Bright Fiesta-Inspired Wedding

Natasha & Devaire

There is such a sense of fun in today’s bright fiesta wedding. Natasha and Devaire wanted to honour their trips to Mexico and their love of all things colorful and spirited by creating a wedding that felt as warm and as wonderful as the many nights they had spent together in the fiesta country. They chose Fiona Hoy to capture their day.

Natasha tells the story of how they met. “We were introduced by mutual friends. I was 17 going on 18 and Devaire was 21. We were both playing wing man and wing woman for the night .. 11 years later and here we are!”

“One of my favourite parts was the flowers arriving. Bridget had already been to drop off the boys’ button-holes and she let me know that Devaire was fine, but super nervous! (we weren’t talking during the day) .. When she dropped off the flowers and hair-pieces I couldn’t stop squealing. They were the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. I took many blurry, out of focus photos of them all lined up on the floor of my dad’s office in my parent’s home.”

Natasha chose a gown by Wendy Makin , explaining, “I had complete scatter brain when it came to my dress. I am a self confessed magpie, and I was after as much embellishment as I could get my hands on. After trying on some absolutely beautiful, heavily beaded, art-deco style gowns, I decided that with the ceremony and reception we had in mind, this would be totally out of place. This was only my first stop, at my first store, and I was about to leave and head back to the drawing board, when a beautiful lace gown caught my eye. It was a Wendy Makin, strapless number and as soon as I tried it on I knew I’d found it. It fit like a dream and was so comfortable to wear (and most importantly, I could dance in it, which was top of the check-list) We dropped the back a few inches lower, added some beautiful lace straps, and we were ready to go. It was the 8th dress I tried on, in the first store I went to. I think this is what they call “hitting the jackpot” ”

Tash and Devaire chose Swan River at Matilda Bay for their ceremony, noting, “The ceremony was on the foreshore of the beautiful Swan River at Matilda Bay, We wanted something very laid back, bright and fun! We are very casual people and we wanted the day to reflect that. We’ve traveled to Mexico a few times, and we both love the food and the vibe, so what better way to spice up a wedding then to have a Mexican fiesta!”

Poppy and Willow Blooms created the floral arrangements for the day while Maisey Collections styled the event, Natasha telling, “Our stylists Michelle and Rachael from Maisey Collections, and our florist Bridget Savage from Poppy and Willow Blooms. They both did such an amazing job, and worked together to create what I can only refer to as my dream venue, and flowers. I was obsessed with flowers, it was my “one thing”(every bride has that one thing she obsesses over) and Bridget put together the most beautiful bouquets and head-pieces I have ever seen. I still have mine hanging upside down in my kitchen.

Similarly, the girls at Maisey Collections took my idea and ran all the way to the finish line with it. They went above and beyond, to the point where they stayed up at night making paper-link chains to scatter around the confetti stand at the ceremony. Everyone commented on the night that “it was so US” (referring to the ceremony styling) and I think that is pretty much the highest praise you could offer back to a styling company. They absolutely understood everything we wanted. Dealing with these two vendors made planning a breeze! Other than that, planning our playlist was also the best part of planning.”

For the processional song choice, Tash remembers, “I walked down the aisle to Flowers in Her Hair by The Lumineers. It was simple and quite fitting (I had the most amazing flower crown and the girls all had floral hair combs as well). The only problem was it was relatively quick, at one-minute-50, so it required some fancy timing work for the groomsman operating the ceremony music, and no dilly-dallying down the aisle!”

Karen Muir officiated the ceremony, the bride remembering, “We had a wonderful civil celebrant who was very relaxed. We wanted it to be quick, but meaningful. Neither of us are particularly religious, so we had one reading (A History of the World in 10-and-a-half Chapters by Julian Barnes) read by one of my friends from school. We wrote quick, short, but personal vows. We wrote them separately, but funnily enough both included references to AFL. We both go for opposing WA teams (a source of much ribbing during the season) and it provided a bit of comedic relief to ensure I didn’t bawl my eyes out the whole way through the ceremony.”

Of the photographer, Natasha remarks, “Fiona Hoy was absolutely amazing. We were both a little iffy about the idea of photos, worried that it’d be a lot of posed, corny-looking snaps which wasn’t really us. The two hours spent taking photos were actually one of the most fun parts of the day. Fiona was great at herding us into formation without being pushy or putting us in stiff, overly posed shots. She was able to have a laugh along with us, and it was a lovely, relaxed break in between the ceremony and reception. She also absolutely nailed the location scouting, and I often drive past the places she took us to, and am amazed at how she managed to pick what would look so great in a photo, when all I see is a crumbling brick-wall in a car-park.”

“I have a great memory of one of our groomsmen finding a flag pole to climb up as we were having photos taken. He was looking down and asking whether he should climb onto the brick wall that was the backdrop to some of our group photos. I have a great memory of our entire bridal party screaming at him to keep going – and his poor wife – who was one of my bridesmaids trying to coax him down. There were at least two other bridal parties waiting for the spot to take their own photos. He looks so chuffed with himself in the photos.”

Reception celebrations continued at Salt on the Beach, Tash noting, “Salt on the Beach had a perfect view of the sunset over Port Beach. The reception started at 6pm, the perfect time to take the whole, glorious sunset in. It was in the outdoor section of the restaurant, under big, old Norfolk Pine trees. The stylists came in and made it look like the Mexican fiesta of our dreams.”

“We made a few things completely ourselves, like some signs, and the wedding favours, which were little packs of everlasting flower seeds. The invitations were partially DIY-ed, in that we ordered stamps online from an amazing US store called Paper Sushi. We spent many nights in front of TV cutting the paper to size, inking and stamping about 100 invites. It was an effort, but it definitely cut some costs, and they turned out perfect. I also spent a fair while tracking down the decorations at the reception, including the Mexican Wedding flags that we had at the ceremony, which I’m happy to say came via Etsy, all the way from Mexico.”

Of the first dance, Tash remembers, “Oh gosh. This was the last thing we thought of, and only decided on a song the week before the wedding! We chose Hallelujah, I Love Her So by Ray Charles. It’s one of my favourites. I will willingly put my hand up to say I cannot dance. Devaire took some classes at school, but was confident he would be able to lead me. It was basically a lot of swinging around and laughing, which suited us fine. We like to think our non-official “second dance” was the real show stopper. (It was an epic rap-battle to Ice Ice Baby, to which we both know all the words, and had been requested by many of our friends to be our official, first dance from the moment we became engaged.)”