Ester and Matt’s paths crossed as teenagers before the pair met and hit it off. “Matt was playing in a band – and I was always out watching bands!” laughs Ester. Ester, many years later “(and after a failed attempt to hit on him one boozy night in Melbourne!)” she admits – was home for Christmas and met Matt and a mutual friend for drinks. “After that, we spoke to each other almost every day and a couple of months later he flew over to Melbourne and we had our first date!”

And of course, one thing led to another and Mart, in true Ester and Matt style, asked Ester to marry him over morning coffee. “Matt makes me a coffee every morning, one morning he bought my coffee over with a big sparkly ring on the saucer, and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him – I couldn’t answer, I cried and cried and cried – and of course, I said yes! Also, a lot to spring on someone at 6 am!”

The pair made it all official, complete with a polka dot wedding dress (be still my beating heart) in a beautifully intimate, heartfelt and fun-filled Fremantle wedding captured in perfect detail by CJ Williams Photography. Ester telling “We wanted our wedding to be really fun and full of love – like those magical nights when you are out at a great bar with all your favourite people and all your favourite songs playing!”

It is, of course, obvious that we’re going to gush over Ester’s gorgeous polka dot wedding dress. She found her frock at Eloquii, telling “There are such limited options for plus size people when it comes to any attire, let alone wedding attire – so I was worried I wouldn’t find anything that felt like me. The dress was simple and easy – and comfortable (that was important for me) and it gave off the 60s vibes I wanted. I loved my shoes – big and chunky and my jewellery was super simple.”

The floral details were bright, beautiful, and love-filled says Ester. “My Aunty Camille is a florist and did the flowers for the day. Although she got sick the days leading up to the wedding, I think it ended up being a joint family effort to get them all done on the day – the poor thing !”

 

Ester was walked down the aisle by her brother. “My brother Anton walked me down the aisle as my Dad passed away a while ago now. He wore a sunflower in his pocket because our Dad would always give me sunflowers! Our wedding song was “You & Me” by Penny and the Quarters – such a beautiful song!”

“We had some special friends come over from Melbourne (and we just timed it perfectly between a lockdown in Perth and a lockdown in Melbourne) which was so sweet! I just remembered thinking how lucky we were to have such a special night with so many people around us!”

Matt wore pieces from Paul Smith. “He has always wanted a Paul Smith suit!” explains Ester. “He also wore a pair of RM Williams boots – and his fave pair of stripey Paul Smith socks!”

Ester’s mother was a star on the day. “My mum has been quite unwell for many years now, and she was nervous about how she would go on the wedding day – but she partied until the end of the night! On the dancefloor in her wheelchair, having such a good time with everyone! It was so wonderful to be able to celebrate with her and see her have so much fun!”

Dilhari of Kiss Me You Fool Marriage Celebrant officiated the day. “Oh our celebrant, Dilhari (Kiss Me You Fool) was just incredible. Dilhari set the tone for the whole evening – she made it fun, and so full of love. If you are getting married you would be mad not to hire Dilhari (if she’s available).

Our ceremony was very informal and less traditional – we both wrote our vows and our celebrant, Dilhari did an incredible job making everyone laugh.”

The couple’s photographer takes home all the rave reviews from Ester and Matt. “Carly or CJ Williams was great! We looked at quite a few photographers because both being photo shy people, we knew we needed someone who could capture the day without us needing to worry. Carly was really easy going, gave us good direction and managed to get a few snaps even we didn’t mind!”

“I loved wedding planning – I do a lot of planning and organisation, especially for events as part of my job, so to do it for myself was a lot of fun! We agreed on a lot of things – which is not what I was expected and we got things locked in pretty early so it was less stress! Things won’t go exactly as you plan on the day or even leading up to it – but when you look back everything was perfect! And don’t second guess your own decisions or ideas.”

Ester and Matt fell in love with Guildhall and hosted both their ceremony and reception at the venue.  “We originally weren’t planning to have a ceremony in front of anyone except our immediate family. We wanted to get married at the registry office and have a huge party at a bar a few days later.

Anyway, that changed after we accidentally stumbled across Guildhall and fell in love with the idea of getting married in the courtyard – it reminded us of a beautiful hotel in Paris we stayed at – Hotel Panache. And honestly, the wine and food won us over completely – it is the best! It was so easy to work with the team there. We were very happy that we could have the relaxed, delicious and easy wedding day all in one spot.”

What made the day the most special for Matt and Ester? In Matt’s words? “Great people, great venue, great food, great wine and great times!” The couple even made sure to include their favourite gourmet delights. “We love pizza – so we wanted to make sure everyone had good late snacks for later in the night after lots of wine! The venue also let us select our wine list which was a nice touch and very delicious.”

“We did a speech together just to thank everyone for coming and everyone who had helped us out – and we made sure to do a toast in Croatian to my Dad.”

Says Matt “I mostly just remember it being an amazing day and night, Ester had done such a great job planning the wedding that it was one big party and everyone had an amazing time.

Everyone had always told me it would be the greatest day of my life and I never really believed them but it truly was.”

“We didn’t do a first dance or anything formal like that” remembers Ester. “But I do remember slow dancing together at the end of the night to one of our favourite Paul Kelly songs, ‘Careless’ which is such a beautiful memory. I worked on that Spotify playlist for months – it was probably the thing I put the most effort into for the wedding, and I don’t regret it at all! If anyone wants to hire me as their wedding DJ I am in!”

Congratulations Ester and Matt! What a joy it was to share your polka dot wedding day! Thank you both and thank you to CJ Williams Photography for sharing today’s beautiful celebration.