Vibrant Wedding at Fins At Plantation House

When Bronwyn and Jodie planned their wedding, they knew they wanted something that felt effortless, personal, and full of joy. Their journey together has taken them from Sydney to Oslo and back again, with adventure and laughter at every turn. So when they found Fins at Plantation House, it was the perfect place to bring everything they loved into one curated day, beautifully captured by Cloud Catcher Studio. With vibrant native florals, meaningful traditions, and a dance floor that never emptied, their vibrant wedding was a true reflection of them – laid-back, heartfelt, and unforgettable.

Let us set the scene – it was 2002, and Bronwyn and Jodie were both playing softball on opposing in the Gay Games in Sydney. And the moment Bronwyn caught sight of Jodie’s smile, her world was flipped upside-down! “She was hit with a ball during the game, and I started joking with her about her softball skills. Later that night, our teams were in the same nightclub, and we ended up talking and joking around. Nothing happened, and after the games, I went off to continue my backpacking around Australia, and somehow we reconnected, and I went back to Sydney to meet up, and the rest is history.”

Flash forward to when Jodie and Bronwyn were living in Oslo together, and Bronwyn had booked an extra special date night at FYR. “I got there early, gave the ring to the waiter, and asked that it be brought out with dessert on the side of the plate. When they bought dessert out, they had taken the ring out of the box and pushed it into the poached pear. The ring was pretty deep, so the waiter had to point it out in his description of the dessert, and Jodie had to literally dig it out.”

When they’d gotten back to Australia in January of 2024, Bronwyn and Jodie happened to stumble upon a wedding expo where they visited six venues across the weekend – and Fins at Plantation House happened to be their absolute favourite! “The venue felt right, had great views, and we loved the ceremony, dinner, photographs, and celebration could all happen in one place. The staff there were also amazing, so it was really easy to choose.”

These vibrant flowers are a beautiful combination of both Australian and South African natives, created by Byron Flowerista. “We both carried king proteas down the aisle. We had low vases on the tables with a mixture of long-lasting native and tropical Australian / South African flowers. At the end of the evening, the guests were given the flowers, including the vases, to take away with them. The florist also did sprays for the arbour which we later used around the cake!”

Gabrielle from Honey & Stone Events kicked off the ceremony by performing Beyonce’s rendition of “Ava Maria” as Bronwyn walked down the aisle with her parents. Jodie soon followed, with her own parents on either arm.

Bronwyn wore a classic cream suit she had tailored in Oslo, while Jodie wore an elegant silver paisley patterned suit. “We don’t really wear dresses, so we both chose to wear suits. Jodie used a tailor on the Gold Coast in Robina and as I was in Oslo at the time, I used a tailor here. I did not know what her suit looked like or what colour it was until she walked down the aisle. It was a great experience with us both creating our own look and having our own self-expression for the day.”

Within their wedding party, Bronwyn and Jodie just had their best person each and their MC. “We did not specify what they had to wear and asked them to wear what they wanted. Our best people had never met each other until the night before the wedding. On the wedding day, both of them ended up wearing something blue, so in the photographs, it looked really well coordinated.”

Wanting the ceremony to be laid back and fun, Bronwyn and Jodie really wanted to celebrate love with their closest friends and family, even having Jodie’s aunt as their celebrant!. “We included a reading from Bob Marley – He’s not perfect, but we changed the ‘He’ to a ‘She’. Our MC’s partner read it for us as we wanted to include our wedding parties partners in some part of the ceremony as well.”

Bronwyn’s favourite part of planning this beautiful wedding was working with their coordinator, Juliette! “We also loved choosing our flowers and music, as they really reflected the atmosphere we wanted to achieve.”

Cloud Catcher Studio was the photographer for Bronwyn and Jodie’s elegantly vibrant wedding – and did an incredible job of capturing the celebratory and laid-back vibes of the day. “We only met them after the ceremony as we did not have any photographs taken while getting ready. They made our guests and us feel at ease, and we hardly knew they were there. They captured the whole feeling of the wedding with the pictures that they took and feedback from our guests was that they really loved them as well. Would definitely highly recommend them!”

The top five things that made this vibrant wedding special were;

“1. All our family and closest friends came together to celebrate, and both our parents were present and gave us away.

2. Jodie’s aunt was our celebrant.

3. The staff at Plantation House / Finns were amazing, as was the food, and we were well taken care of.

4. The DJ was fantastic and had everyone on the dance floor most of the night.

5. The musician was perfect prior to the ceremony, starting with walking down the aisle and then post-ceremony.”

“Everything was so well organised and played out perfectly on the day… including the weather. I will always remember this day and the support and love everyone attending shared with us in celebrating our lives already spent together and witnessing our commitment to each other from here,” added Jodie.

Three vendors Bronwyn and Jodie want to shout out include:

“1. Our florist did an amazing job and really captured the South African / Australian theme. We wanted something very simple but striking, and she certainly achieved that on the tables by only having jute runs and then having very low vases with the flowers so that our guests could easily talk across the table.

2. That Good Dough, who made our cake, did an amazing job, and the stencilling also reflected the South African / Australian feel.

3. Fins did an amazing job with the food, and the staff at Plantation House was super professional and of top quality.”

Of all the beautiful photographs from this night, Bronwyn and Jodie couldn’t pick just one favourite, so they said instead: “The photographs of ourselves and our best persons, family shots, and then the photographs of everyone on the dance floor having fun.”

Their first dance was to “This Will Be An Everlasting Love” by Natalie Cole. Not wanting the attention solely on them for three minutes straight, Bronwyn and Jodie asked their MC/DJ to get everyone up and dancing 15 seconds after they started. “He made it fun by doing a countdown, and then everyone joined us.”