Zoe and Brendan’s fun and romantic DIY wedding in Mackay, was a heartfelt, non-traditional celebration filled with emotion, connection, and intentional details. Ditching formalities like flat lays and cake cutting, the couple focused on meaningful moments – including a private first look and signing their marriage certificates on each other’s backs as a symbol of mutual support. When Queensland’s wet season disrupted their garden plans, they pivoted indoors, later returning to the lush original location for couples’ portraits. Thank you so Zoe for sharing the details of their beautiful, personal and joy-filled wedding celebration!
We were associates through a mutual work place – Brendan has clients that were my volunteers. Maybe a few of my coworkers thought he was alright to look at! 😀
Bren loves photos and having memories to look back at, so I compiled a photo album with the last page being a proposal. I even had personalised wrapping paper made that had a really corny give away in the quote that he missed, but finally got the idea of what was happening when he saw the ring box. We are totally not traditional and live by this daily.
Brendan shopped local and had first envisioned a pale grey colour suit but once in store decided on his teal suit and a little nod to his go to colour with a black shirt. When we first met, Brendan lived in only black shirts.
Brendan has his best mate Nuey as his bestest man – he matched in with teal slacks, black and hints of teal in his accessories. We were stoked how this was pulled off. My eldest son last minute (the day prior) stepped up to be my “bridesmaid.” It was really fitting for him to be a part of this moment. He has been one of our biggest supporters. He wore a salmon colour linen jacket which gave me the little hint of pink I had been wanting..
I love funky sleeves, so I really wanted a dress that was fun, and not traditional. I went with a local dress maker who nailed my dress from some inspiration pics we pulled together. It was made from silk taffeta. The experience was a tad scary as two weeks out from the wedding there was no fabric. Definitely has made for great memories!
Our flowers were created by the beautiful Monique at Starcut. Growing up my grandma Bassett used to sing the song “Daisy Daisy” to me so the daisies were a nod to her and my grandpa who have both passed away. We also had carnations because this is Brendan’s birth flower and Gladiolus because that’s my birth flower. We wanted to keep to a white theme and everything tied together so beautifully.
We decided about 5 days out to move our wedding from being outdoors to indoors because of the rain! To be honest, our ceremony location was a matter of getting anything that was available at short notice. We ended up at the Andergrove Community Hall, but, we have said since the day we got the key to setup that it was meant to be. The timber floors made the details pop and the bonus was that it was air conditioned. We loved it.
We included special people that weren’t apart of our wedding party as key peeps. My best friend Ellise, was our ring bearer and exchanged our rings. Brendan’s cousin, Kyle was our MC and he also conducted our ceremony. We were officially married earlier with just our witnesses – we wanted that moment to be private, but we shared our vows at the ceremony with everyone.
We signed the marriage certificates on each other’s backs — a nod to always having each other’s backs.
We chose to not brand our wedding with our names , we wanted our day to be as much about us as it was about our guests rekindling or reminiscing about their love stories. So every little detail was made as a keepsakes for the guests.
We DIY’d loads – disco hanging rods and flower drops, backdrops, welcome signs, reserved chair sashes and signage. However, we also had great vendors enable a lot of our ideas.
We both got to walk the aisle! We decided early on we wanted to give a special moment to our mothers. Brendan and Tracie walked down to “There Will Be Days Like” sung by Busby Marou. Zoe and Sue walked to “Never Tear Us Apart” by Paloma Faith and we walked as a married couple to “Walking On Sunshine” from Katrina And The Waves. All songs had little hidden significances for us too that made them extra special.
We had a lil nod to the Irish in our family with a bell wand, waved as newlyweds walk the aisle to ward off evil spirits.
We only chose stand out vendors to be a part of our day. They were all amazing and did great things.
After the ceremony, we returned to the original garden location for couples’ photos, capturing the lush garden that we had originally envisioned.
The whole day was epic, for both of us – our first look and being back beside each was pretty special though! #clinger
Our favourite part of wedding planning was planning every detail together. There wasn’t an idea we didn’t run past each other or detail not explored.
Our photographer, Alyce is the most chilled person you could ask for. She listened to what we were dreaming about and delivered (plus some). When we look back at our photos, we are truly able to relive the moments. We loved having her be a part of our special day and for giving us the memories we now have.
Our wedding reception party was always going to be at Oceans. It’s our go to escape place when we want something a bit fancy. It’s the perfect location for a wedding. Narissa, Paul and Hannah were amazing they really helped make our evening fun.
We skipped the formal cake-cutting tradition, opting instead to “bring the cake to the party.”
Gosh, EVERY photograph is our fave. We loved that we had a couple of Insta shots that Alyce pulled off especially the car shot. Overall though, there’s a black and white shot in Queens where we were both pulling off the tight rope walk even though only one of us was requested too, so we are both caught in an absolute ruckus laugh.
Instead of a traditional photo booth, we created a personal touch by offering guest portraits against a backdrop. This was later gifted as keepsakes for guests.
For the first dance, we did it in reverse and bat our guests into the reception. We gave them a cocktail hour to get loose, and then a grand entrance with us welcoming them to the dance floor. After that, we formed a circle and had our first dance in the middle of all of our people. We danced to “Stand By Me” by Florence And The Machine.
5 things which made the wedding special:
- The people
- The photographer
- The atmosphere
- It was unique
- Us (hehehe)
We really wanted for everyone to have fun – and the day to be about all our love stories. But also, we wanted to give off romantic vibes with little hints of our individual personalities thrown in. A little nod to disco, retro, Vegas. We just loved how happy everyone was. There was not a single glitch, everyone raved about the food and the dancing. Everyone just enjoyed themselves. Best moment of all was that we flicked traditions, but still had them hidden in the day.
Don’t be afraid to DIY, share ideas in the lead up because it’s both your day. Also don’t feel pressured to keep to trends, traditions or what others want. On the wedding day itself, do not feel guilty for not getting to chat to everyone – guests can come to you and keep the flow going.
From Brendan – I would like to shout to my WIFE staying up to 2:30am setting up and creating the vibe she did in our reception, her attention to detail paid off, everyone walked in to a wow factor and loved the night we created for them.
A huge thank you to Zoe and Brendan for sharing your beautiful day with us on Polka Dot You. We adored every heartfelt detail – from the creative DIY touches to the meaningful ways you made the celebration truly your own. Your wedding is a wonderful reminder that the best celebrations are the ones that reflect who you are!
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