returning to Brisbane where we’re both from originally after 8 years away (split between Sydney and London). We recently got married and I looked at Polkadotbride every other day for inspiration as I prefer “real weddings” rather than the manufactured ones in magazines. We were adamantly against DIY, so our wedding is more simple with less fuss and elegant with money spent on the important parts (food and wine!).”