Sarah & Jimmy

The elegant Palm Beach wedding of Sarah and Jim captured beautifully by Paul McMillan of Illustro Photography,  is breathtaking in it’s pure style. From turning floral arrangements literally upside down, to the groom surprising the bride with a special serenade, red velvet cupcakes and plenty of nods to what the couple wanted, not what was expected, it’s a wedding story I want to dive right into!

Sarah tells how they met. “We met through a mutual friend and then the relationship developed over Saturday morning tennis games.” The couple imported white tennis balls from the USA to use in their wedding decor as a nod to their story.

Sarah wore a gown designed by Johanna Johnson with gold Jimmy Choo heels.

Sarah and Jimmy married at a private club on Palm Beach, Sarah telling, “The Pacific Club is a private members club associated with the Palm Beach Surf Club. We used the venue for both our ceremony and reception. It is located across the road from Palm Beach. The clubhouse itself is a weatherboard building built in the 1920’s surrounded by a lush garden. We let the character of the venue speak for itself and decorated it with garden elements (hanging plants) and ivory roses, keeping it stylish and simple to take advantage of its natural beauty.” Stylist Carla Francis  pulled together the wedding elements on the day.

“It started raining literally two hours before the ceremony so the stylists and groomsmen had to dismantle the outdoor whole ceremony set up and move it undercover! It is still a mystery what happened to the white aisle carpet! It stopped raining pretty soon after that and all the guests were able to enjoy drinks and canapés outside, which was lovely.”

Sarah walked down the aisle to, “A specially arranged instrumental version of “The Way You Make Me Feel “by Michael Jackson. Opus 4 prepared the arrangement and played it. I kept this detail as a surprise from my husband and I was so excited to hear it and to see his reaction. He loved it.”

Robyn Pattison married the couple.

“Having had what can only be described as the perfect day (yes, I realise this is a cliché!) – I loved getting married at a venue where we will be spending time with friends and family for the rest of our lives – it is really special to know that every time we go there we can reflect on how amazing our wedding day was for us.”

“My husband arranged for one of our guests Renny Field to sing his song ‘Sarah’ for me straight after the ceremony! It was truly memorable and such a lovely surprise.”

Of their photographer, Sarah remembers, “The photographer was recommended to us by a friend and he proved to be a great fit owing to his candid and relaxed approach. We liked the natural style of his photographs and were extremely really happy with the results! He didn’t keep us away from the party for too long and also captured some great moments on the dance floor that I didn’t even realise had happened! ”

“Taking 10 minutes out for a quiet moment with my new husband to appreciate the enormity of what we had just done and to share the excitement of having pulled off a really really great party together.”

Wild Lotus Florist styled the floral arrangements for the day, Sarah explaining, “We hung plants from the ceiling beams to effectively turn the idea of table decorations on its head – which looked great and left more space for the entrée platters. We hired a mix of rustic decorative glassware and vintage crates and buckets to display uneven bunches of 900 long stem ivory roses, in keeping with the theme of the venue.”

“My husband and my dad made the chalkboards that featured our menu – it was a nod to our favourite restaurant Sean’s Panaroma in Bondi that has similar ones. Dad and my husband spent a whole day on them, getting the supplies from Bunnings and then making them in Dad’s garage. As well as looking unique and matching the theme of the wedding, it was a nice way for them to bond! ”

“I loved seeing all of our friends and family having so much fun over the course of 10+ hours and in some cases, not wanting to go home!”

“We also managed to find five cases of the 2005 Henschke Henry’s Seven that we had on one of our first dates at a private cellar sale a few months before the wedding – we snapped them up and were excited to be able to share our favourite wine with our loved ones. “We pretty much made every decision on every detail based on what meant something to us and what we liked – no cookie cutters here!! It made for a day that was 100 per cent “us”.”

Sarah remembers, “I loved hearing my husband’s speech – he had the room in stitches and then in tears.”

Simon Ekas Catering catered the wedding, Sarah remarking, “The dessert buffet – amazing. I actually snuck into the kitchen to grab a red velvet cupcake on the way home!”

Of their first dance, Sarah remembers, “We practiced for five minutes the day before! Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. We chose it because Snow Patrol is usually playing in our car when we drive down to Palm Beach – it felt was right and wasn’t too fast! We had about three moves and just repeated them over again – it wasn’t Strictly Ballroom but we managed ok! ”

“The dance floor continued for about seven hours – spurred on by a fantastic band (Slide McBride) and some fairly strong mojitos.”
Congratulations Sarah and Jimmy! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you to Paul McMillan of Illustro Photography, for sharing the wedding with us today!