Katie And Sam

If there was ever a celebration that warrants a fun surprise, then a wedding must be it! Katie and Sam planned a big bash to celebrate the bride’s 30th birthday and then, the bash, turned into a wedding, and into something rather magical. With Jennifer Burch Photography there to capture the memories, the relaxed, informal vibes the couple wanted for their day, wove their way through every photo.

Katie explains “Originally, we planned to just have a big party to celebrate my 30th birthday, however as we were already engaged, we decided about two months from the date of the ‘party’ to turn it into a wedding as well, so all the wedding planning was done in less than two months with a young baby! We only told our guests one week before the ‘party’ that it was going to be a wedding!”

The bride worked with Amber Chloe to create her stunning gown, saying “It was a stunning hand-beaded dress that Amber designed for me based on a very rough idea of what I had in mind. I had seen so many of her bespoke wedding dresses on Instagram and I knew I had to get married in one! Despite being located in Canberra, Amber made the experience so easy for me. I was only able to fly to Melbourne for one fitting and when I received the dress, it was everything I had hoped for and more! I love that her wedding dresses are all bespoke and made here in Australia.”

Blooms and Twine created the beautiful white bouquet for the bride “Lisa met the brief perfectly” tells Katie.

The couple were married at a beautiful seaside home, Katie remarks “We had the wedding at a beautiful clifftop house in North Avoca. We both love the ocean and wanted something reasonably casual.”

The bride walked down the aisle to “500 Miles” by Sleeping At Last.

Louise Denton performed the ceremony, Katie remembering “We wanted the ceremony to be fun and not too serious, so we tried to keep it as short as possible. We certainly couldn’t take it too seriously with our 7-month-old teething baby in the bridal party! Our son Reuben cried through a large portion of the ceremony.

Despite this, the ceremony was perfect, we had it on the cliff top and it was an amazing day with a gentle breeze blowing and yachts on the water.”

The event was all about relaxation, guests enjoying post-ceremony drinks and cheese. Katie says “We actually did the majority of the set up ourselves. We organized the venue, chairs, tables, music, speakers, marque, red carpet, glasses and cake. We didn’t have formal sit-down seating as we had canapes and finger food to match our informal wedding.”

The bride included her grandmother in the bridal party. “My bridesmaids were my best friend Samantha, Mel (Sam’s sister) and my 85-year-old Nana, Noelene. The groomsmen were my brothers, Brendan and Sam, Kai (Sam’s brother) and our 7-month-old baby, Reuben. So many Sams!”

Katie tells the story of how Sam proposed. “Sam organised a surprise weekend away. I had no idea where we were going. We arrived at Sydney airport and it turned out we were heading to Noumea for a long weekend! The morning after we arrived in Noumea Sam told me I had to be ready for a 10 am shuttle collection from our hotel. Sam had organized a surprise day trip via a little plane to a remote Island off Noumea called the Isle of Pines. Sam proposed to me at about 2 pm that day on a beautiful secluded beach. It was a perfect day!”

Of their photographer, the bride remarks “Jen was amazing!! First of all, she took the time to meet with us before the wedding to learn exactly what we wanted from her and what we envisaged on the day. Jen’s attention to detail was fantastic, for example, she memorised all the names of the bridal party prior to the wedding day!

On the day, she was so lovely and helped calm our pre-wedding nerves. Jen was so personable and easy to get along with, we had so many laughs with her during the time she was taking our photos which ensured we got some great natural looking photos.

Our wedding photos were absolutely beautiful and everyone at the wedding spoke so highly of Jen. We were so lucky to have found her! We couldn’t have asked for a more lovely and talented photographer to help us remember our special day.”

A big congratulations to the newlyweds! Thank you for sharing your stories with us! Thank you also to Jennifer Burch Photography for sharing today’s wedding!