When Seamus’ mother fell ill, he and Dorothy decided they wanted to focus on what was important – moving their wedding from ten months away to just a month later. They  canned the entire thing (right down to finding Dorothy’s wedding dress)  and in Seamus’ words, moved heaven and earth to make it happen. “What I remember most will be the mad rush of the month beforehand of my now wife moving heaven and earth to make this day happen. She compromised her dream wedding just for me and my family to be able to celebrate it with my Mum.

I know in a lot of ways, it ended up being way more special and don’t regret anything, however, I know that my wife sacrificed a lot of things by only giving herself a month to prepare (eg. bridal showers, perfect dress, special weekend/holiday in Melbourne with her MoH to try on dresses etc). During the entire day, I honestly couldn’t believe that it was all happening and that she was able to pull it all off, I’ll be forever grateful for her efforts and it was one of the best weddings I’ve ever seen (slightly biased).”

And to be honest you’d never know this was a wedding planned in just a month; it’s packed full of bright and beautiful colours and all the beautiful Mediterranean vibes. It’s got it all – a love story you’ll adore, beautiful photographs captured by Quint Photography (“All of our vendors were amazing and we are so thankful to every one of them. We couldn’t have done it without their support and being so accommodating to us and our needs” noting Dorothy) and even a cake complete with lemon adornment!

Dorothy and Seamus’ story begins on Bumble back in 2019. In Dorothy’s words “Seamus had just moved down to Hobart for work and after months of sporadic dating, we made it official in March 2020 (three days before COVID-19 lockdowns – made dating all that more interesting!).”

Seamus proposed on Valentine’s Day 2021, booking a Port Douglas holiday for later in the year. “He planned a romantic and extravagant proposal which started as a helicopter ride over Port Douglas, landing on Vlashoff Cay, a small island in the middle of the ocean. He also arranged for a picnic to be set up upon landing and shortly after walked me around the cay and popped the question.”

“Seamus bought his black suit with black satin trim/lapel with a satin bow tie from Oxford” remembers the bride, “I gifted him a Longines watch to wear on the day. He bought some Windsor Smith dress shoes which he knew would be comfy for him on the day.”

Dorothy’s simple, yet elegant gown was something she found at Luxe on short notice. “I wore a dress from Luxe Wedding in Hobart who was so helpful in finding me a dress with such short notice.  I originally had a weekend planned with my Maid of Honour to go and try on heaps of wedding dresses but plans changed when we ended up moving our wedding forward by 10 months because Seamus’ mother was terminally ill and her prognosis changed and it was really important to both of us she be in attendance.

We had roughly a month to reorganise and plan the whole wedding, so I called up Luxe Wedding and asked if there were any dresses available that could be altered within that timeframe. They were amazingly helpful, within days I had an appointment with them, brought a couple of close friends along and tried on about 5/6 dresses. I think this was the second dress I tried. It was originally strapless which I wasn’t a fan of and wasn’t even going to try it on, but once we put some fake straps on to get an idea, I fell in love with it. I loved that it looked elegant, was simple and accentuated my features.

I tried on a couple of veils which I was torn between, one was plain with an ivory satin trim that matched the dress, but something about the pearls spoke to me and made me feel extra special and made it feel more youthful and romantic. Seamus also gifted me earrings that he didn’t know matched my veil, some Bold Pearl Drop Earrings from Mejuri that I also wore. Given the short timeframes, it forced me to be relaxed about the small details of the wedding and how I looked, I wore a pair of old Wittner heels that I knew were comfy, my Aunty (a hairdresser) did my hair and my cousin (a makeup artist) did my makeup. It was a way more relaxed vibe than I had ever imagined.”

The couple were luckily able to move their Farm Vigano booking, meaning they could still marry at their original venue.”We chose Farm Vigano for our ceremony and reception. I found them on a google search and we went and checked out the venue in early 2022. Suzie, our wedding coordinator, took us through the beautiful property and was honestly part of the reason we decided to have our wedding there.

We could not be more thankful for Suzie/the team at Farm Vigano, they were so accommodating to us when we had to change our dates from 2023 to having a month’s notice. They made the process so easy and smooth for us in what was already a difficult time. It was really important to us that our wedding not only had stunning views but good food. We still have guests that comment on how delicious the food was and how good the service was.”

The bright and beautiful flowers brought in the Medditerean summer vibes the couple wanted, the couple booking Lillypad Flowers. Says Dorothy  “We gave minimal direction on what we wanted the flowers to look like but just gave some inspo pictures on what kind of colours we wanted to be included. We pretty much gave Paul and Lilly free creative reign on the arbour, and table arrangements.

I knew for my bouquet I wanted white roses and for Seamus’ buttonhole to match. We also got buttonholes for immediate family members to wear on the day. Paul and Lilly did such an amazing job, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful arbour arrangement (even though I am biased).”

“The welcome sign, seating plans, and place cards were all DIY. I found the templates on Etsy which matched the theme I was going for. I also used similar templates from Etsy for our wedding website which I designed through Wedsites, which is where we sent our Save the Dates, and Invites, and had general information about the wedding on the website. Designing our website was pretty fun and allowed me to be really creative with the invites etc.”

Dorothy walked herself down the aisle to an instrumental version of Andrea Bocelli’s “The Prayer”.

The official part of the day was presided over by Celebrations by Rosalie. Tells Dorothy “The ceremony was short and sweet, our lovely celebrant Rosalie made it very personal and captured who we are as individuals but also as a couple. Seamus and I both wrote our vows which we also shared.”

“Having Seamus’ mother there and part of the day will always be a special part of our wedding. It meant a lot to her and to us to have those memories.  Making sure that we had photos to document the day was important to us, and we couldn’t be more grateful to Sofia for her talent and efforts on the day.”

“It had rained the day before the wedding and that night we made the call to move the ceremony to the undercover terrace and lucky we did because it continued raining that morning but our colourful flower arrangements brightened up the day and given the unpredictability of Melbourne weather, having a venue that has backup options that are just as good as Plan A, was important to us.”

“We found Sofia, of Quint Photography, through the supplier list Farm Vigano gave us” notes Dorothy. “We had an initial zoom meeting with Sofia before we booked her for our wedding and loved her energy. She was easy to talk to, friendly and made us feel comfortable. Sofia was accommodating, personalised a package for us, and we paid a little extra to get the photos a week after the wedding and they did not disappoint. She was really fun to have around on the day and everyone continues to comment how good she was at her job and how she wasn’t a distraction at any of the point of the day taking photos of everyone.”

Instead of dinner, the couple’s guests to join them for a delicious, intimate luncheon. “Originally we were going to have the ceremony and reception be in the late afternoon/evening, however, we had limited options between the availability of our photographer, venue and celebrant due to such short timeframes. We ended up having a day wedding which in the end worked out perfectly because it meant that some interstate guests could fly in and out on the day. It also added to the relaxed, chill vibe that suits us more as a couple.

We had about 50 guests total, which was cut down from the original 120, which made the day feel all the more intimate just being around close friends and family.”

Watching the details come together was hands down Dorothy’s favourite part. “My favourite part of wedding planning was seeing how all these little ideas I had, the inspiration that I had seen online (mainly Instagram and Pinterest) all came to life.

I’d advise couples to have a smaller, more intimate wedding; I honestly don’t think I would have enjoyed the wedding I was originally planning which was bigger and grander in scale, making it more about us and celebrating our love with those that matter most. Don’t sweat the small stuff, things won’t go to plan but only you will know that on the day. Don’t skimp on flowers and photography. Do your research and always have a backup plan (eg for sucky weather).”

The dance floor debut was made to an Elvis classic. “Our first dance was to a cover of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Hailey Reinhart” explains Dorothy.”That song has been a favourite of mine since I was a little kid, and unbeknownst to us, it was actually the song that Seamus’ parents had at their wedding when signing the register, so it was a nice connection.”

Dorothy & Seamus, massive congratulations on tying the knot! Thank you for sharing the stories of your day with us and thank you to Quint Photography for sending this one our way!