Alice & Brendan

Intimate weddings are some of our favourites here at Polka Dot Bride – they have a peace, a quiet about them that is pure magic. Alice and Brendan chose a sweet Fremantle Cafe wedding for their big day – meeting before the ceremony and even walking down the aisle together. It was all about creating a day that was relaxed and warm- very much like the newlyweds themselves. The couple chose Amy Skinner to capture their day.

Alice tells us the story of how she and Brendan came to be. “Brendan and I have known each other for many years through our surf life-saving the club in Adelaide. Funnily enough, we were on the same state surf lifesaving trip in 2002 that travelled to Tasmania together as young kids which I remember well however, Brendan cannot remember me being there!! We didn’t start dating until we’d both finished school and it didn’t take long before we were spending every day together, however, when I finished Uni I moved to Whyalla in rural south Australia for work and Brendan stayed in Adelaide. We did long distance for 2 years, which was tough but it also made us the couple we are today. At the end of these 2 years, we decided that we either wanted to move west or north together and we ended up in Darwin!! We lived in Darwin for an awesome 2 years and made so many amazing friends. Then I decided to go back to Uni and Brendan got offered a new job so we moved again but this time to Perth!”

Alice worked with We Are Ilka to create her wedding gown, she tells “I was not at all eager to try on wedding dresses and to be honest the whole wedding dress shopping experience was overwhelming. After visiting 2 bridal shops I told my girlfriend that I couldn’t do it anymore and that I must have definitely missed the wedding dress gene! I didn’t want a train or tulle just something simple which I realised was difficult to find. I was rescued by the amazing We Are Ilka girls. I took them some photos and they created my perfect custom made dress. They created a dress that was so comfortable and that I felt completely like myself in.”

“We also absolutely love, love, loved our flowers – this was also heaps of fun and working with Lime Flowers was so stress-free and they absolutely nailed our brief (which was very brief)! We just wanted some Australian natives with colour! The bouquet and hair piece were beautiful and as the bouquet was predominantly natives we have been able to dry them and now they are an ongoing memory in our home.”

“Our photographer Amy Skinner was absolutely phenomenal and we feel so privileged to be photographed by her and her team. Amy is the most beautiful person and made us feel so comfortable throughout our whole wedding process. Amy is creative and we had so much fun having our photos taken. Fremantle hosts so many beautiful historic and eclectic buildings that Amy was able to capture. This made our wedding day even more special and unique to us.”

Alice and Brendan walked down the aisle together to Ben Howard “Old Pine”. Alice remembers “Spending the whole morning and then afternoon together, walking to our ceremony and then down the aisle together was really special.”

Alice and Brendan chose Roundhouse Lawn, Fremantle for their wedding ceremony, noting “The Roundhouse Lawns is were we held our ceremony. It is a grassed area that looks over Fremantle as well as the beach. We wanted something that had a beautiful backdrop but was also relaxed, friendly and close to our reception venue. Thankfully we had the most amazing weather, clear skies, no wind which made the venue even more beautiful. As the Roundhouse is Perth’s oldest public building and is in the historic part of Fremantle it was a great location for more photos with friends and family after our wedding ceremony.”

Suzy Thom officiated the ceremony, Alice remembering “In a nutshell we wanted our ceremony to be relaxed and happy. We wanted to feel like ourselves and to be surrounded by all of our friends and family. It was the most beautiful and emotional experience saying our own wedding vows to one another and making a lifelong commitment to one another in front of all the people we love the most. Our celebrant Suzy Thom made us feel so comfortable throughout our wedding process and really went the extra mile to get to know us as a couple.”

Guests celebrated with the newlyweds at Moore & Moore Cafe “We held our reception at Moore & Moore Cafe in Fremantle. The Moore & Moore staff and events team were absolutely phenomenal and made our whole wedding planning process very stress free. Moore & Moore Cafe has a very funky and eclectic decor which was perfect for the type of wedding we wanted. As most of our friends and family live interstate we wanted to spend as much time as possible with them over the night so we opted for a cocktail wedding reception. We started the night off with beautiful canapés and breads, then towards the end of the night we served hot box dishes. We then finished off the night with our beautiful cakes. During our reception we had the amazing Leighton Keepa duo keeping us on the dance floor with some great music.”

The couple worked with Bittersweet Bake to create five delicious wedding cakes, Alice explaining”We absolutely loved picking out the cakes for our wedding! We decided on five different cakes of varying heights and widths as the thought of having one flavour was too sad! It was so much fun picking out the flavours and designs. The Bittersweet Bake team are so talented and we loved the whole process!”

“We made candles as our wedding gifts for all of our guests to take home with them. Brendan also brewed his own beer (which was a surprise to me) for our wedding reception!”

For their first dance, the bride rememebrs “We danced to “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Martin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. We had a very impromptu first dance. We had picked out the song and had organised with the band to start playing it at a particular time as Brendan and I didn’t want to draw any attention to ourselves. Our good friend though had other ideas and early on in the night got the dance floor going by introducing our first dance so we had no choice but to go for it. It was so great and we’re so glad she did it. By the end of the song everyone was on the dance floor.”

Congratulations on your marriage Alice and Brendan! Thank you for sharing the stories of your day with us! Thank you also to Amy Skinner for sharing today’s celebration!