Samantha & Blake

With a sunset cruise and stylish arrival to their reception, this wedding had all the makings for a classic, romantic Whitsundays Wedding! The essence of the day was captured beautifully by The White Tree with Instagram as Samantha’s main source of inspiration! Thank you for sharing your wonderful day with us – we wish you all the happiness in the world!

We met in High School at our School Social in year 7 where we both shared our very first kiss.

Our proposal was the most magical proposal ever!!

Blake had surprised me and booked a trip to Canada for Christmas. On Christmas day we had breakfast on top of one of the mountains, during the day we relaxed by the fire having a few drinks where later that night we went on a romantic sleigh ride. We then got off the sleigh to get a photo, when Blake got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. That night we then went out for a fondu dinner where we had our own private brandy bar. It was the most amazing day, especially as I have always wanted to experience a white Christmas, so that year was extra special.

We wanted to have a location wedding, with warm weather. Blake always wanted somewhere with a beautiful back drop and I wanted to have some form of greenery. So, after looking online for months we found Airlie Beach, Lure in particular. After checking out the venue and falling in love we came across the Sailing Club and knew it was meant to be. We chose Lure for its beautiful interior and exterior and of course the breathtaking views. We had a sit down meal for 85 guests as we wanted it to be more formal.

I hadn’t visited the Whitsundays before but Blake had. We fell in love with Lure and the surrounds and booked a trip in June the year before to look at Lure and other venues and instantly fell in love with Airlie. It was exactly what we were after.

Instagram is actually where I got most of my Inspiration – with some help from Pinterest. Our theme was white, green and aspects of black, a very clean and modern look and feel. We purchased some décor ourselves and then from the help of the amazing Events Company Whitsundays who made our day exactly how we imagined with their beautiful décor.

There are so many memorable moments from our day. The entire day was special, but I would say having my dad walk me down the aisle was very special to me and having all of our friends and family travel all the way from other states to be there to help celebrate our special day.

Another moment was when we surprised our Bridal Party with a sunset cruise. We kept this a secret from everyone, so it was so nice to see the look on their faces when we were on the yacht sailing away. We all arrived together to the Reception where all our guests were awaiting our arrival on the balcony.

AND having my aunty sing and get everyone up dancing was pretty amazing.

Three words that would sum up our beautiful wedding day would be: Happy, Grateful & Love

We definitely splurged on Blake’s suit my wedding dress, plus our photographer and videographer from Brisbane. Décor for both the ceremony and reception were also splurges, our surprise yacht and the gifts and attire for the Bridal Party. But worth it!

We were able to save by creating our own menus and had a family friend who is a cake maker create our bonbonniere cookies to help cut costs. My wedding shoes were plain and reasonably priced as well as my wedding jewellery.

For me, I was super organised, however right up until the day I still managed to be organising things. It would have been nice to relax a bit more leading up to the big day, so I’d suggest for couples planning their wedding now, to get everything finalised as early as possible so you can have that time to relax and take it all in.

The hardest part about planning a Destination Wedding is not knowing who the ‘best’ suppliers are. So definitely getting advice from any supplier you may have already booked is a huge help and use Facebook and Instagram as they are your best friend!

Our first dance was to James Arthur ‘Say you wont let go’ – There wasn’t really a story behind it, its just a lovely song that we liked!

Throughout the day there was so many funny moments, but when Blake and I went to pop the champagne bottle and it popped without warning- luckily it didn’t take any eye out!! And definitely all the wedding speeches.

The day goes so quick and is a blur so stop and take every moment in and definitely to have time to just relax and be in the company of your wife/husband and bridal party before the evening’s festivities.

And if your budget allows it get your special day filmed, because watching our wedding video is simply amazing and takes us back to the most amazing day of our life. You only ever get married once so make the most of it and have fun!!!

For our honeymoon we stayed in Airlie Beach for 4 nights at Pinnacles Resort where we went jet skiing, a trip to Whitehaven Beach and a scenic flight over the Whitsundays and Heart Reef. We then went to Hawaii for a week where we stayed in a beautiful beach cottage at Turtle Bay Resort where we went stand up paddle boarding with sea turtles which was amazing!! Followed by a few nights at The Hilton Resort Village Waikiki.

As a new Mr & Mrs, we are looking forward to everything in front of us! Having that one life partner to share all of the beautiful moments of life with is so special.