I absolutely love the mix of weddings we get here at Polka Dot Bride. We celebrate love in all its forms – whether that is a grand black tie celebration or a barefoot bash on the beach like the bright and beautiful seaside wedding of Jess & Shayne. The couple wanted their day to be fun and happy and as these captures by  Jessica Mason Photography show, I think it was just that.

Jess and Shayne came to be, through friends that spied their match long before they even met. Jess recalling “We were told by friends that we would be a good match so it all started with a good old fashioned Facebook friend request! We started to chat online and after a couple of weeks, we decided to meet up for our first date. Shayne came over to my house with a bottle of red and we decided to walk down the jetty near my house and share a glass of red at the end of the jetty (way too romantic for a first date).”

The bride chose a lace gown from Grace Loves Lace “It was always going to be Grace Loves Lace. I had originally wanted something simple, flowy and elegant… but that didn’t really suit my personality or the style of the wedding, so when I went to Grace Loves Lace the salesgirl had me trying on some really fun options.” she tells, “I decided on the Gisele 2.0 because it was so fun (and it was the only one that made my mum instantly cry).”

Oh My Dahlia styled the bright bouquets for the day. “I wanted a bright explosion of colours. Something fun and happy and vibrant! My florist was amazing and captured exactly what I wanted” explains Jess.

Flinders Yacht Club played host to the day’s festivities, “We had both the ceremony and the reception at the yacht club as we know how annoying it is to move from one location to the other and wait around for hours. Drinks and food started immediately after the ceremony and everyone could relax.”

The stormy backdrop did nothing to take away from the fun of the day. “It was 120km per hour winds so that was really fun! I had hair in my mouth for 90% of the ceremony, couldn’t hold the paper straight to read my vows…. it was a good laugh though!”

For her walk down the aisle, Jess remembers “My brother played the guitar and sang as I walked down the aisle (his first ever performance) to Mumford & Sons – Awake My Soul. My father walked me down the aisle.”

The ceremony was casual but memorable, says Jess, “Our ceremony was very short, fun and relaxed. We kept only the formalities that we had to and we wrote much of it ourselves. We wrote our own vows which were secret and funnily enough, we vowed a lot of the same things!”

Of their photographer, the bride remarks “My photographer Jessica Mason was just starting out and it was her first wedding. She was fantastic! She knew that we didn’t want posed photos and we just wanted to relax into the day while she snapped away and she did this perfectly.”

Jess remarks on the day “FUN, colourful, bright and happy. Our only focus was that everyone had a great time and felt how happy we felt.”

The bride, who owns her own styling business (Popup With Style) designed the decor herself. “I handmade all of the Morrocan glass jars, put together the table arrangements, my sister’s friends were the fun bar staff.”

  

Guests enjoyed a cocktail style reception complete with wood fired pizza from Happy Camper Pizza Truck.

The first dance was a modern favourite. “We chose Ho Hey by The Lumineers because the words resonate with us and it starts out slow and picks up the pace for a really fun first dance” tells the bride.

Congratulations Jess and Shayne! Thank you for sharing the stories of your day with us! Thank you also to  Jessica Mason Photography for sharing today’s celebration!