Palm Beach Wedding

Mel & Gus

Flowers by the beach? Why how very Spring of you! Mel and Gus has such a beautiful bloom filled wedding on Palm Beach.

The couple tell their story. “The newlyweds first date was on the 10/10/2010 at 10am at a casual café at Curl Curl, we had a quick coffee and chat followed by a nice walk along the promenade before deciding we should be friends. We decided a good way to get to know each other slowly was by arranging to get the same ferry to work together and chat there in our everyday environment. We both strangely enough started looked forward to trips to work…”

SugarLove Weddings captured the fun and gorgeous mood of today’s wedding.

Mel wore a gown by Maria Chiodo with her bridesmaids choosing lemon yellow dresses from Mr K.

There were plenty of DIY touches in amongst the classic wedding elements. “We made three wooden signs using wood from Melissa’s grandfather’s old wool press from the shearing shed in Brewongle. They had a special meaning for Melissa. The flowers on the bamboo canopy and beautiful bentwood chairs set the scene for the ceremony. We especially loved the bridesmaids’ flowers and groomsmen’s boutonnieres”. Outdoor Wedding Aisles set up the ceremony with Jo Reid of D-Vine Flowers styling the flower arrangements and decor.

Even the signing table was carefully considered, the couple telling, “We loved signing our wedding certificate on an old singer machine table which a girlfriend gave us as a wedding present, which now sits in pride of place in our home as a memory.”

“My grandfather’s favourite artist was Barbara Streisand – so I walked down the aisle to ‘Evergreen’ in memory of him.”

The couple loved, “Getting married by a hilarious Catholic priest, at a gorgeous outdoor setting.”

Of their photographer, Mel says, “Bradley from SugarLove was very easy going and fitted with our wedding style perfectly. We were able to trial him at our engagement party and have a meeting closer to the wedding to discuss the finer elements of what we were after in our wedding shots. He captured the detail of the day well and used the afternoon light to show off his creativity. One of my favourite shots was an impromptu one where he asked us to pick up a sign that we had made for the event and have a smooch holding it.”

In lieu of traditional cake, the couple chose cheese! Mel says, “We loved our four tier cheese cake from Ocello and the wooden cake topper from Etsy which was replica of the couple in Gus’s red canoe where they shared one of their first dates….fishing!”

The reception was held at Dunes, Palm Beach. Mel explaining, “The day after we got engaged, we went for a swim at Palm Beach. We were so happy (it was Melissa’s birthday also), and we spotted Dunes out of the corner of our eye. Who would have thought less that 6 months later we would be sharing one of the best days of our lives with our friends and family at that very same spot. The table layout at the reception was gorgeous with the hessian runners, amazing eclectic flowers in jars that we had collected and personalised chocolates.”

“I worked with a haberdashery shop in Griffith where I was working at the time to create the bonbonnieres, which were scented lavender pouches. My cousin designed the birds and branches on the invitations and menus, and this theme was carried through all stationery elements, including handmade fans and service booklets.”

“We handmade all the signs at the wedding, including a tree that represented our bridal party. We hand made the ‘help yourself to some delicious cheese’ sign using scrabble pieces, also to accompany our amazing cheese wedding cake. We made the seating tree from the use of coloured paper and ribbons to match, and also placed ribbons and wooden hearts around Dunes.”

For their first dance, the newlyweds recall, “We wanted to dance to something cute for our first dance so we chose Audrea Mae’s version of Crazy Love. We had a few lessons beforehand to help take the edge off. We loved holding each other for the first time as husband and wife.”