Alexandra & Tom
There is something about the water, the beach that lends itself to romance and Alexandra and Tom’s romantic Palm Beach wedding is full of romantic touches, a romantic love story and of course it all unfolding on the most romantic of days. They chose Karen Gilvear Photography to capture it all.
Alexandra tells their story. “We met via our two best friends who were dating. I came out with her, he came out with him. It was attraction at first sight but unable to do anything about it for a few months. The feelings grew stronger, when we were both in the right place we didn’t hesitate and the rest was history.”
Alexandra chose a gown by Maggie Sottero , which led to a funny story on the morning of the wedding, the bride remembering, “When my Bridesmaids were doing up my dress. We were all eager to get me in and tied up nice and tight in my dress, and in the eagerness I heard a very loud “Riiiippppp”, one of my darling girls ripped my dress (the insignificant inner lining behind the tie up part of the dress) needless to say there was an obscenity from the bridesmaid involved, followed by silence and the quickened “what? It’s nothing” from my maid of honour – I couldn’t have cared less and knew exactly what had happened, but pretended I didn’t and went along with the “nothing happened, just a thread” line they threw at me. It made me laugh the next day when they “told me what they had done” when I knew all along.”
“Every detail of the wedding was special. But things that meant the most to me was my veil. I had no idea what I wanted for many aspects of my outfit, but I knew what I wanted in my veil – Mantilla style lace veil. My veil and my shoes were so special to me. My garter was also very special. My heritage is Scottish and mother, a proud Scot, bought me a gorgeous Scottish garter and a heather embroidered handkerchief which I kept tucked away in my bust for good luck which meant the world to me. My bracelet was borrowed from one of my sisters/maid of honour.”
Alexandra and Tom chose Governor Phillip Park – Palm Beach for their wedding ceremony, noting, “Governor Phillip Park was a beautiful canvas for us to create a day that represented Tom and I – and it did perfectly. Outdoor Wedding Aisles and my darling friend Kelly Wright did a beautiful job of transforming the park into our wedding fairytale.”
Alexandra tells, “I walked down the aisle to “Songbird” by Naya Rivera (version by Santana from Glee).”
The bride notes, “Our flowers blew me away – they exceeded my expectations and I could see so much love had gone into them. So creative and stylish – I never actually knew flowers could look as amazing as what the florist created, the table runners and piece that hung across our bamboo canopy at the ceremony were breathtaking and our bouquets and buttonholes were simply stunning and perfect.”
Of their photographers, Alexandra tells, “Our photographers were amazing. Karen and Clint were like two mates along for the ride who produced the most amazing memories for us. They blended in and we didn’t even notice them at the ceremony or reception until we got our breathtaking photos back. They stayed cool and calm amongst the organised chaos and excitement and had a great nature (making our bridal party and family laugh even on a super tight time frame) whilst pulling everyone together for the shots we had pre-requested (which can be very stressful – they actually made this super enjoyable as I believe it should be). They are the epitome of professional yet caring and lovely people and the photos are beyond spectacular. All of our guests even commented on our awesome photographers. They certainly go above any beyond and I just want to have something else that I can use them for again! They even got us access to areas that were private because I requested it. They were honestly amazing! ”
The groom and groomsmen wore suits from Joe Button – the brightly coloured mismatched linings a highlight of their dapper looks.
Dunes Restaurant was chosen for the reception, Alexandra noting, “Dunes Restaurant was perfect. Nothing was too hard for Cathy, the owner whose general decor didn’t need to even be touched to create the perfect setting for the theme of our wedding. The marquee attached to the restaurant that opened up through the night to create an open air, undercover setting for our wedding, the amazing food from the award winning chef, the rustic yet beachy decor and stunning flowers made this the perfect setting to dance the night away with my new husband and nearest and dearest.”
Alexandra tells, “We DIY’d our bomboniere’s they were Mason Jars which we labelled with our personalised clear sticker – created by Alison Smith from “Made my Alison”, and the lids had the name of each guest on them also created by Alison – and this doubled as their name place at the table. My creative husband also made our table place setting board which was a timber framed hessian pinboard with white starfish (placed as) the guests walked in.” Guests signed their names on a wooden puzzle for the couple.
That funny hat? A piece of the groom’s history, a self proclaimed “talking stick”. Photographer Karen tells, “The hat the groom is wearing during his speech is a family camping tradition. From memory whoever wants to say something around the campfire must wear this hat.”
Of their first dance, Alexandra recalls, “Our first dance was very special to us. When Tom and I first started dating the song – “Feel so close” by Calvin Harris was in the charts and Tom told me one day that the words of the song reminded him exactly of how he felt about me. When I heard the song I melted. So our first dance was a slow version of “Feel so close” by Nelly Furtardo (we found it a week before the wedding) and our amazing DJ morphed it towards the end into the original version of the song to officially get our wedding party started. We concluded the night with another song that meant a lot to us and had the entire wedding up for the final dance of the night – “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeren.”
Congratulations on your marriage Alexandra and Tom! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Karen Gilvear Photography for sharing today’s wedding with us!
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