Jordan and Helena
We chose Hamilton Island wedding to celebrate our wedding. Hamilton Island has special memories for me because I have been engaged to perform on the island a number of times as a cellist including at one of the Oatley’s weddings. Jonas Peterson captured the day’s festivities. He put together a slide show of photos from the day which can be viewed here.
Hair and make up was provided by Island Hair and Beauty on Hamilton Island. The girls did a fantastic job to make sure I was 100% happy with the make up. I wanted to make sure I looked like me on my big day.
I had three bridesmaids. Saraya, Rebecca and Jessamy. Saraya and I met playing music together and she also performed violin at the wedding ceremony for me. Rebecca and I know each other from high school and Jessamy and I have known each other even longer and have been friends since primary school.
Jordan and I discovered soon after we met that we had a shared interest in scuba diving. It was the hobby that made it really clear to us that we had something in common and if it hadn’t been for that, we may not have gotten to know each other better. Jordan took me out soon after we met on a scuba diving trip with his friends which was a bit daunting at first but I soon got to know them well and we are all still friends.
Jordan and I decided that we would exchange wedding gifts. I gave him a leather overnight bag and he gave me a relaxation pack including a pair of these fluffy slippers.
We decided to get married at All Saints Chapel on Hamilton Island because we wanted a religious service without any risks of the weather ruining our day. From the looks of it, you can tell we didn’t need to worry about the weather. It was a stunning day.
We chose to arrive in a golf buggy which is quintessentially Hamilton Island. We were going to be pushed for time to get enough light for the photos so Jordan asked that I be on time to the chapel. I desperately wanted to be on time but my friends and family urged me to make him wait as it was tradition.
Jordan was really nervous when I started walking down the aisle to Handel’s “Aria from Xerxes’. My father walked me down the aisle in keeping with the tradition. I think he was more teary than me with the emotion of it all.
We wanted a small intimate wedding. All in all there were only 40 people at the ceremony. We sang an Anglican hymn “Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer” to begin with which was an excellent ice breaker for all involved. Father Chris Yule, Jordan and I had a laugh about our respective singing voices. We chose the hymn because it was one of Jordan’s favourites when he was at high school in England because the lyrics have a reference to “Jordan” the city.
My friends Saraya and Keshia played Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling in Love” while we signed the register. They are two of my closest friends so to have them playing and singing on my big day was really special.
These photos are really special to me because this is a style of photography that I really love about Jonas. He manages to capture all the emotion of the day so well. We were really happy with Jonas. Jordan called him the ‘photo ninja’ because we did not notice him all day. He just seemed to pop up and take a photo and just whisk away to take more. He is recognised widely as one of the best wedding photographers in Australia.
Jordan wore a Versace suit and tie and his groomsmen wore suits by Pierre Cardin. My bridesmaids wore Zimmerman dresses. Jordan chose the colour blue as our theme colour because we both like the colour and it is also representative of our love for the water.
This photo was taken on the western side of Hamilton Island on a vacant lot near One Tree Hill. Jordan was posing for our friends waiting nearby in golf buggies.
We had photos at Pebble Beach at Qualia. This tree only flowers in August so it was really special incorporating this tree into our photo shoot.
Shoes were off at this stage on the beach.
The dress was a Johanna Johnson “Satine” gown. I knew when I put it on that this was my dress. The latte colour on my skin suited me perfectly. The beading on it was exquisite. I matched it with a Johanna Johnson “Harlow” headpiece which will be an heirloom piece to pass down through the generations. My veil was made by Pat from weddingveils.com.au
In the fading light at Pebble Beach we shot this scene. It remains one of Jordan and my favourites.
We used the island florist, Floral Collections. They were hands down the best on island provider. So attentive to what I wanted. They helped me to design these bouquets which incorporated anemones. I chose a selection of purple flowers to offset the navy dresses. The girls loved their bouquets as much as I did, especially with the green berry pops of colour.
My mother is an artist so she designed the grevillea icon pictured below. The original print was of a grevillea flower at Jordan’s family farm. We used it on our save the date cards, invitations and table settings. All of our guests commented how lovely it was to have a individually designed artistic piece to take home with them.
The reception was held in the Ketch Room of the Hamilton Island Yacht Club. The room has an amazing outlook towards Dent Island and the sunset in the west.
I told the florist that I wanted as little artificial light in the Ketch Room as possible. She used tea lights all over the room to create an ethereal mood in the room. It made the evening so special and guests commented on what a wonderful job the florist did at creating our vision for the evening.
We ordered our cake with Yummy Cupcakes only 6 weeks before the wedding. I found Pat on this blog and she had experience in transporting wedding cakes from Sydney to Hamilton Island. We had lemon on the top tier and chocolate and hazelnut on the bottom tier. She was really easy to work with and she did a great job matching the cake colour to my dress.
Jessamy gave my bridesmaids speech which had some pretty embarrassing but funny references to ex boyfriends.
Jordan’s brother Dane gave a very moving speech about Jordan which moved a few people to tears.
Andrew was the Master of Ceremonies.
I got emotional during my speech for Jordan.
We performed our wedding dance to “Video Games” by Lana Del Rey. This was not the usual choice for a wedding song but it was special to both Jordan and I. We danced Argentine Tango to the song which took us about 10 lessons to master.
We hired Brisbane band Capitol Groove to play after dinner. I knew Claire from university days at the Conservatorium of Music so it was really good to have someone I knew from the band performing. I love brass so we made sure there was saxophone and trumpet to really have that authentic groove feel.
Ms Gingham says: A Beautifully captured Hamilton Island wedding and it looks like everyone had a fantastic time. Congratulations Helena and Jordan!
Helena says: “I am a 28 yo solicitor from Brisbane who wed my husband, Jordan last year in August 2012 on Hamilton Island. I used Polka Dot Bride for a lot of my own inspiration and have to credit this blog for the success of themeing and design.”
great article