Karen and Evan’s fun micro-wedding in Lennox Gardens, Canberra was a celebration of love, connection, and the beauty of simplicity. Held at the picturesque Lennox Gardens, their intimate ceremony embraced iconic Canberra locations and meaningful moments shared with close family and friends. With Karen’s family joining virtually from Ireland and a follow-up celebration in her hometown, this couple crafted a uniquely personal experience. From DIY decorations to dancing at The Duxton, their day was a perfect blend of heartfelt details, fun, and a whole lot of love. A big thank you to bride, Karen for sharing all the lovely details. Enjoy our first Polka Dot You feature for 2025! 

We met on Bumble! I was travelling around Australia as a backpacker and landed in Canberra. We matched on Bumble and I asked him out to show me the best places to in Canberra. We clicked instantly and when I told him I was leaving Australia the next week he was so sad. We ended up going on 4 date nights that week! I came back to Australia a month later and the rest is history!

As for the proposal, we went for a weekend away to the Blue Mountains. Evan suggested we go watch sunset somewhere on our last night and have a picnic. He even suggested it would be nice if we “dressed up” and it didn’t click with me at all! Anyway, we were eating snacks and watching sunset at Lincoln’s Rock, Wentworth Falls. It was packed with people but we were just chilling. The sun was almost gone and most of the people too and Evan said “Kaz, I have a little surprise” and I honestly thought “ohh, what other snack has he got?” and then he popped the question! I was so oblivious until the end hahaha!

The couple had two weddings – one in Canberra and one in Ireland in Karen’s hometown the following week. Karen’s family attended the wedding via Zoom streaming. It was a small ceremony with just Evan’s family present, and all their Australian friends. Then served snacks, drinks and danced with their friends, and family at a local pub.

Karen’s only request for the photographs was ‘iconic Canberra locations’, so they got a bus stop, Lennox Gardens, Old Parliament House rose gardens, and Skyspace. They also set up their own photo booth for the evening too.

Most of the day was DIY. Definitely a chilled atmosphere with our most special people. No theme other than splashes of colour throughout the day. We wanted our photos to pop!

I wore a dress I found online! Its an Esty shop called Piondress. I always wanted to wear a midi dress with a sweetheart neckline and I found exactly what I wanted there so took the plunge and ordered it. The website is full of real bride reviews and they do custom sizes too. I was so impressed with the quality and fell in love with it immediately! Would highly recommend.

Evan says, “After Kaz didn’t like my old baggy suit, I decided I would try and get something special. I’d always wanted a tux and found an excellent local business called Black Tie By Xavier. His prices were really cost effective for such a special and well tailored suit. It made me feel very suave and special on the day.”

We kept things simple because we were having the two celebrations. So, we skipped the wedding party and just had two parties instead!

We loved the idea of an outdoor wedding. So we chose Lennox Gardens and hired some furniture from Dream Hire Design. We booked the section of the garden.

A lot of our decorations and signs were made by me. Everything was either from Kmart, Big W or Amazon. My favourites were the MR & MRS neon sign I found on Amazon and my arch streamers! I became obsessed with streamers and found loads of Etsy shops that made arches with them. In the end I found a $4 packet of streamers in Kmart and some string and spent a Sunday making it. It was exactly what I wanted.

I was so shocked at the cost of flowers! I think this happens to every bride. So I chose dried flowers. Thankfully I have an amazing friend with an eye for this sort of thing and she helped create my dream bouquet with bright sunflowers. There were meant to be other flowers dotted around the ceremony location, but I’m so glad we didn’t do this as they would have blown away with the wind.

Pinterest is a lifesaver for inspiration, but I would recommend to stop looking closer to the day or you’ll feel overwhelmed.

As my parents couldn’t make it to Australia, we chose to walk in to the ceremony together cause I didn’t want to do it alone.

Is it bad that we just wanted legals only? We just didn’t want any faff to be honest. Our celebrant Sarah Marie Tully was amazing though and made it so personal. She told our love story and made everyone laugh and cry. It was over in 20 mins which was perfect because we were freezing! Afterwards we had some photos and bubbles.

In Ireland, we had a wedding blessing in my local church. One of my favourite readings was “The Blessing Of The Hands” poem, it was lovely.

Favourite detail of the day was our vows. I loved that we wrote our own. They felt so special!

We really wanted a champagne toast after the ceremony. We purchased four bottles of Moet, an esky and Kmart champagne flutes. The action photos of this were great! We also got a friend to set up a video link for my parents, friends and family to dial in. It was so important to us for them to be included!

Some special stories from the day – both our celebrant and photographer had to last minute wrangle a bunch of groomsmen to put up the finishing decorations just moments before the wedding began. Also, sharing a special moment with family through the webcam. We also scheduled in 30 mins of downtime after the photos. So we got to relax in our apartment with our photographer, trying to regroup before moving on to our reception.

Catherine from Laconic Photographic was the most amazing photographer. She made us feel so comfortable on the day and could see straight away if we were feeling awkward about certain poses. She was so helpful with location ideas and was keen for any suggestions we threw her way. With Catherine, it just felt easy and we instantly knew we had made the right decision. The photos speak for themselves, she’s just amazing.

There were so many photographs of the day, it’s so hard to choose! I do love the one of me and Evan walking in the Old Parliament House Gardens and our Canberra bus stop photos!

Evan – I especially love the Canberra bus stop photos as they are quite playful and beautifully shot but, also love the colours and energy of the photos taken down the aisle.

Our reception was held in The Duxton pub in Canberra, the food and service was amazing. Great space for the amount of people we had.

Favourite part about planning the wedding was making the playlists! I became obsessed with curating the best wedding playlists. I had one for our ceremony, reception and dancing!

Evan – I most enjoyed getting to witness and join my wife in her nervous, bubbly energy on the day. Especially during our first look photographs and lead up to the ceremony. Another highlight was getting to finally share our personal vows with each other.

We never chose a first dance, but, accidentally, we were the only ones who danced to Daði Freyr, “Think About Things” because I forgot it was on the playlist and that no one would know the 2020 Icelandic Eurovision entry bar us lol! So it became our unofficial first dance.

Stand out vendors – Sarah Marie Tully was an amazing celebrant and went above and beyond our expectations on the day. Sugar Plum Fairy Cakes in Hall were also amazing to work with and their cake was delicious! Also, The Duxton were so easy to work with and made the whole process hassle free. And of course, our favourite, Catherine from Laconic Photographic.

Just do what makes you happy and forget about anyone else. I know it’s hard but the day is only about you and your partner, everyone will completely understand if you shake things up. Making a list of what’s important for you is also super helpful, so that you know what is essential and what is just an added bonus. I remember in the lead up to our day all I wanted was to get married, drink champagne with my new husband after the ceremony and have the truffle cheese toastie canapé at our reception. Lol! Anything else was just a bonus!

Thank you very much to Karen and Evan for sharing your lovely wedding with us and thanks also to Laconic Photographic for the wonderful photographs. Wishing you endless love and happiness for the future!