Maree and Julian

Hayman Island has got to have one of the most incredible backdrops and it makes perfect sense to hold a wedding there- just like Maree and Julian did! Their celebration was captured by Stephen Govel Photography .

Maree tells their story. “We first met in early 2012 at the wedding of friends of ours. Another of our mutual friends had pointed Julian out to me, and said “you’ve got no chance”. So I took it upon myself to prove him wrong and introduced myself to Julian. A short time after that we started dating and were engaged in June 2012.”

Maree had her wedding gown custom made, featuring, ” An ivory dress in dupion silk with a lace bodice and lace edging on the 3 metre train. The dress had a full skirt and the layers were lace and pleated organza with a cathedral veil.”

Kim Kirkman Harpist played Canon in D as Maree walked down the aisle.

The couple wed next to azure blue waters on Coconut Beach, explaining, “Our ceremony was on Coconut Beach, a private location which was perfect for our intimate service. ”

Father Bill Busuttin performed the ceremony.

Stagelife organised the flowers (arrangements of Colombian large roses in ivory, dusty soft pink, lilac, honey and silver moon, tulips and dusty miller foliage), entertainment and decor for both the ceremony and reception.

The couple had a fun message in a  bottle idea for their wedding invitations, which kicked off the celebrations. “We made our invites which were a message in a bottle. We also wanted to personalise our gift to our guests so we got personalised ribbon with our name on it and put a photo of Hayman Island in the frame we purchased and asked our guests to replace it with a photo from the wedding.”

Of their photographers, Maree tells, “Our photographers were Stephen and Madeleine from Stephen Govel Photography. We looked at many photographers but could not find what we were looking for until we saw Stephen Govel’s work. It was clear from the beginning he was just as excited about shooting the wedding as we were. Stephen and Madeleine made the day an absolute ball. We didn’t want anything cliche so the fact that Stephen was prepared to go as far as we were to get the perfect unique photo and is enormously talented meant we got exactly what we were looking for. The photos were simply unbelievable.”

For their first dance, Maree remembers, “We decided to have our first dance outside on the beach, just on our own with our photographers. We captured the moment with some amazing photos and this moment was very special to us.”

Maree and Julian celebrated with their guests in the Hayman Lounge, Maree explaining, “We had our reception in a beautiful vintage room complemented with antique furniture, beautiful lamps, a pool table, gorgeous library and grand piano which we utilised for our entertainment.”

The wedding cake was simple three tier cake with an intricate design, with delicious flavours of white chocolate mud and pistachio centre.

“The service and overall feeling of the day was really relaxed and one that everyone was able to enjoy which is exactly what we wanted.”

The day after the wedding, the couple went to  Hamilton Island with their photographers for a fun shoot!

Congratulations on your marriage Maree and Julian! Thank you for sharing it with us! Thanks to Stephen Govel Photography  for sharing today’s photographs with us!