Brianna and Brody’s fun-filled wedding at Worrowing Jervis Bay, was a celebration full of heartwarming moments, personal touches, and vibrant energy. It was truly everything they dreamed of, set against the stunning backdrop of Worrowing, a beautiful South Coast venue in New South Wales known for its breathtaking gardens. From the light-hearted ceremony to a dance floor that never stopped, this couple wanted their guests to feel the fun from start to finish. Despite the stress of potential rain, the sun shone brightly on their day, making their outdoor garden wedding even more magical. Enjoy reading more about their stunning wedding Dotties! 

We met at our job at the end of 2015. Bri worked on the front desk and Brody worked in the gaming area – it was like an RSL. We started texting and sharing DM’s via social media in January after Brody purposefully made a “like for an inbox” status when we had just become Facebook friends. We then went on our first date in February 2016.

It wasn’t until we were filling out all of our pre-wedding forms, which asked how we met, that I discovered that Brody had made that inbox about 2 minutes after I accepted his friend request in the hopes of me liking it. I always thought it was a coincidence, how naïve of me.. hahaha!

For the proposal, Brody planned a beautiful day out, full of all our favourite things. We had a day in the city which involved lunch, cocktails, an escape room, and a harbour walk. We then returned home to balloons filled in our new house, with pictures of the two of us attached to the balloons, with reasons as to why they were Brody’s favourite memories. Then, the trail of balloons led to a final note saying what he loved about me, and I turned around and he was on one knee. There was champagne and flowers to celebrate. We then went to dinner at our favourite restaurant and our closest family and friends were there to celebrate with us.

We always said we wanted the vibes to be light-hearted throughout the day and a party at night. We both love a crowded and pumping dance floor, so this was definitely the vibe. We wanted the style to be classic with pops of fun.

To coincide with our modern meets classic vibe, Brody tossed up between a white jacket and black pants, or an all black tuxedo. He ultimately decided on a black tuxedo with a satin lapel from Peter Jackson. It was a beautifully made tux and needed very little alterations. We were worried the whites in a jacket would clash with the colour of my dress, so decided to keep it simple. I gifted him a pair of socks with our dog’s face on it for the wedding day because we couldn’t have her there.

I wore a stunning 3-piece outfit from ARA Experience. I tried a few traditional wedding dress shops but was intrigued by ARA’s business model. They offer module pieces in a broad range of sizes and styles so you can basically build your own dress.

I ended up using a style I had tried on at another place for inspiration, but basically created my dress from scratch with the help of the owner and samples they had made. I then decided that I wanted a short dress for my reception (cause duh), and we ended up making the dress into 3 pieces, a bodice with sleeves, a long gown skirt and a short skirt. It made the overall price more affordable and of course was an awesome reveal when all my guests realised that my dress was in fact not a dress! I went for a modern meets classic vibe, and I loved it so much.

We had one maid of honour, Jema (Bri’s bestie) and a best man, Jake (Brody’s younger brother). Jema was in a beautiful long black dress and Jake was in a black suit, also from Peter Jackson. Brody’s little cousin Emme was our flower girl, and she wore a stunning white dress and our page boy, our nephew Bentley wore the cutest little matching tux to Brody. Again, we wanted to keep these elements simple, and the black looked very timeless and really made our florals pop.

We chose Worrowing, Jervis Bay as our wedding venue, as we wanted a destination wedding feel, without having to go too far from home. Worrowing offered accommodation options for 41 people onsite, which complemented our dream of having a welcome dinner and morning after breakfast. The team at Worrowing were amazing and the grounds were gorgeous. We got married under the trees of the Manchurian pear walk and we loved that space so much. We loved the flow of ceremony to cocktail hour to reception. It was a different vibe in each space, which is what made it so perfect.

My beautiful dad walked me down the aisle to “Yellow” by Coldplay. It was sung by a live acoustic duo, Tim and Paul from Tillee Music.

We had Todd from Married By Todd as our civil celebrant. He was exactly the vibe we were after; fun, light-hearted, emotional, and intimate (despite having 120 guests). We had Brody’s aunty do a reading, which she wrote herself.
Todd created such an intimate vibe, he did a beautiful acknowledgement of the country we were gathered on, shared our story in the perfect way and made as feel both at ease.

We used Birdy+Bell for our florals – a florist local to where we live and someone we worked with at the job we met at! We wanted the flowers to reflect the fun and party vibes that we envisioned for the day. We had ranunculus, which were special to us as well as roses and orchids, which were also sentimental. Florals were quite a big focus for our day, and we decided on pinks, reds, lilacs, purples and minimal foliage to really have those colours as a focus. We really didn’t want to do all white despite it being classic, we wanted something fun!

We were probably the least traditional wedding I have ever been to! We included some sentimental items on my bouquet, and my mum gifted me my handkerchief from my christening bonnet from when I was a baby, which was so sweet. I also got gifted a book of photos and letters from the important ladies in my life, which will be cherished forever.

Favourite part about wedding planning – I loved planning ALL of it. It was stressful at times, but I honestly fell in love with it. I am such a planner and work in the events space so was quite comfortable planning but seeing all the people I love together in one place, watching me marry my best friend was by far, the best part.

Brody stated that his favourite moment from the day was seeing Bri walk down the aisle and when he could finally call Brianna his wife. He also loved getting to spend so much time on the dance floor, partying with his new wife and their amazing friends and family members.

I did DIY for all the signage and stationery, including our welcome sign (with the help of Dad and Brody). This also included our invitations and save the dates, our menus, place cards and table numbers. I also created the seating chart and got it printed at a local printer and all the other little signage throughout the wedding, including decals on a mirror for selfies!

We didn’t love the look of flower corsages for the women in our lives so instead, Brody gave all the women (my Mum, his Nanna, Mum, and Step-Mum) a single stem, flexed rose. It was such a nice detail to signify the important women in our lives before I walked down the aisle. We also had a gelato cart for dessert (very well-liked), an espresso martini tower instead of a cake cutting, individually written place cards for every person with a memory or message as to why they are important to us.

I loved our mirror and the way we incorporated our pets in the details too (they were our table names). I also included my great grandmother’s brooch and grandmother’s ring on my bouquet which was very special.

I would say that the place cards were my favourite detail of the wedding day, because we received such beautiful feedback from everyone about them… but honestly, I couldn’t fault anything about the day.

I loved all our photos in the gardens. The smile on our faces walking back down the aisle is priceless.

I think the best story from the day is that it bucketed down rain in the 2 days leading up to the wedding, which was my worst nightmare. We had a solid wet weather plan, but with the main vision being those beautiful gardens at Worrowing, I started to become super stressed the night before with no end in sight for the rain. The night before, just before going to sleep I asked my great grandmother and grandmother who had passed, to please make the rain stop. The rain continued the morning of the wedding, and it was looking like we would have to go to plan B. I didn’t want to make the call because I didn’t want to make the wrong decision so left it up to my coordinator. As it got closer and closer and a decision was imminent, the rain stopped, and the sun came shining down on the venue. I literally cried. I was in the middle of getting my makeup done. We decided to go ahead as planned and there was not one more drop of rain the rest of the day.

We chose “XO” by Beyonce. Brody wanted the John Mayer version, but he was willing to compromise as the Beyonce version gave that perfect mix of love and party to open the dance floor. I choreographed the dance, and we practiced quite a bit leading up to the day.

Our photographer was Alex from Olguin Photography. We fell in love with his style after being recommended to him by our venue. He was so easy to work with and made us feel comfortable in front of the camera. We were so happy with how our photos turned out.

We loved all our vendors, they all worked together so seamlessly, and I did not feel stressed at all. But one that I underestimated their impact was the Wedding & Event Creators. When we were initially booking everything, people suggested that a coordinator surely wasn’t necessary, however, I had done my research and as much as I love to be in control, I wanted to enjoy my day. Having Emily there was such a blessing, she was incredible! They were so easy to work with in the lead up to the day and always got back to me so quickly. We hired some items from them, and they all looked perfect. We were so happy that this extra stressor was removed from us for our special day.

Five things which made our wedding special:

1. Getting married to my best friend (DUH)!
2. Having all our special people involved.
3. Spending as much time with hubby on the day.
4. Forgetting traditions and doing what felt right to us.
5. Including lots of different details that were meaningful.

Ask for help when you need it – delegate!! If you need a planner, get one! Remember, the day is about you – don’t let others’ opinions get to you. Forget traditions – do what feels right. Try to not leave each other’s sides throughout the day (this was some advice I had received from other people and so glad we did this).

A heartfelt thank you to Brianna and Brody for sharing your beautiful and fun-filled wedding celebration with Polka Dot You. It was an absolute pleasure to feature such a unique celebration and all the special details that made it so memorable!