Renee and Ross

Renee and Ross obviously lead a life filled with colour and fun – it seeps through every aspect of their beautiful wedding day, right down to the little tiny hearts poking up out of the ground. I can’t wait to share today’s story with you.

Renee tells, “Ross and I met through mutual friends in 2004. I had just returned to Perth from traveling through Europe we connected by swapping travel stories and fell pretty hard for each other. After 7 fun years together and a cute little daughter we decided to say I do!”

Natalija Brunovs, I Heart Weddings captured today’s wedding with such a fun sense of joy and lightness.

Renee and Ross handmade their invitations which featured a drawing by Jodi Cherry.

Renee wore a gown from Asos with a yellow cardigan embroidered with daisy flowers by her mother.  The couple chose wedding rings from Georg Jensen and Rene Talmon L’Armee. “I love our rings! Ross’ is super textured and is by Rene Talmon L’Armee. My daisy ring is by Georg Jensen. I actually got an entirely different dress made – it was quite untraditional (think black polka dots!) but then I saw this amazing bride who wore a pale pink cardigan and I was sold as I am a cardigan-loving lady! I actually bought the dress I wore a week after we got engaged all the way back in February and was going to dye it another colour but when I found my yellow cardigan and my flower necklace I knew I wanted to wear the white daisy dress! I am so glad I did I love my outfit, its very me.”

Renee and Ross chose Donnelly Village for their wedding day. Renee recalling, “We married under the karri trees at Donnelly Village, built in the 1950’s as a timber mill town near Bridgetown in the south-west of Western Australia. We love Donnelly Village – it’s beyond beautiful and totally our style! Ross’ parents own a cottage in the village so it is kind of a perfect location to make some life long memories! We loved the idea of all our family and friends having a mini holiday and getting to relax and know each other! It kind of turned into a mini Renee and Ross Festival! Our lovely parents held a pre-wedding BBQ at their cottages the night before the wedding and they also hosted a recovery breakfast the next the day. They are seriously the best!”

Renee says, “Our wedding was the perfect recipe; a spoonful of colourful kitschy cheer, a dash of DIY goodness and a large sprinkling of love.”

“Ross designed the amazing map, which we put in everyone’s cottages before they arrived with a little care package, and he also painted some old vintage suitcases with chalkboard paint, which we asked our friends to make into signs. He’s a keeper- naw I love him so!”

“Our wedding was more amazing than what we expected. People had said to us your wedding day would be one of the best days of your life. I knew it was going to wonderful but I work in the events industry and have been to some pretty great events; however, I can honestly say its true! The whole experience was amazing. It’s not often you have all your favourite people in one place and get to chance to proclaim your love to your partner in crime, drink, eat and dance and party all together! It’s pretty darn great!”

Renee and Ross walked down the aisle together. Renee telling, “We walked down together from our cottage which was amazing and I am so glad we decided to get ready together and do this. We walked down to Beauty by The Shivers. While we signed our certificates we listened to Hiding Tonight by Alex Turner.”

Sarsha Wetherell married the couple. Renee notes, “After a small disaster 3 weeks out from our wedding with another celebrant we booked way back in February (lets not go there!) we came across Sarsha and it was like it was meant to be and she was supposed to be our celebrant all along. I truly think sometimes things happen for a reason! We couldn’t have imagined anyone else marrying us!”

“We wrote our own wedding vows and though it was super short (like 2 ½ minutes!) it was exactly what we wanted. I loved the ceremony – it was bright, colourful and really relaxed.”

“We knew from the moment we decided to get married that we would be making, creating and designing handmade elements, which reflected our personal styles. We got our whole family involved and I had a craft day with my mum and Ross’ mum and sister, and we spent the day making YAY and HOORAY paper flags for our guests to wave at the ceremony and the little colourful hearts on sticks which one guest said looked like heart toadstools. ”

Of their photographer, Renee says, “Our photographer is super cute and completely understood our laidback yet super-kitsch DIY style. Getting our photos back after the wedding was so amazing; needless to say we were pleased as punch!”

“We worked our friends and family pretty hard in the lead up to our wedding, so we made sure we had plenty of downtime on the actual day to relax! Ross and I even got to have a lunch together! It was really lovely to spend that time with each other before getting swept up into the moment of intense emotion!”

” After the ceremony our guests made their way to the tennis courts for handmade popsicles and cocktails in mini milk glasses. They also enjoyed playing giant Jenga and eating retro lollies from our childhood- think wizz fizz and warheads!”

“Our wedding was 100% kid friendly and this suited Donnelly River. They could run amok and it didn’t matter! We have a little 2-year-old daughter called Tallulah and it was so nice she had fun hanging out with her buddies and cousins on our wedding day! We set up a kids’ table and each child got a cute lunch box my mum packed for them – it was adorable watching them destroy them! We also had a room filled with mattresses so mums and dads could stay and party into the night!”

“My mum helped me spray paint 60 empty tin cans then she spent months potting succulents in them! We put them all around the ceremony and reception locations. They were beautiful. I sewed 200 metres (yes you read correctly) of colourful bunting which we strung up on the ceiling of the Clubhouse along with fairy lights. We also did all our own floral arrangements, made cake stands and the little animal place settings. Even the pear and vanilla jam we made for thankyou’s to our guests.”

Each guest was asked to bring their favourite homemade treat for the dessert bar. Guest also enjoyed delicious popsicles from Delish Ice. Renee recalling, “I won a competition to have Delish Ice popsicles at our wedding. It was like the wedding gods knew it would be a perfect match! We highly recommend the Basil and Elderflower! Yum!”

“Our family got behind us 100% when helping us setup our venues and were game to try any of our crazy ideas I had! They also respected what Ross and I wanted for our wedding even when we chose to do things untraditionally, which is really great!”

Pip Mills at Bridgetown Pottery catered the wedding. Renee says, “There was no alternate chicken or beef here! We worked with our amazing caterer to create a really unique family-dinner banquet style experience. We had two rounds of food where dishes were bought to the table and shared among our guests. It was brilliant!”

“Our guests begged our amazing DJ to play one last song (it was waaay past his clock off time!) Singing Hey Jude by The Beatles loud and dancing with our friends was one of my favourite parts of the night!”

“We did our own take on a photobooth! What’s a wedding without a photobooth? I made a backdrop from colourful paper and sewed them into heart garlands. Then we borrowed a bunch of props from one of our friends and bought some inexpensive animal masks from a toy store and asked Ross’s brother Paul to take photos for an hour during the reception. It was a hit and I think Paul ended shooting for almost 2 hours! They are some of our favourite photos from the day! We loved the process of planning, making and finding things for our wedding. It was a bunch of fun. ”

Natalija Brunovs, I Heart Weddings deserves a big thank you for sharing today’s images with us! Thank you also to Renee and Ross for sharing their wonderful day with us! Congratulations!