Perfect in Pink Wedding Day - Polka Dot Wedding

As you all know, we’re major colour fans here at PDW, so you can imagine our collective gasp of delight when we spotted Renee’s wildly fabulous hot pink wedding dresses (yes, you read right – THREE pink wedding dresses). And it was a done deal – we HAD to have her tell us about her and Michael’s perfect in pink wedding day at the Log Cabin Ranch in Monbulk, captured so beautifully by Glen Nicholls Photography.

Michael and I met four years ago on Tinder. At the time I wasn’t looking for anything serious because I was due to be on a reality dating show, however, when I met him, I knew that he was not like any guy I ever dated. We matched on a Friday, talked all day Saturday, and had our first date on Sunday. I canceled my appearance on the show a week after dating and then to add more amazingness to our relationship, four months after our first date I fell pregnant with our beautiful daughter, Audrey.

When I was on the hunt for my dress, I was looking for something different and something pink. With a background in dressmaking, it was always a dream of mine to make my own wedding dress. Long story short, I made a dress in a fuchsia pink neoprene that I thought I wanted however when I tried the dress on it did not suit my body type. With 4 weeks till the big day, I ended up buying a dress online that I then customized to suit what I wanted. In the end, the ceremony dress I wore was perfect and my favourite out of the three dresses I ended up wearing on the day. Two custom made online, and the third from Boohoo all in fuchsia pink. (Can you tell it’s my favorite colour?!)

Michael’s mum gave me a white handkerchief with blue flowers on it that was given to her by her mother-in-law on her wedding day. She said it was something old, blue and borrowed. I felt so honored to be given such a meaningful gift. Michael’s Nana meant a lot to him growing up – he was really close to her before she passed, so to carry something so meaningful meant the world to me.

When choosing the flowers I wanted something that was going to be timeless, and because peonies are my favorite flower, I found these beautiful pink and burgundy peony flowers from Spotlight. I found it easy and fun to make simple bouquets and table centerpieces.

Michael chose to wear a black velvet jacket with a satin lapel that he already owned. He wanted to wear this because he loved the jacket and wanted a great excuse to wear it again! He loved the feel of the velvet and the look of the jacket overall as it wasn’t a run-of-the-mill kind of jacket, which made him feel good and different from the rest.

The Log Cabin Ranch was the only venue that we looked at because as soon as we saw photos we knew it was what we wanted. A DIY venue that had a combination of country and elegance. It had the space we wanted for the number of guests we had invited and the ability to do basically what we wanted decorations wise. It also had a beautiful glamping tent on the premises for us to stay in and a bunkhouse for our guests to also stay the night. Courtney was so amazing and helpful through the whole process, always checking in to see how we were going and offering her services for anything we needed.

The wedding was held in March 2021 at the Log Cabin Ranch in Monbulk. Our original wedding date was meant to be in February 2021, but we went into the 5-day lockdown due to COVID the day before and had to postpone it. Within an hour of getting the news about the lockdown, we were both on the phone with all the vendors asking what their next available date was.

We could not have picked a more amazing venue or vendors. Courtney and her team at The Log Cabin Ranch were so helpful and accommodating throughout our whole process it made our day very relaxing and enjoyable. On the day from the moment I arrived to get ready, I didn’t have to worry about a thing. When we had to postpone our day due to COVID, Courtney gave up a weekend away for her birthday to give us a new date sooner than we thought we could get. We were so honored and blessed, considering every other weekend was booked out until 2022. If anyone is looking for a chilled DIY venue, I highly recommend them, they are truly amazing!!

I love Disney and “Beauty and the Beast” is one of my favourite movies, so I walked down to the aisle to “How Does a Moment Last Forever” by Celine Dion from the live-action film.

Our two favorite photographs from our day were from our ceremony – the first being seeing the look on Michael’s face when I walked down the aisle, and the second was seeing our daughter sit in the middle of the aisle refusing to walk any further! I found that photo very cute.

We wanted a simple yet quick ceremony as we’ve both been at weddings where ceremonies have been a bit too long. Michael’s auntie who is a qualified marriage celebrant officiated our ceremony which was amazing. At the beginning, we lit a candle for those family and friends who couldn’t attend. We didn’t do the typical bride and groom reading of our vows, instead, we read reasons why we love each other. We also did a tribute to our daughter Audrey, by placing sand in a jar to represent the 3 of us becoming one. We wanted something simple and intimate which we felt we had.

We wanted our wedding to be relaxed and chilled, with hues of pink, burgundy, and gold, with peony flowers. A night that everyone would remember. Everything was simple yet had the hint of drama and elegance. I did a lot of DIY throughout the wedding too. Table decorations, invitations, cute wedding quotes were all purchased on Etsy which I then put together myself. I made menus, table seating chart, table numbers, and our wedding sign using the same template as the invitations. The flowers for both bouquets and table decorations I purchase from Spotlight and also put together myself. I also made shortbread cookies as favors for the guests. It meant a lot to me to be able to do a lot of things DIY – I wanted to give that personal touch to everything.

What we wanted more than anything was to ensure that our guests had enough food for the night! We had an amazing caterer, Hot Coals Catering. They were incredible throughout this whole process. When choosing the food they allowed us to choose off the menu items which made the process easy and enjoyable. Highly recommend them for sure!

Glen Nicholls is a mate of Michael’s. When we spoke to Glen he gave us the vibe that we were looking for – relaxed, really friendly, and knew exactly what we wanted for our wedding photos!

There was one moment that stood out the most. Those who know Michael know that he is an amazing singer (he has a voice like Elvis!), and most of our guests all knew that he was going to sing on the wedding night because the band we had was his cousin’s band Skitty Kitty (which Michael is now the lead singer of). But what I didn’t know was that he was going to actually sing to me!

Towards the end of his speech, Michael asked me to sit on a chair in front of him and I’ll never forget his words, “Instead of telling you how I feel, how about I sing it to you?” As soon as the music started I knew exactly what song it was and I burst into tears. He sang to me, “The Wonder of You” by Elvis Presley, a song that Michael has sung to me a number of times. At that moment I felt so special and so loved. There was not a dry eye in the room, it was the most romantic thing ever!

After we finished cutting the cake, I quickly changed into my third and final outfit for the night which was a pink blazer dress from Boohoo, we then met on the dance floor for our first dance – an acoustic version of “Back To One” by Brian McKnight, performed by Michael’s second cousin, Abby. She is an amazing singer!

One thing we learned throughout this process is don’t stress over things you can’t control. There were a number of things that did go wrong which we couldn’t control, and even though these things did put a small damper on our day, we didn’t let it ruin what we waited so long for. Do your best to really enjoy the planning process!