The first thing you should know about Rose & Christian is that the first time they met they shared a twilight swim in the ocean. Was there ever a more spontaneous meet-cute? The second thing is that Rose has a floral styling business (on the side) and created most of the wild and lovely florals and styling for their wedding! And the third thing is that we’re claiming Rose & Christian’s Glorious Bohemian Glam Wedding – captured by You, Me and the Sea Photography – as part of the Polka Dot Issue, thanks to her intricately detailed wedding dress that has hints of glamorous lace and dot beaded detail! (Can you blame us?) Rose tells us about their serendipitous meeting, and how their wedding came together… 

Christian was walking home along the coast from the pub to his mate’s house party, and I was walking home after a night out. Christian crossed the road to chat with me, we went for a twilight swim in the ocean, walked arm in arm sharing stories, and the rest is history!

Christian proposed at our local dog beach, only a few hundred metres from where we met 7 years prior, with our two dogs in tow. He told me he had a surprise for our dogs, so he’d meet us down on the sand. He had a bottle of champagne and glasses. I thought he was just being cute, as he often does nice things, until he said we’d need the champagne to celebrate, and got down on one knee with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen! I’ll never forget his smile and the most beautiful diamond ring I have ever seen!

Christian: I chose a cream linen suit from M.J. Bale, and a red velvet bow tie to match Rose’s boots. I wanted something timeless yet unique, and I liked the idea of complementing Rose’s outfit. I knew she wasn’t wearing white and knew it would be some sort of gold. I can now mix and match the jacket and pants with other suits for weddings and parties. The staff at M.J. Bale in Claremont were awesome to work with.

I have a small floristry hobby business, Rose Bud Designs,  on top of my full-time job, and so Christian left most of the decisions regarding the florals up to me.

I wanted to use preserved and dried products so that I could create a lot of the pieces in the week leading up to the wedding. I actually made the buttonholes months prior, except for Christian’s which I made the night before with a glass of champagne in one hand!

My wedding party all made their own bouquets the night before, which was so much fun! We drank champagne and I encouraged them to be totally free with what they wanted to create. They did such an incredible job, and from what I witnessed they were so proud of what they achieved! I created my bouquet on the morning of the wedding. It was all red and so bold. I loved it!

Originally our wedding was booked in at Solitaire Homestead, 5 minutes from my Mum and Step Dad’s property. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic and the uncertainty around interstate and international travel, we decided to cancel our big wedding at the venue near Yallingup (half our guests were travelling over to WA for the wedding) and have an intimate wedding there with the immediate family and wedding party who could make it as we really wanted to tie the knot on the original date.

With the postponement of the big event, and the decision to have an intimate wedding, we were so lucky to be able to have it at my Mum and Step Dad’s property in Quedjinup. We spend so much time at the property with our two dogs and are always making such happy memories there, and we are so grateful to be able to visit the exact site where we said our vows whenever we want!

The wedding was Saturday 27th March 2021, and we are celebrating with everyone else in Perth on the 2nd April 2022!

Our gorgeous and incredibly talented friend Ella sang me down the aisle to Angus & Julia Stone’s “The Wedding Song”, and then recorded the song so that we could use it in our wedding video! We are so grateful to have had her be part of our special day. My brother walked me down the aisle, as our Dad passed away when we were kids.

We wanted our ceremony to be full of love and laughter. Our celebrant, Katie Sinclair – The Salty Celebrant, did such an amazing job, and it was just perfect! The ceremony was our favourite part of the day. It was so perfect, for us. We were both absolutely blown away by each other’s vows.

One of my sisters wrote a beautiful Acknowledgement of Country, which was incredibly significant, and my other sister shared the Corinthian’s “Love is patient, love is kind…” reading. Christian’s younger brother also shared a beautiful reading “These are the Hands”. We also loved having our gorgeous nephew and nieces, and our dogs, be a part of the ceremony.

We built our arbour centrepiece out of a big log we found on one of our bush walks with our dogs. It was my vision, but Christian did all the work to pull it off and it looked so awesome!! I started the arbour the day before the wedding, and then our friend Tanya from Sea of Love Floral Studio finished it off on the morning of the wedding with all the fresh produce. My jaw literally dropped when I saw it, as it was exactly what I had envisioned!! We can’t thank her enough for bringing it to life while I was getting ready!

Our photographer – Jordan from You, Me and The Sea Photography – did such an incredible job of capturing our personalities and our love for each other. We loved that he ensured we had shots at the beach and in the bush, as we love spending time in the outdoors together. He is just an absolute legend. Neither of us takes ourselves very seriously and don’t really like posing, and he just totally made us feel relaxed! We knew he would be able to capture beautiful moments without us feeling like we were on show, and he absolutely did. There were way too many photos to choose from to pick a favourite!

We love the bush and the ocean, so we chose a location where we would feel ourselves. We both like to do things a bit differently, so wanted to create a unique vibe for our day with our styling and theme, so it was very much a Boho Vintage Glam theme.

My dress was custom made by the very talented Sally Geach. I sat down with Sally and gave her a brief. My main wish was that I wanted the dress to be comfortable and unique. I wanted it to be gold, sheer with intricate beading and lace, with big sleeves and a low back. I also wanted it to be ankle length so I could walk through sand, grass and gravel without worrying about it – give Christian a piggyback if I wanted, be free to move and dance all night, and show off my red velvet boots from RED Valentino!! Getting a dress custom made is nerve-racking, as you don’t see yourself actually in the final product until just before the big day! But it was an incredibly special, beautiful process. I was so stoked with my dress, and Sally did an incredible job!

A special part of our wedding was that 0ne of the diamonds in my wedding ring is from a ring that my Dad gave to my Mum. He will always be with me, and I’ll be able to look down and remember the true love that Mum and Dad shared.

I guess you can say I DIY’d all the florals, and my wedding party styled the tables the night before. We did all the styling ourselves, being at the property and also being an intimate celebration.

The florals for the styling were pampas grass, bunny tails, beautiful preserved products including lots of hydrangeas, dried leaves and some epic feathers! The preserved and dried products were beautifully accompanied by fresh roses and orchids. The colours included deep reds, burnt oranges, blush and cream. It definitely had a 70s boho vibe, and we were stoked with how it all came together.

Our first dance was to Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love.” When we were first dating, Christian put this song on and asked me to dance. It was our first slow dance together. He dipped me at the end of the song and kissed me, and we both fell over! It made sense that it would be the song for our first dance as husband and wife. Our musician for the wedding Al Mac Music sang a beautiful acoustic version of it.

We loved planning our wedding, twice! While it was extremely stressful making the decision to postpone the big event, we always listened to each other’s opinions, and we were both involved in all the decisions. It really was a beautiful process that brought us even closer.

All our vendors were absolute legends and we can’t thank them enough for supporting us through the changes, and making the day what it was.

Not only did my brother walk me down the aisle and was such incredible support, he then surprised us by singing and playing “White Wedding” with the band at our reception!

Advice for those wedding planning? Enjoy the process, as it really can be an amazing one if you just enjoy going through it together! Stay true to yourselves, your style, and your vibe.

Thank you Rose & Christian for sharing your glorious wedding with us! And to Jordan from You, Me and the Sea Photography for the amazing images of their day.