Relaxed Portsea Wedding - Polka Dot Wedding

Karen and Adam

Escaping the city brings a certain sense of relaxation with it, which makes the vibe just about right for a beautiful wedding. So it makes sense that beautiful seaside towns like Portsea are popular wedding destinations and set the scene for the beautiful marriage celebration of Karen and Adam. Each moment captured carefully by photographer Paul Stevens.

Karen tells the story of how they came to be. “At one of my bridesmaid’s (Julia) farewell party. Adam was coming home from the footy and decided to drop in via a mutual friend. We shared a few drinks, a good conversation and realised we had a lot in common including our love for travel, snow sports and being outdoors. Adam asked for my number at the end of the night and my response was “well don’t take it if you’re not going to use it”. Well, I guess he used it…”

Karen wore a beautiful lace wedding gown from Luci Di Bella. She remembers, “My dress from Luci DiBella was just incredible. To have one of her divine dresses made just for me was so special. It was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.”

Mint green Zimmermann dresses were worn by the bridesmaids. Karen remarking, “My bridesmaids wore dresses from Zimmermann in the same colour but different styles. One of my bridesmaids was beautiful at 7 months pregnant so I wanted them all to have their own individual style and most importantly comfortable. The mint green colour was stunning and the bouquets looked very pretty against their dresses.”

Karen and Adam chose St Thomas’ Catholic Church, Portsea for their ceremony. Karen remarking, “Our ceremony was in very cute and quaint weatherboard church located in Portsea. It seats about 120 people (max). It set the tone for our intimate wedding. We had a Catholic ceremony with our own personalised touch. We chose our own music, readings and wrote our own vows.”

The stationery for the day was designed by Ink Hearts Paper. Karen noting, “Our ceremony booklet covers were designed and printed by Alexa at Ink Hearts Paper. I assembled them with green bakers twine.”

Karen walked down the aisle to an acoustic guitar version of “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles. The processional involved all of Karen’s family, Karen explaining, “Seeing Adam standing waiting for me and walking down the aisle was probably the most emotional part of the day.

Three and a half years ago my father suddenly passed away. It was always my dream to have my Dad walk me down the aisle. Sadly this was not to be. I have so many memories of the special times we spent together. One of my bridesmaids said to me “he has the best seat in the house today” and although he was not there, I knew he was with me.

I was fortunate to have my wonderful Mum and my three loving older brothers walk me down the aisle. This was the greatest gift they could have ever given me, and as a family they gave me away. It was a very special moment.”

Karen remarks, “It was a celebration of our commitment to each other and represented everything we love from good food, amazing wines, our family, friends, music, dancing, bikes (everything). It was more than we could have ever imagined.”

Of their photographer, Karen tells, “Paul was absolutely amazing! There are no words to describe how incredible Paul is. Adam and I wanted a particular style of photography for our wedding. We love unposed shots and wanted to incorporate the beautiful natural surroundings of the Peninsula and our venues. We were so fortunate to find Paul who shared the same vision. He was calm and unobtrusive on the day and his attention to detail and creativity make his photography simply outstanding. He was the perfect choice to capture our wedding.”

“Both Adam and I are keen and somewhat obsessive cyclists, so of course our wedding had to feature a bike! We had on loan from a friend, a beautiful hand built vintage bike for our wedding day. To prove just how keen we are about cycling, we both took our bikes to Malaysia for our honeymoon!”

“Having our family play integral roles in the day made for a very special and personalised celebration. From the readings and prayers at the ceremony, to the fabulous speeches at the reception with my eldest brother as MC, nobody wanted the family stories to end. My very close bridesmaids, Adam’s groomsmen, our nieces and my nephews who were our flower girls and page boys made the day extra special for us. We have shared over 20 years of friendship together with our bridal party and couldn’t have imagined anyone else standing next to us on our wedding day.”

Trofeo Estate, Dromana hosted the reception, Karen remarking, “A hidden gem! Adam and I stumbled across Trofeo Estate on a drive down to the peninsula one rainy afternoon. We immediately fell in love with it from the moment we drove down the tree-lined driveway and wandered in to the Whispering Vines Cafe where we were greeted by a lovely relaxed atmosphere and friendly staff. We loved everything about it, the grand doors, the exposed brick walls, the high cathedral style ceilings and the beautiful vines and natural grounds.

It is rustic and natural all over and the spectacular building just felt like it wrapped its arms around you. We knew instantly it was perfect! We didn’t feel the need to “decorate”, as the building and barn style rustic tables were a feature. Lori (Trofeo Estate’s events manager) was amazing. She knew exactly what needed to be done, was super flexible and also allowed us to have our own special style of wedding.”

Karen remembers, “We had lolly bags in lieu of wedding cake that were set at the table for each guest. These were also tied together with green bakers twine.”

The couple chose a charity donation on behalf of their guests in lieu of favors. Karen explaining, “In lieu of traditional wedding favours we chose to make a donation to two charities; Peter MacCallum Foundation and MS Australia. Both charities have important meaning to us and our family.”

“Our style of reception was a little different to the norm. We (the bride and groom) and our bridal party sat with our guests rather than at a separate “bridal table”. We had share plates served for entree and main, and the food was outstanding! The reason for share plates was to get our guests engaging with each other and create that intimate feeling. Delicious roving desserts finished off the night. “

Balflower created the bouquets and floral arrangements for the day. Flowers in jars decorated the reception, Karen telling, “Mason Ball jars and other types of decorated jars and glass milk bottles were filled with beautiful seasonal flowers (by Balflower) and placed on Trofeo Estate’s rustic tables. My bridesmaids and I had a craft session before the wedding and decorated the jars and milk bottles with twine.”

The speeches were a big highlight for the bride who remembers, “Our Master of Ceremonies (MC) for the evening was my oldest brother Mick. He is a man of many talents. As a lawyer and ex-comedian he knew how to really engage the crowd and was a real hit. He had arranged a personalised introductory song with the DJ for each speaker delivering a speech.

Each of our speeches were individual and special in their own way. We were very conscious that often during wedding speeches you lose your audience, so we gave a few guidelines. They were definitely a highlight. If you looked around the room everyone was completely fixed on the speaker and either laughing or wiping away a tear.

We had multiple people at the end of the night saying they were the best speeches they had ever heard and didn’t want them to end. Everything about our reception was just perfect.”

The first dance was carefully considered, Karen remembering, “We did a mash up of Ellie Goulding’s “How long will you love me” and INXS’ “New Sensations”. Starting off slow and romantic then breaking into a bit of free dance with INXS was a hit. We had about 4 lessons with a dance teacher who choreographed an individual routine for us. We kept it a surprise from all our guests, including our our bridal party. It was so much fun! The dancing didn’t stop until the end of the night.” Rutherford Entertainment kept guests on the dance floor all night long.