Lana & Lester

One of our favourite stories to tell, is when a couple meets many years before they finally realise their connection and for Lana and Lester? It was the wee tender age of toddlers, at daycare where their paths first crossed. It wasn’t until they met at a pub where Lana was working and Lester was celebrating a day at the races, that their connection started to blossom, and then a sneaky move from Lester which led to plenty of time together.

Elk and Fir Photography was there as finally, these two tied the knot. In a casual, but beautiful day, they made the spot of Yeppoon’s seaside location, inviting their favourite people to a ceremony, and celebration by the sea.

Lester tells of his sneaky plan. “After our first date, I needed a way to try and spend more time with Aloe (Lana). I’d found out that she was a hairdresser in a salon close to home, and thought, you beauty, I can grease her while she cuts my hair. After a few haircuts, I realised this tactic wasn’t getting me anywhere fast. I had to find a way to get alone time with Aloe as she would decline all offers of anything that sounded like a date. The best I could come up with was that I had to do up a resume for an upcoming job and was in need of a computer and a few helpful tips (obvious lie, I had both, but a way in is a way in). This eventually led to Aloe spending more and more time with me as we got to know each other better.”

The groom and groomsmen wore pale suits from YD.

For her wedding gown, Lana chose a fitted, off the shoulder wedding gown from Event Time Yeppoon, her bridesmaids wearing pale pink gowns from Showpo. She tells “We chose the middle of winter to get married, so the boys could wear full suits and be comfortable and all of the girls had dresses on that would fit and flatter them the most. We wanted our bridal party to look amazing but also so that the attire was something they would wear again themselves. We asked our bridal party to purchase their own outfits instead of buying us a wedding gift.” The bridesmaids also donned handmade Livvy Buttons earrings.

Lana and Lester chose  The Villa On The Beach for their ceremony and reception, Lana shares “Lester and my vision for our wedding was very relaxed, soft, fun and was a beach wedding but not on the beach (best of both worlds). I was happy as long as there was a big magical tree to get married under. We wanted somewhere that our guests didn’t have to worry about leaving and were looked after while we were getting photos. We were blessed that we could have our ceremony and reception in the one place.”

Lana loved “Seeing Lester for the first time as I started to walk down the aisle, we hadn’t seen each other for three days leading up to our day.”

Of their photographer, Lana raves “Our most important thing was finding a photographer that we both loved and thought would fit us best. From the moment we met Carissa from Elk & Fir and found that she had our date available we pretty much booked straight away. She was so much fun to have around and with us on the day, she made getting photos done a breeze and did an amazing job. We chose to skip on a videographer which I now very much regret as I would love to re-live our magical day over and over.”

Lester popped the question at the most magical time of day while the couple were on holiday. Lana remembers “It was the weekend before my 21st birthday and Lester, myself and a few of our close friends and relatives had gotten away to Great Keppel Island to celebrate for a couple of days. We rented a big beautiful wooden house that slept all of us comfortably just a minute walk from the beach. we feasted, laughed and enjoyed the water activities on the island.

It was Sunday morning early around 4:30 when Lester woke me up and told me to get up and get ready. (I just assumed that Lester wanted to go for a walk on the beach because he knew I loved that sort of thing and it was drawing close to the end of our holiday). We crept out of the house as not to wake anyone and started our walk up the beach. It was that beautiful time right before the sun started to rise, we walked for a while collecting shells, enjoying our time together and rubbing our feet in the sand. We eventually got to a point and sat down as the sun was rising we watched all the colours change in the sky, it was then that Lester stood up and I followed. Standing in front of Lester he asked me to close my eyes and not open until he said, after a minute or two which seemed like forever he told me to open my eyes and there was Lester down on one knee holding out a beautiful ring.”

The cake was a major priority for the bride, who enlisted Hey Sugar Cakes to create a pale pink cake with gold drizzle. She shares “Our wedding cake was death by chocolate and probably about 10kg, there’s no such thing as too much cake.”

Yeppoon Floristry styled the floral details for the day, Lana telling “We chose soft colors to go with the native greenery and flowers (our florist was amazing and so in touch with what we wanted even though we didn’t really know how we wanted it, the summary of our consultation was as long as there was native greenery and pink native bouquets we were happy, Jen our florist went above and beyond).”

Lana tells “I loved feeling like the most beautiful person in the world.”

Congratulations Lana and Lester! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us! Thank you also to Elk and Fir Photography for sharing today’s gorgeous imagery!