What does one do when there is an unexpected heatwave on their big day? Keep their chin up and carry on of course (and maybe grab a few fans!). After being together for many years, Hayley and Jack thought it was time to finally tie the knot, and tie the knot they did. They pulled together this colourful destination wedding with a travel theme found in every detail. The star of the show, however, was not the couple, but their beautiful dog Gretel!

Thanks to their photographer, Georgia Wiggs and her wife, Cat, we now get to share this incredible day.

A little competition never hurt anybody, and for Hayley and Jack, that competition sparked their blossoming relationship. “In 2011, we both worked at Optus. We initially competed for who would work at the enviable Melbourne Central store, then became friends, and it blossomed from there.”

While Jack remembered Hayley’s flare for dramatics, he, unfortunately, forgot about her crippling fear of heights when planning their proposal. “He decided that the best place to propose was at the top of the lighthouse from Round The Twist. I almost gave up climbing to the top out of fear. Thankfully, the lovely tour guide helped me gain the courage to keep going. We then stayed engaged for about five years…cause money and covid.”

To get ready for the day, the couple opted to book an Airbnb in Richmond—only a ten-minute walk from the venue! They invited their wedding party and Hayley’s parents to join them that morning. And while it was incredibly hot (thanks to a classic Melbourne heatwave), it allowed them to take their time with their loved ones and even have their first look privately!

If there’s one thing we love in a ceremony dress – it’s statement sleeves! And Hayley’s 80s-inspired Selkie dress had the perfect puffy sleeves that we can’t stop thinking about. While she didn’t have a specific dress in mind when she started out her journey, she knew she was looking for something fun, comfortable and 80s-inspired! “I never wanted to spend stacks of money on a dress I wasn’t going to get a lot of wear out of, so I looked for a dress that would give me the aesthetic I wanted while being affordable. I also knew I didn’t want a simple veil – I didn’t know what I wanted, but I eventually decided it needed to be a gigantic bow that would compliment both dresses. I could find no such veil, so my stepmum made me one!”

Within her wedding party, Hayley knew that she wanted her Nanna to be her Maid of Honour! Her other three bridesmaids were her two sisters and her best friend from high school. She wanted her bridesmaids to be comfortable and, like her, not spend money on a dress they’d never wear again. “I knew I wanted them in different colours, so I gave each of them a colour and let them choose the dress they wanted (cause they should be able to feel amazing too!).”

For the florals, Hayley had her aunt, who runs Mordialloc Florist, create these beautiful contrasting pastel and vivid colours with abstract shapes and textures. “The bridesmaids had a bouquet each, the groomsmen had pocket boutonnieres, and Gretel wore a floral collar. Hayley also had ribbons that matched the bridesmaids on her bouquet with a little photo charm of her Grandpa, while the Bridesmaids and Gretel were adorned with yellow ribbons.”

Jack picked out a beautiful teal suit from Suitably in Collingwood because, in his own words – “It’s your wedding day; if you can’t be colourful, then when can you be?”

He had a collection of close friends at his wedding party, who all wore understated grey suits with matching rust ties.

After walking for ten minutes to the venue, Hayley was too hot and her feet too sore to keep her heels on. “When I told Zee, our celebrant, she encouraged me to take them off. So I did. I walked down the aisle and spent the whole ceremony barefoot – and it was amazing.”

The most important choice they made when planning their colourful destination wedding was the venue – it had to be dog-friendly! It also had to allow for them to bring in their own food options and something with lots of greenery. Glasshaus ticked all of these boxes and more!

Once at the venue, the wedding party walked down the aisle to “Far Nearer” by Jamie xx, with Jack walking down first. The rest of the wedding party followed suit before Hayley walked with her mum, dad and their dog Gretel!

As it was the start of March, in typical Melbourne fashion, there was a heatwave that reached into the 40s. “Glasshaus set up fans, which helped, but the Melbourne weather loves to be relentless. We honestly just wanted it to be cute but short. Meanwhile, the gorgeous Bangin Hangin streamers stuck to our sweat-covered heads.”

Zee Scott was an incredible celebrant for Hayley and Jack, and from the get-go, they couldn’t have been happier with their choice. “Zee was incredible and told our story in the best possible way (she made us seem so much more interesting than we actually are!). We’ve been together for so long that getting married was really a formality at this point. We wrote our own vows and managed to squeeze in a few jokes while still being heartfelt, and Gretel was a trooper and sat with us at the front for most of the ceremony. Hayley went and bought a bunch of icy poles for people to have at the end of the ceremony, and Jack’s Mum went and got small fold-up fans (which were lifesavers!).”

One of Hayley’s favourite photos is this candid one of Jack holding Gretel with the wedding party. “Georgia did too good of a job, honestly. I love the photo of Jack laughing/smiling in our first look, I love the group photo of the wedding party while Jack’s carrying Gretel because it’s so candid and perfectly captures the wedding party, and I love that Georgia managed to catch my uncle breakdancing (I don’t know how he wasn’t sore the next day). Also, there are a few good ones of me standing in front of ANY fan I could find (I was so HOT).”

Jack had many favourite photos from the day, including the disposables their guests captured, but his absolute favourite photo is this one of Hayley. “One of Hayley turning around in the greenhouse after the ceremony. I think she’s fixing her dress, but Georgia managed to capture it at the perfect moment, and she looks super regal and gorgeous.”

Because their colourful wedding was destination-themed, they DIY’d as much as possible to be on theme – like this welcome sign! “That included making our own themed invites and giving everyone boarding passes to come fly with us (to our destination and marriage), which ended up running through the whole day. This included our “The High Spirits Lounge” signage at our bar, at the venue entrance and all the stations we set up,” they explained. “Luckily, things like our wishing well were all in suitcases. (Which made it easy to pack everything up at the end!) We even made our chilli oil as a party favour to give to guests! We also made our own audio guestbook using an old Telcom touch-tone phone from the house that we first lived in 13 years ago. Most important was our wedding rings, which, with the help of the immensely talented Kimba Pham, were made almost entirely by us, almost from scratch!”

We mentioned Hayley’s flare for dramatics in the beginning, but she wanted to reaffirm that love (and her love for tinsel) with this stunning Rachel Burke tinsel dress she changed into for the reception! With another set of incredible statement sleeves to add to our inspo collection.

It was really important for Hayley and Jack that their beautiful dog Gretel played a major part in their colourful destination wedding – and she took that role to heart. “She was the star of the show – wandering around the reception venue stealing all the leftover food she could handle!”

Not wanting to draw too much attention to them, Hayley and Jack did a quick little boogy to “Groove Is In The Heart” by Dee-Lite for their first dance. “We wanted to continue the camp vibes through the whole wedding and thought that song reflected us perfectly. It was also quite short because we’re both quite definitely NOT dancers, so we kind of just flailed around with the dog for half the song until everyone else jumped in on the dance floor.”

Planning a wedding is no easy feat, but when you have the right vendors on your dream team – it becomes a whole lot more fun. When we asked Hayley and Jack who their favourite was, they asked back, “Are we allowed to say “all of them”??”

“We were very intentional with who we chose; honestly, they were all incredible. Zee kept everything running smoothly in the face of immense heat and injected the humour that we were looking for throughout the whole day.

The Melbourne Cocktail Co. created an awesome drinks menu, squeezed as much out of our budget as humanly possible, making it seem more like a professionally run bar than a wedding reception.

Our delicious pizzas and lasagnas from Fratellinos were delivered by ute in waves across the whole night through the heat to our chief waitress, Vered, whose attention to detail (not to mention her special care for Gretel, taking her out to the toilet a heap of times across the evening) was unsurpassed.

Bianco Latte appeared in the middle of the reception, quietly set up in the corner, and gave everyone more gelato than they could handle, making the perfect dessert.

This is in addition to the venues looking flawless (even after one caught fire the week prior) and our photographer Georgia Wiggs and her wife getting heat stroke, taking astounding photos that captured the whole day beautifully. I know it sounds super cliche, but without all of these people going above and beyond, the day would’ve quickly fallen apart, so it’s hard to even try to pick one.”

Hayley Met Georgia Wiggs during the pandemic, and as soon as she found out Georgia was a wedding photographer, she knew that their meeting was fate! “As dramatic as we are, neither one of us is that keen to jump in front of a camera, so it was important that we had a photographer that we both felt comfortable with and that captured the candid moments of the day. On the day Georgia and her wife Cat came and made us feel so at ease, they spoiled us both, and Cat got the best stop-motion photos!”

psst! Check out that video here.

Another really important element Hayley and Jack were set on was having good music! “Luckily, we managed to get a hold of one half of underground dance duo Love Sensation, DJ Lou Rose, who played a non-stop mix of incredible disco, boogie and funk tracks which kept most of the guests dancing until we all got kicked out at the end of the night.”

One of Jack’s most memorable moments was at the end of the night when he talked to Hayley’s uncle while he was breakdancing. “We’d heard of horror stories where guests left wedding receptions shortly after they started because they didn’t want to be there, so I’d thought that if we managed to keep everyone there having fun til at least 9:30 pm (5.5 hours after we’d started), we’d done our jobs and people had enjoyed themselves. I explained this to said uncle (who’d just finished doing the worm in the middle of the dancefloor) when he pointed out that it was 10:30 pm already; I hadn’t noticed because most of the guests were still having fun.”

Congratulations, Hayley and Jack – your colourful destination wedding was incredible to witness! And thanks to Georgia Wiggs for capturing and sharing it with us.