Elegant Hayman Island Wedding - Polka Dot Wedding

Ash & James

A wedding on Hayman Island? How’s that for destination wedding with style? Ash and James chose Hayman Island so they could marry in one of the greatest parts of the world – in their words “It’s just such a stunningly, naturally beautiful part of Australia, we wanted an excuse to share it with all our friends and family. The champagne boat that brings you across from Hamilton Island was also a major selling point… ” They chose Harvard Wang to capture their wedding moments!

On how they met, Ash tells, ” We met at a bar at a mutual friend’s birthday drinks. I thought he was way out of my league and he was too nervous to speak to me until he thought I was leaving…cut to the taxi home that night and I, who regularly proclaimed I was never getting married, called my best friend Kim to tell her I’d just met the man I was going to marry. Seven years later… ”

The groom and groomsmen wore suits from Oscar Hunt.

Ash had her gown designed and made by One Day Bridal.

“Our Event Services Exec (wedding planner), Emma Ryall – she was unbelievable, smoothed over so many details I would have otherwise stressed about, was so beautiful, accommodating, patient, warm, kind and above all professional. She’s also really pretty (I had kind of a girl crush on her ;”

For her walk down the aisle, Ash chose, “‘Marry You’ by Bruno Mars, adapted for the ukelele by our awesome wedding singer, Oliver Jones Frank’n’Beans . I was just trying to keep my face composed, a Joker-esque grin kept threatening to escape.”

Sandra Rerrie performed the marriage ceremony.

Ash notes, “We actually specifically requested not to have a formal photo shoot. Harvard grabbed us straight after the ceremony and managed to get some absolutely STUNNING shots of us and our bridal party, which is pretty impressive as we were all more interested in getting to the reception/champagne than taking photos.”

Of their photographer, Ash tells, “We chose Harvard after seeing his work online and, more importantly, reading his blog. He’s just a really funny, cool, switched on dude who has no interest in classical, stuffy wedding photography but is all about catching those few perfect moments when nobody’s watching…”

Pouring rain meant a shift in plans, Ash explaining, “Despite glorious blue skies, the weather was deemed too windy to have our original (amazing) outdoor settings for ceremony and reception and everything had to be moved inside. This was fairly heartbreaking for me, who’d been visualising our garden-perfect ceremony and alfresco, fairy-light-lit reception for months, but at the end of the day we were still at Hayman and James and I were the only ones who knew things hadn’t gone to plan…”

Of their first dance, Ash tells, ” Our first dance was to Ben Folds’ ‘The Luckiest’. It’s such and incredibly beautiful piece of songwriting and, despite having a few fun casual choreography attempts prior to the wedding, I doubt we did it justice. We didn’t want to do anything to formal or structured though and I think in the end it was just fun and a bit silly – like us! Pretty sure everyone was too smashed at that point to really notice, anyway! ”