Sarah & Michael

There is a certain magic that comes in the tropics and when it’s paired with wedding vows on the sand, dancing on the grass and long chats with cocktails and fine food, it becomes something incredibly beautiful; Sarah and Michael worked with The Follans to capture the magic of their wedding day.

The newlyweds met at their local, Sarah explaining “We met at our local pub and we were both out for drinks and dancing with friends. We had both been through recent divorces and it was a rare occasion to be out having some fun without children. We actually met on the dance floor and Michael asked me for a drink and the first thing I said was, ‘my name is Sarah and I have 2 kids’, being nervous to even contemplate the idea of dating with children, and he replied ‘I’m Michael and I have 3!’ We had a real connection and I gave him my number at the end of the night and he never stopped calling.”

Sarah chose a beautiful gown from Grace Loves Lace. She tells “My dress ‘Nia’ was from Grace Loves Lace. This was my second wedding and I knew I wanted something really comfortable and stylish, but still wanted to look like the bride and not just another guest. I had done a little bit of looking around and nothing was really catching my interest. I saw Grace loves Lace dresses online and decided to make an appointment to have a fitting. This dress was my last choice and when I put it on it just felt amazing. I am hoping to wear it again on our first wedding anniversary dinner somewhere special.”

The bride walked down the aisle with her son to “Hallelujah” played by Luke and Sebastian.

Kitty Lyons officiated the ceremony, the couple making sure that their children were included. Sarah remembering “The ceremony was a very relaxed intimate beach setting. My son Connor walked me down the aisle. A good friend was our celebrant which made it even more special. All the kids were involved with a handfasting ceremony that involved each child having a different coloured ribbon that symbolised a wish for our marriage and tied it around our hands. We choose not to have adult attendants and made our 5 children our bridal party. We had special people to witness the signing but we really wanted the ceremony to be about us. We had two readings from our brothers, ‘Everything I needed to know I learnt in Kindergarten’ and ‘We will not wish you joy’.”

Of their photographer, Sarah remarks “Andrew from The Follans was amazing! It really felt like he was just one of the guests. He knew what we were looking for and what was important to us and captured that beautifully in our photos. We really didn’t want to miss too much of our party and we were only away from the guests for about 40 minutes. He was really fantastic with our tribe of kids and had lots of fun with us. Highly recommend them.”

“We would have to say that every vendor really impressed us. The venue and team of staff were fantastic, our photographer, the cake supplier, florist, make up and hair were amazing.”

Sarah and Michael chose a private home- Barefoot at Broken Head for their wedding, and planners Byron Bay Weddings  to help everything come together, explaining “It was amazing. We stayed at the house for 5 nights in total and the wedding was on the beach down a short rainforest walk and then the guests came back to the house for the reception. The planning and catering were done by Byron Bay Weddings and they were fantastic. We really didn’t have to do anything on the day, everything was taken care of by them and it ran really smoothly. All of our guests said that the food was the best they have ever had at a wedding. The venue was perfect for us with so many children and we were staying at the house. It really was the party feel we were going for.”

“We really wanted our reception to be a big party but also wanted to make a speech to thank our family and friends for all their support. Neither of us like public speaking and I had luckily found a book in a gift store the week before entitled, ‘Everything I needed to know about love I learnt from a little golden book’, which is a children’s book. We chose to read it together and I changed a few lines to make it our story, I’m really glad we did.”

Of their first dance, the bride remembers “Our first dance was to James Arthur’s, ‘Say you won’t let go’. The lounge room of the house made a fantastic dance floor and it wasn’t long before everyone was up joining in the fun.”

Congratulations on your wedding Sarah and Michael! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to The Follans for sharing today’s celebration!