Claire & Sean

The beautiful Whitsundays are always hand down one of the most stunning regions of Australia for a destination wedding, and the beautiful Hamilton Island was just the ticket for Claire and Sean’s boho-luxe wedding day, The couple, who wanted their guests to feel like it was all one big holiday, planned a destination wedding at the height of Melbourne’s winter, invited Hamilton Island Photographers along to make sure every moment was documented and set themselves up for one amazing celebration.

After meeting ten years ago on a weekend getaway with friends to Margaret River, it was on a romantic trip to France than Sean popped the question. Claire sharing the tale  “Sean proposed to me in the Champagne region of France. We were actually a bit boozy at the time having just done about 3 Champagne house tours.

He proposed at the Moet and Chandon Champagne house after our tour. I thought he had just gone to the bathroom, but he actually went out into the main foyer or the house, set up a beautiful picture board of all of our adventures together over the years and then bought me outside where I had to stick these matching letters to each place on the pictures. The letters then spelt out “Claire, will you marry me?”.

I cried hysterically and then laughed hysterically. Sean was down on one knee and proposed. It was such a beautiful and thought out proposal. We then had the next three weeks through Paris, Italy and Croatia to enjoy our celebration.”

The bride found her beautiful Made With Love gown at Bluebell Bridal. She tells “It was a little bit different, which is what I wanted. I didn’t want something traditional – I wanted something fashionable, fun and a bit sheer.

It was the very first dress I tried on with my Mum and she just lost it when I walked out in it. We thought it was too good to be true though so I decided to wait and visit a few other places over the coming months. I ended going back to Bluebell Bridal in Flinders Lane Melbourne and trying it back on with two girlfriends a couple of months later. They also teared up when I walked out and we knew it was the one. I just felt beautiful in it and it felt like “me”.”

The bride walked down the aisle with her father to Ruelle’s “I Get To Love You”.

Claire and Sean said their vows at the beautiful All Saints Chapel, Claire remarking “Our ceremony was at the little wooden chapel on top of the hill on Hamilton Island. It is simply stunning! It overlooks the water and the gardens are just amazing! We fell in love with it the first time we saw it and just had to have the ceremony there. It was relaxed with all more religious aspects removed (e.g. the alter etc). Instead, I had a beautiful arbour with flowers all over it at the front of the chapel where we stood, with beautiful flower arrangements down the aisle.”

Claire and Sean had a very clear vision in mind for their day, sharing “We wanted our day to be very relaxed, Boho Luxe style with only our closest friends and family – we just wanted a holiday with our nearest and dearest that we just happened to get married during!”

The luxe blooms on the day were styled by Floral Collections. Claire telling “The flowers I choose for the day were in line with our Boho Luxe theme and I also added feathers to the arrangements that I ordered from a great company in Brisbane. I wanted something different, unstructured and a standout piece. I get so many compliments on the flowers and I think it was the feathers that really made it!”

As the sunset, the Hamilton Island Yacht Club lit up for an evening reception. “You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day than the day we got on our wedding day,” remarks Claire. “The Bommie Deck is in prime position to witness a perfect sunset, which is exactly what we got that day. We danced under the stars, with great tunes, food and drinks! We had a cocktail style function because we just wanted people to feel relaxed and to mingle.”

The newlyweds opted out of a first dance, though there certainly was dancing! “Sean and I were very clear that we only wanted to do things for our wedding day that were important to us – dancing awkwardly with everyone watching us isn’t our thing, so we decided to leave the first dance out and focus on music that all our guests could enjoy with us instead.”

A big thank you to Hamilton Island Weddings and Hamilton Island Photographers for sharing Claire and Sean’s beautiful day with us. Thank you also to Claire and Sean for allowing us to share your stories!