Jenna & Jacob
There is a lot to love about Jenna and Jacob’s elegant arts college wedding. Beautiful handmade details (including the bride’s wedding dress!) and a wedding reception in the very place where the newlyweds met. What could be more romantic? Jenna and Jacob chose Samantha Heather to capture their day.
Jenna fills us in on the story of how she met Jacob. She remembers, “We met at Campion College, where we studied for an undergraduate Liberal Arts degree. The environment there is one which really promotes critical thinking and we had a lot of interesting conversations. When I first met Jacob I thought he was an intriguing person but I wasn’t into him as more than a friend. But he won me over with crosswords, talk of personality types and a mutual love of milkshakes!”
Jenna worked with her mother to make her wedding gown, explaining, “The dress was nothing like I originally envisioned it, but it was great! Being a designer I always knew I wanted to make my own wedding dress, but we were only engaged for 3 months and I way underestimated the number of other jobs I’d have to do. So my mum and I ended up making the dress together (she did about 98% of the work!). The dress I pictured in my head didn’t end up working (it just wasn’t achievable in the time that we had and with the fabric we picked), but it ended up being lovely and simple which was great – and my mum did a stellar job like she always does with these things!”
The stunning stain glass of Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church, Kellyville set the scene for the ceremony, the bride telling, “The Church is where I worshipped every week for 7 years and my mum is the secretary at the parish, so it was a good fit! ”
Jenna walked down the aisle to “An instrumental of Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ played by a number of our talented musician friends.”
Of the ceremony, Jenna remembers, “Being Catholics, we really wanted the Mass to be focused on God and witnessing to the Gospel through our own joy and love for each other. We wanted to lead the community in contemplation of the author of Love. The readings we chose for the Mass were thus from Scripture (Tobit 8: 4-8, 1 John 4: 8-11, Romans 12:1-2,9-18).”
“My favourite thing about planning the wedding, personally? Styling the bridesmaids. I love making people feel like they look good because that’s a confidence booster for them and I wanted them to feel amazing! So I got a good kick out of that.”
“A family friend, Zita Gacsay, made our bouquets and arranged florals for the Church – the bouquets were actually such a highlight for us girls (they were made up of native Australian flowers and others – my favourites were the proteas to honour the country of my birth, South Africa).”
Of their photographer, the bride tells, “Our photographer, Sam, is a wizard! I had followed her online for a while and was really excited to book her after Jacob proposed. She is seriously talented with light, composition and story-telling – and she is a joy to be around, too! We actually had a number of mutual friends who were also at the wedding which added to the fun of it all!”
Jenna and Jacob chose Campion College for their reception – the very place they met and got their bachelor degrees together.
“Our friend Evie, who made our cake and is just a wonderful chef generally, outdid herself! The cake was delicious and beautiful. There were just so many great things about what our friends contributed to the day that I will never forget.”
Jenna and Jacob hired many vendors they adored. “Simone, of Catered 4 You, our caterer, was outstanding – so many people commented on how delicious her food was, and we were thrilled. She was also very easy to work with! Our musicians, Harp and Lyre Wedding Music (made up of a bunch of our talented friends) brought tears to my eyes during our ceremony and breathed new meaning into the hymns we had chosen – extraordinary stuff.”
While the dance floor was certainly active, there was no first dance, the bride explaining, “We actually didn’t have a first dance, as Jacob and I are both terrible dancers. Our thinking was along the lines of ‘we never really dance together normally, why put it on for the wedding?’ It didn’t really make sense, and I think our guests were happy to be spared the spectacle!”
Congratulations on your marriage Jenna and Jacob! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Samantha Heather for sharing today’s celebration with us!
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