Intimate Whitsundays Wedding At Paradise Cove

This gorgeous couple are imported from the European shores, Seb originally from France and Hannah from England. Luckily, they moved here together and set up their home in the Whitsundays (could be worse…)!! They work together for Earlando – a stunning Wedding venue, also in the Whitsundays, where Seb is the functions manager and Hannah, the operations manager. We are so lucky to feature their intimate and special day in the ever gorgeous Whitsunday Islands.

It sounds very cliché, but Seb and I met in a château in France. I was there on my year abroad from university to improve my French and Seb happened to be working there. It was a very cold winter and we got snowed into the château – it was rather romantic!

My family is from England and Seb’s from France so we tried to incorporate the two cultures into the wedding. We went for a very romantic style, with a few elegant ‘French Provincial’ touches. It was very intimate – 19 of our closest friends and family members for our ceremony and dinner, with a further 15 guests who came for the party! It worked so well!

Our wedding was on the 15th September 2018, at Paradise Cove Resort in the Whitsundays. We had only been engaged for 2 weeks when I found my dress! Seb thought I was crazy! We were home in England for my little sister’s wedding. After the wedding my elder sister and I went to look at a tiny boutique store near her house, just for fun, as I didn’t have family in Australia to come dress shopping with me.

Little did we know we would find the one! But the story continues! We were going be returning to the UK at Christmas, but circumstances changed and we could no longer make the journey. The beautiful lady that had sold me my dress, called me and said she was coming on holiday to Airlie Beach and she would bring me my dress! Talk about going above and beyond! Such a beautiful person!

We chose Seb’s suit in Melbourne on a mini break we had there. He wanted something smart, yet not too formal. It went perfectly with the venue!

My gorgeous little sister, Vicky, was my maid of honour and Seb’s step father, Ludo, was his best man.

I wanted something very romantic and a little unstructured for our floral arrangements, which picked up on the key colours of the wedding.

We had our ceremony and reception at Paradise Cove Resort Whitsundays, we also stayed there. I cannot thank them enough, it was absolutely magic! The venue itself is simply stunning and everyone there was so kind and helpful! We feel very blessed to have had our wedding there

My brother in law (Vicky’s husband) played an acoustic version of Hearts on Fire by Passenger. It still gives me goosebumps when I hear it! For our ceremony, we really wanted it to be intimate, romantic and personal, and it was exactly that.

We took a moment mid-way through the ceremony, where we closed our eyes whilst the celebrant, Kylie, read a text to us over a song which symbolises a lot for us. We called it our ‘spiritual moment’. It was so beautiful – we will never forget it. Our celebrant was just wonderful, we couldn’t have had the same ceremony without her.

For our first dance, the band sung ‘La Vie en Rose’ – the English version by Daniela Andrade. It was our way of incorporating the two cultures and it is a beautiful song we both love too!

We chose not to DIY anything, apart from making a sign with all the countries we had visited together but that was about it! We were very lucky to have such caring and beautiful decorators in the area.

It was really special after our ceremony, as we surprised our guests with a sunset cruise on a beautiful sailing boat named “Lady Enid”. We had an acoustic guitarist singing as we sailed around the islands and canapés served to our guests.

It’s so hard to choose a favourite detail from the day – we cannot possibly choose one! However, if we had to choose anything, it would have to be the overwhelming amount of love we felt, from each other and from our guests, and everyone involved! Plus, I organised a surprise Croquembouche for Seb, to add a French twist for him.

Our touch of ‘something old’ was that I had my Grandmother’s ring on my bouquet.

Although we haven’t received all of our photos yet, the sneak peaks we have seen so far have all been so beautiful! I cannot wait to see the rest! Our photographer, Summer Rain Photography was just amazing!

One great memory from the day was definitely getting Seb’s 82 year old Grandma onto the sail boat via a little tender from the beach is something we will never forget!

Summer Rain Photography was absolutely amazing. She made us feel so comfortable and easy. We didn’t even know she was there half of the time! An incredibly talented lady with a big heart! We were also so lucky to have Brendan from Mend Media as our videographer. We have seen a little teaser and it is unexplainable. He was again, so amazing and so much fun to be around. It is wonderful when your suppliers make you feel so comfortable.

Every single person involved was absolutely amazing and went above an beyond. Working in the local wedding industry ourselves, we were so lucky to have our friends as suppliers. It made it all so much more heartfelt. We were absolutely blown away by the amount of effort and thought our suppliers put in for us. We do not have enough words to express how grateful we are. Thank you all so much, we could not have done it without you!

There is just so much that made our day so incredibly special! I would be writing for days if I could! Everyone involved just made our day so special! Seeing Seb for the first time, our little ‘spiritual moment’ during the ceremony, the venue and everyone’s amazing efforts, and the cruise on Lady Enid will all stay in our hearts forever.

It is your day, so enjoy it your way! Take the time to feel the love around you! Pause now and then to look around you and take it all in.

Seb says his favourite part was when he saw me coming down the aisle, he is very sweet!