Brooke & Mitch

When lovers of the dawn hours Brooke and Mitch decided to tie the knot, they couldn’t imagine a better way to do it than at their favourite time of day. As the golden dawn broken over their waterside Northern Territory beach house, Brooke and Mitch said their vows. Reception celebrations followed with breakfast by the water with Todd Hunter McGaw  there to capture this magical morning.

To set the scene, Brooke tells the story of how she and Mitch came to fall for each other. “Mitch was a competitive cyclist so when his family moved to Darwin and was looking for a club to join, he met my 3 brothers and my Dad the coach. Mitch travelled, trained and raced with my family so good friendship began. It wasn’t until I returned from living in New Zealand that we began to share the driving on camping trips…and soon shared a swag.”

Wanting a very relaxed vibe for their day, Brooke and Mitch chose a holiday home for their wedding – aptly named “Sunset Serenity” . Brooke explains “Dundee Beach is our favourite camping spot so there was never a second option. The wedding accommodation/venue – “Sunset Serenity, Dundee Beach” – is a holiday house on Mermaid Cliffs, Dundee Beach. Aside from being the best house on the dirt street, it is owned by a very good friend so that made it extra special. The large backyard, with lush green lawn and sweeping views of the sea, was our reception venue with the ceremony held 40m beyond the back gate, out on the cliffs.”

The newlyweds kept their guest list small inviting only their closest family and friends – the bride’s best friend styling her makeup and Petah from Hair Del Mar  styling the bride’s hair. “Petah is a good friend of my parents for over 25 years. Among so many other things she sourced for the wedding, Petah volunteered to cater and did an amazing job. Also owning her own hair salon she was my hair stylist at 5 am on the morning of the wedding. She’s a ripper and a lot of things happened because of her! It was special to have her so involved.”

The couple drove the sand dunes for pre-wedding photos at sunrise. One of Brooke’s favourite moments being “Watching the Sunday sunrise from the sand dune together before the ceremony.”

Of their photographer, Brooke remarks “I’m normally proud to keep things local…but this was an exception I was glad I made. I wanted “different”, Mitch wanted “non-traditional” and we didn’t find that in Darwin. However, we did find exactly that while Googling “Top 10 Wedding Photographers in Brisbane”. Todd’s name appeared and his wedding photos had us awwwing, laughing and asking ‘how did he do that?’. The amazing Alyda made it all happen – in 4 short weeks! Todd came, directed two awkward Darwin bogans and made magic happen to an extent that left us speechless.”

Brooke chose a short lace dress from Forever New  as her wedding dress, remembering “I probably committed every bridal dress sin there is….Bought from a chain store, cost less than $200 and will be my Darwin Cup outfit next year!”

The wedding kicked off with fresh fruit smoothies. “We wanted the weekend to feel like a camping trip – we were both brought up camping and nearly all of our guests are campers too. We invited everyone to arrive the day (or 2 days) before, hosted a BBQ dinner in the backyard and had several other holiday houses for the overnight accommodation. Mitch and I slept in our swag the whole weekend.”

Brooke walked down the aisle to “Loving you is Fun” by Easton Corbin.

The couple bought their wedding arch after another local wedding from Steve of Northtech Solutions. “Steve made this arch for his and Donna’s wedding about a month before. We saw it in photos sent to us by a local photographer we had enquired with. She forwarded us Donna’s contact and for $100 we got something very unique and a little bit special!”

Brooke and Mitch chose Lauren Evans to officiate their ceremony, noting “Soppy romance is not us. We wanted it to be light-hearted, fun but uniquely personal. We wrote 80% of the ceremony ourselves and included a reading each – “Some Things Go Together” by Charlotte Zolotow and “He’s not perfect” by Bob Marley. We also wrote in a Blessing by the Siblings (rather than parents) as we are both very close with our siblings and to have a good friendship between us all means a lot.”

And after photographs? Breakfast was served! Brooke noting “We chose an 8 am ceremony. It was followed by a homemade buffet breakfast on the lawn…just like camping. Instead of typical traditions, we played a few rounds of good old fashioned Bingo. Our aim was to have fun with good company the whole weekend – not just a couple of hours on the day…and we achieved that ten fold!”

Guests received personalised enamel mugs as wedding favors.

The bride and groom were in for one more special treat. “Around 4:30 pm in the afternoon of the wedding, a helicopter landed on the cliff right behind the back gate. My sister, brother and Mum organised a surprise helicopter flight for us. We had no idea! We enjoyed a twenty minute joy flight over the Dundee shoreline and nearby Bynoe Harbour.”

Congratulations on your marriage Brooke and Mitch! Thank you for sharing your wedding with us! Thank you also to Todd Hunter McGaw  for sharing today’s celebration!