Beautiful Winter Wedding - Polka Dot Bride

Claire & Shane

Oh how I am always a sucker for a beautiful Winter wedding. The colours are deeper and softer, the light is different, the atmosphere cosy and warm and everything is just a little more magical as the sun leaves and the fires come on. The White Tree were there to capture it all.

Claire tells the story of how they came to be. “On NYE, in 2008 on the waterfront in Geelong there were fireworks of a different kind! Claire sidled on up to Shane on the dance floor close enough to midnight so he couldn’t escape with the intention of getting a kiss….and he thankfully obliged and the sparks flew. We kicked on into the early hours of New Year’s day together. Sometimes you just know, it seems and on New Year’s Day Claire called her Mum and told her “Mum, I met my future husband last night!” ”

391 Milk and Honey and Melonie Santos styled the bride and bridesmaid’s hair and makeup for the day. The bride chose a lace long sleeve gown from Colette Foubert.

Claire remembers, “Shane and I met for our photo shoot prior to the ceremony so we got some pretty special ‘first look’ photographs. They were taken in the stunning surrounds of our accommodation at Yering Gorge Cottages on the Yarra River. All of our families stayed at this accommodation so it was very special having everyone involved in the preparations and that they were able to stay for the whole weekend. We wanted guests to be treated to great service with wonderful food and delicious wine. They were our three main priorities.”

Of their photographers, Claire says, “Nick and Matt at The White Tree were our photographers on the day. We loved The White Tree’s natural, creative approach to the photography. There was no cliche’ posing and all photo’s captured real moments. We are ecstatic with the result of our photos and cannot believe how much they captured the day- warmth, romance, love and fun! We re-live the day every time we view our photo album. The White Tree also filmed our wedding. The film is completely gorgeous and brings the day to life. We are so happy with our choice to use them and they have captured our memories perfectly.”

Train Trak Winery ‘s cellar door hosted the ceremony of Claire and Shane, who tell, “We chose to be married at beautiful Zonzo in the Yarra Valley. We used the cellar door of Train Trak winery for the ceremony and guests wandered across in to Zonzo restaurant for the reception. The venue has recently been named the number one reception venue in Australia in the Australian Bridal Industry Awards! We chose very well!”

Claire walked down the aisle to ‘How long will I love you?’ Ellie Goulding.

Shane tells, “Our little pageboy Thomas flew all the way from Leeds in the UK to walk down the aisle. An old family tradition meant it was his special job. Unfortunately he became a little nervous and he refused to walk down! It was a long way for him to come and not make it down the aisle. It was a very funny moment.”

Just before Claire walked down the aisle and the guests were waiting inside, a ray of sunshine broke through the dark clouds and lit the vines and rolling hills of the vineyard. It was a very special moment that Claire is sure was a sign from the precious family members who have passed away that they were there in spirit.”

“We had warm cups of tea for guests to sip on during the ceremony as it was such a chilly day.”

Melanie Lunney perfomed the ceremony, Shane and Claire telling, “We had a lot of input in creating our ceremony with our wonderful celebrant Mel Lunney, and tried to include as many members of our family as possible. Shane’s pop and father handed us our rings, our mothers were our witnesses and signed our wedding certificate. Claire’s brother and sister were both in her bridal party and Shane had his two brothers on his side. It was a very personal ceremony and we wanted to really have our guests feel part of our journey. It was our favourite part of the day! ”

Lulu Bird created the beautiful floral arrangements for the day.

Reception celebrations continued at Zonzo at Tran Trak Winery.

Burnt Butter Cakes created a cheese “cake” for the newlyweds.

For their first dance, Claire remembers, “Our first dance consisted of a remix put together by a friend who is a DJ. We started with ‘Halo’ by Beyonce (‘our song’) and the music soon turned in to ‘I don’t like cricket, I love it’ by Dreadlock Holiday. Shane is a huge cricket fan and this song had to be included. Of course we used props (a cricket bat and ball) for this song. As the song came on we broke away from our slow dance and Shane caught and bowled Claire. This was something fun that our guests loved. The music then broke into ‘Alive’ by Empire of the Sun and finally ‘We found love’ by Rhianna. This got all of our guests up on to the dance floor ready to dance the night away to our brilliant 5 piece band from The Baker Boys.”