After a year of pandemic-mania, Zoe and Jarred had one mission in mind for their wedding day. “We wanted it to be colourful and joyful – given 2020 was dominated by COVID and a lot of people being challenged in many different ways, we wanted our wedding to be a celebration of everyone that could join us.”

And joyful? Oh yes, it was! Dancing up the aisle, a rainbow of flower girls. “We had all of our nieces wear a dress in the colour of their choice”, bright neon signs, cakes. Flowers that were out of this world, and a Zoom party that started in the limo on the way to the wedding. Olguin Photography captured all the stunning shots today, and as an added treat, we’ve even got Zoe and Jarred’s wedding film, thanks to superstars Bailey & Finch.

We are so lucky to have both Zoe and Jarred with us today, and we’re starting it off with the tale of how they met. “We met at work. On our first interaction, Jarred was very sassy, leading to Zoe initially thinking that Jarred was a bit of a cocky shit. However, after about 6 months of friendship, and much mutual sass shared, things changed one night after pizza, Buck Hunter and tequila. After this, we simply didn’t look back.”

The proposal? It took place on a  holiday to the USA. “After dating for several years we had a US and Mexico trip coming up over Christmas – Jarred informed Zoe that he would not be proposing on the holiday, to which Zoe was relieved as she loses things at the best of times. Jarred proposed to Zoe at the Boston Garden during a Celtics basketball game. She assumed we were going down courtside for a photo, so our engagement shot has her looking very shocked while wearing a big green foam finger. The crowd both cheered and chuckled – it was a wonderful moment.”

You’re going to love the groom’s look – he chose pieces from MJ Bale, noting  “I wore an earthy dinner jacket, shirt and chinos (which took much longer to put together than expected). My goals were standout colours that suited the sandstone venue, comfort and an easy match with a large groom’s party of best people.” Getting ready also kicked off the groom’s favourite stories. “It started as simply as getting ready with my whole groom’s crew and family – being surrounded by love and support and comfort and joy.”

“I was so happy to be able to have my family with me while getting ready – my brother, his wife and nieces,” says Zoe. “The day simply would not have been the same without them there.”

Zoe ditched the gown for a chic white jumpsuit by Soma Couture. “I’m more of a jumpsuit/top and pants girl,” she says. “Fortunately I know a lovely designer who was able to help bring my vision to life with a beautifully beaded lace top, with tailored silk pants and a gorgeous detachable train.”

Zoe and Jarred were married at the beautiful Southern Highlands venue Centennial Vineyards Bowral, the pair sharing  “It’s a beautiful, Tuscan-feel, vineyard with perfectly manicured gardens in which we hosted the ceremony and a great restaurant space where they were able to cater amazing food for the reception. The venue has a lot of weddings and so the staff are well versed on how to make the day run smoothly – they were awesome and made the event so much more relaxed as we knew we were in capable hands with Bec & the team.

Oh, this is Jerry, by the way, the couple’s beautiful pup.

Zoe chose Taylor Swift’s “Lover” for her walk down the aisle. “It’s a touching song that makes me teary and grateful for Jarred, as soon as I heard it there was nothing else I could walk down to. My brother walked me down the aisle.” She adds “It was very special having my brother walk me down the aisle and being able to reference my father in both vows and speech (my father passed away when I was 6).”

Light and bright was the mood of the day, and the ceremony embodied it also, thanks to celebrant Adam Seeney. “Adam our celebrant is a really funny guy, and given the year we’d all had with COVID, we wanted the ceremony to be funny and light-hearted. We told Adam he could have as much comic-rope as he wanted (which he took and it was hilarious). We also wrote our own vows – it was nice to have our own meaningful touch just for each other.”

There may have been many absent guests, but these two made it work. “We made sure to include all the people that couldn’t be there in person. Zoe started a zoom call for everyone who could dial in from within the limo on the way to the venue – so there was a mini pre-ceremony party.  The camera was passed onto a guest in the 2nd row to stream the rest of the ceremony & aisle walk down etc. We also included a surprise speech from Meg in the US that Jarred’s groom’s woman Maddie readout. Zoe cried and cried. We were really grateful that Jarred’s dad was able to make it to Australia from Arizona (he actually didn’t mind quarantine at all) and Zoe’s brother and family were able to make it from Cairns as the wedding was outside of the ‘Greater Sydney’ exclusion zone.”

These two credit much of their day’s success to wedding planner Planning With Purpose. Says Zoe “The best part of planning our wedding was not really planning much of it at all – our wedding planner Brooke was an absolute weapon that took up a majority of the job. She also, at times because of COVID, doubled as our therapists, efficiently handing out tissues as we made second and third options for the day depending on what the restrictions may be – thankfully we got to go ahead with option one in the end.”

The easygoing vibe of the day also evident in the couple’s choice of photographer. “After trawling through photographer options, we picked Alex because he was able to capture people looking happy and natural. We’re not pose-y people, nor are our friends, so we wanted a photographer who could just capture the colour and joy in front of them. He did an awesome job of that on the day.

Zoe and Jarred share “To be honest, we were lucky to have the best crew of wedding vendors possible. Many of them knew each other and so they coordinated really well together.”

Zoe and Jarred included their favourites in the wedding party. “Zoe had her brother, Mark, and childhood best friend, Louise, in her bridal party. Her best friend Meg would have been in it as well however she was stuck in Michigan due to COVID. Jarred had all of his favourite people with him, including Dane, Ken, Seb, Madeline, Steve, Kent, and Jon.”

The beautiful bright blooms on the day were styled by The Wild Side. “We went big colour – thankfully, we lucked out and managed to land smack bang in the middle of the short peony season. We had peonies and other flowers of all colours. To us colour represents joy and so we made sure there was a lot of floral flare – which sort of culminated in an incredible (and admittedly over the top) hanging installation in the reception hall – it was incredible and totally worth it.” Zoe adds later “The flowers, were my favourite. I wanted peonies but what I got on the day felt like peonies on steroids’. My bouquet was breathtaking and the installation was out of this world. Our florist exceeded every expectation.”

The handmade details? “Handmade tissue packets, lifesaving monogrammed ballet flats for the girls, and a champagne wall for guests on arrival and cocktail hour.”

Zoe and Jarred’s advice to you. “Lockdown the big decisions as early possible. Keep the group of people you’ll take advice from small. If your parents give you money, don’t let that dictate what you want on the day (outfit, drinks package, or any other major details that won’t add to your joy on the day). Make sure you & your partner schedule in solo time just for each other on the day to connect and take stock. The day goes so fast that you need to deliberately plan for it.”

The speeches another highlight. “We both love speeches – it was lovely to hear our closest family and friends share their stories with everyone on the night as well, much to the delight of Grandma Joan (86).”

“Our first dance was to The Teskey Brothers song called ‘Hold Me.’ ” remembers Zoe. “We took lessons for 7 weeks in preparation and had the highest of hopes for our big closing performance on the night. We had a part where our whole wedding party was going to join us on the dance floor, however, they came in off cue, flooding the dance floor, causing Jarred to drop Zoe (she was okay). It was funny and all on video.”

One of Jarred’s favourite memories? “After the dance, I’d enjoyed taking stock with a cigar and whiskey, knowing that the day went on without a hitch when two months prior, we didn’t even know if we were going to be able to have a wedding at all.”

The dance floor? Always packed thanks to the couple’s choice of the band the Baker Boys. “They were super intuitive and always matched or lifted the atmosphere.”

And of course, we have to share this- the couple hiring Bailey & Finch to share their beautiful day

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The biggest congratulations to you both Zoe and Jarred. Your day was so much fun to share! Thanks also go to Bailey & Finch and Olguin Photography for working with us on the feature and sharing their captures!