Shirley and Sam’s romantic wedding at Stones of the Yarra Valley, begins with a serendipitous swipe that led to a first date at one of Sydney’s most iconic coastal walk’s. This soon blossomed into a love that culminated in a romantic proposal at Bali’s Pura Lempuyang Temple.
Their wedding was a dreamy blend of elegance and heartfelt moments. From a custom-made Italian silk gown and timeless black tux to soft blush and white florals, every detail was thoughtfully curated by the couple themselves. Despite the rain, the day exceeded their expectations, with magical moments like a slow dance with all the couples, heartfelt speeches, and a fun witness lottery. Their wedding was a testament to the joy of embracing the unexpected and celebrating love with their nearest and dearest.
Thank you to bride, Shirley for sharing all the fabulous details with us today on Polka Dot You!
We met with the help of technology (a simple swipe) about 6 years ago. Our first date was at the scenic (and famous) coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi in Sydney. The first date ended up being 8 hours long and many more long dates followed that! Sam proposed on the second day of our holiday in Bali at Pura Lempuyang Temple (Gates Of Heaven). We woke up at 4am that day to beat the tourist crowds and watched the sunrise behind the mountains. There were locals at the temple helping take photos for everyone, but you only had time to do about 4-5 poses before the next people in line. When it was our turn, we did our poses and when we heard “final pose”, Sam got down on one knee.
I asked him to stand up and told him that it wasn’t funny (thinking he was copying the pose of an earlier couple who were joking around), but when I saw the ring box appear and heard people start cheering, I realised what was happening and was completely stunned.
Sam wore a timeless black tux that was custom made by Woolcott St. in Sydney. The suit and shirt were tailored to his measurements and his initials were embroidered on the sleeves for an extra personal touch.
My dress was custom made by Eva Tomala from D’Italia. It was a simple and elegant Italian Mikado silk dress with a dramatic 3 metre long train.
I had tried on countless dresses, but never felt like I had found “the one”, so I decided to explore the option of couture. Despite us living interstate in Sydney, Eva was able to accommodate her schedule for my fittings whenever we were in Melbourne. There were some hiccups along the way such as the skirt having to be remade a few weeks before the wedding, but overall, it was an incredible experience and I felt very involved in the process from start to finish.
My dress was absolutely perfect, and I received so many compliments on the day.
In the bridal party, we had four bridesmaids (including another Shirley) and four groomsmen (including another Sam) – our closest friends who we’ve known for almost 20 years.
The style, theme and atmosphere for the wedding was dreamy, romantic, and elegant.
For the flowers, we chose, soft dusty blush and white modern florals, including roses, delphiniums, baby’s breath, snap dragons, hydrangeas with silvery tone foliage (olive, wattle, fine leaf gum).
We live in Sydney and Sam is originally from Melbourne, so we wanted to choose a venue in Melbourne. We inspected a lot of difficult venues all over Melbourne, but there was just something special about Stones when we went to see it and we knew this was where we wanted to get married.
My dad walked me down the aisle to ‘I Can’t Help Falling In Love’ that was performed by our musicians on the piano and cello.
We wanted the ceremony to be formal, but not too serious. Our celebrant, Megan Watson was amazing and made our ceremony feel light and funny. We loved the way she told our story and it felt perfectly romantic.
We designed and printed our own welcome signs. We also assembled and tied the ribbons on the wedding favour bags with our families.
In terms of other special details, we loved the chandeliers and draping on the pillars for the reception. We had no stylist or wedding planner, so we spent a lot of time researching and planning the styling and decor details ourselves. They ended up looking amazing and we loved how it all came together with flowers and stationery.
All our vendors were honestly incredible, but a special thanks has to go to Youki from Sugar Bee Flowers. We had a very specific vision for the flowers, but Youki made everything work within our budget. She was so friendly, patient, and accommodating, and made sure everything was stress-free. The ceremony and reception florals turned out to be everything that we had dreamed of and so much more. We were completely blown away!
If I had to pick just one favourite photograph, it would maybe this one below.
Our photographers, Daniel and Olivia of Lost In Love Photography, were such lovely people and made us feel so comfortable and calm on the day. They were the first vendors that we booked for our wedding and we’re so glad that we were able to have them for our special day!
We couldn’t pick a favourite song, so we chose to do our first dance to a wedding song mashup by Ni/Co that included some of our favourite songs. We practiced at the venue on the day before the wedding and kept facing the wrong way or making mistakes, so we were a bit worried. Luckily everything went well on the day, and everyone loved it -both the dance and the song!
5 things, which made the wedding special:
- Looking out at our guests seated in the chapel and realising at that moment that all of our favourite people were right there in front of us, from all around the world, and smiling back at us
- We invited all the couples onto the dance floor for a slow dance to ‘Perfect’ by Ed Sheeran. It was so special to look around and see everyone lost in their own little moment on the dance floor. So much love!
- The speeches from the bridal party and our dads made us laugh, cry, and then laugh and cry at the same time
- We did a witness lottery and picked our witnesses from a box that had the names of all our guests. It was so much fun, and we loved seeing everyone’s reactions!
- The first look was such an intimate and special moment to us before the guests started arriving. It also helped calm our nerves before the ceremony!
Don’t sweat the small stuff and just enjoy the day! It rained on our wedding day, and I thought that would be my worst nightmare, but it was honestly perfect and just so “us.” I loved the way the light reflected onto the raindrops on the glass, the way our bridal party stood and laughed with us in the rain, how the atmosphere felt so magical and ethereal.
The way that the day wasn’t anything like the way we had imagined. It was so much better! All the things that we thought would matter the most, didn’t matter at all, and all the things that we didn’t care too much about ended up being some of our favourite moments.
A huge thanks to you Shirley and Sam for sharing your beautiful wedding celebration with our audiences. Absolutely love the photographs from Lost In Love Photography as well. All the very best with everything!
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