Fun Cocktail Wedding at Guildford Hotel

What started as a professional partnership evolved into a full-blown rom-com, minus the credits. Bridget and Dan met at work, and their shared love of animals (and post-shift drinks) led to something so much more. Their fun cocktail wedding, held at the enchanting Sunken Garden and later at the iconic Guildford Hotel, was a reflection of everything they value most: colour, connection, a good cheeseburger spring roll… and of course, their late dog Kimba! Sunny Daze Creative and JCinematics captured every magical moment as it happened – let’s dive in!

Bridget and Dan were paid to fall in love… at least, that’s how it felt to them! “Dan was a dog handler at the airport, and I wanted to be one! I was essentially his assistant and followed him and his detector dog, Timmy, around the airport. We spent many nights together and had the most fun. We would bring each other dinners and go for a drink after work. Our joint love/obsession with dogs and animals is ultimately what brought us together,” Bridget shared.

The first thing that gave away Dan’s surprise at proposing was how insistent he was on going on a picnic in the middle of the day with temperatures over 40 degrees. The second thing was their friend sticking out of a bush, taking photos of the two of them. And even though his watch kept pinging with text after text asking if Bridget said yes, she was still so surprised when he finally asked the question! “Dan went to such a big effort and organised our friends to meet us for the picnic afterwards to celebrate with drinks. Let’s just say we were all sweating by the end of it!”

The University of Western Australia is home to a gorgeous spot called the Sunken Garden, an intimate amphitheatre surrounded by ponds and breathtaking gardens – the perfect location to kick off this fun cocktail wedding. “The ceremony was intimate, with approximately 25 guests, and this venue was perfect. It was a beautiful hidden garden which provided a stunning green backdrop.”

With how vibrant and luscious these flowers look, you wouldn’t even know that a majority of them were fake! The talented Jane from Weddings and Events by Bella seamlessly blended fake and real flowers to create this incredible final look. “Because we didn’t have a bridal party, I felt we could go really all out with the colours and went with bright oranges, yellows, reds, and pinks, which really popped against my white dress.”

Dan wore a classic black and white suit and bow tie combo, entering the ceremony to his own entrance, accompanied by his favourite Metallica song.

“I remember the 10 minutes I had to myself before entering the ceremony. I felt nervous and excited, as if time had stood still. I was excited to see Bridget walking down the aisle and, in particular, how amazing I knew she would look. I just remember it all happened so fast, and I wish I could go back and relive the day over again. It really was the best day of my life marrying my Bridget.” he shared.

“The Scientist” by Coldplay began to float through the air as Bridget walked down the stairs and aisle with her sister and father, just in case she needed help with her dress. She’d spent the morning slowly getting ready with her sister, making espresso martinis and enjoying breakfast together. “It just felt so relaxed and we listened to the parent trap soundtrack all morning. My sister lives overseas, and we are really close, so it was so special to spend this time together.”

Dan and Bridget have a reputation for being unorganised and only left themselves seven months to plan their wedding from scratch! Within that time, Bridget found her dream dress, complete with a strapless neckline, flowing from the waist and paired it with a pearl veil. “The first shop I looked at wasn’t the best experience, unfortunately, and that night I was frantically looking online and came across a dress on a Lutka Boutique’s Instagram that I fell in love with. The next day I called the shop stressing out and the girl on the phone was such an angel and told me although that dress is out of my price range to come down and have a look around anyway and they will find me something. I went down,, and the owner was kind enough to offer the dress I had called about off the rack at a heavily discounted price,, which I could take home that day. It was so special that they did that for me and took all the stress away,” Bridget explained.

The ceremony was super intimate, with only 25 of their closest loved ones. After their celebrant, Holly Ferguson, had finished all the formalities, they had a champagne tower. “The champagne tower was heaps of fun (who knew they took so long to fill!) and nice to celebrate with after the ceremony, cheering with everyone. We wanted it to feel relaxed and intimate, which we achieved. We did our personal vows, and our celebrant read out the story of how we met.”

One of Bridget’s favourite shots of the whole day was the aisle dip at the end of their ceremony! “You can see our guests in the background smiling and there are bubbles everywhere.”

Since the ceremony was held in a garden, confetti is a big no-no. Instead, Bridget and Dan decided bubbles would be a fun way to celebrate! “We ordered these bubble guns online, spray painted them white and stuck big bows on them for our nieces and nephews to use. We then had smaller bubble blower tubes for the other guests, which we stuck personalised gold stickers on.”

Another fun detail they included was using Dan’s 1988 Volvo Wagon as their wedding car, saying, “We decked it out with a massive white bow and a just married sign on the back. We drove this from the ceremony to home before getting an Uber to the reception and got lots of beeps and whistles!”

Amy Jaye from Sunny Daze Creative was the chosen photographer for this fun cocktail wedding, and from their first impression of her Instagram, Dan and Bridget were instantly drawn to her style. “Her photos just looked so effortless. What I loved was AJ’s energy. She made us both feel confident in front of the camera and gave us heaps of direction but also took into consideration any photos we particularly wanted. I loved getting the sample photos through, and it just felt so exciting whenever she sent some more. We love our photos so much, and she captured our day perfectly.”

As they’d left the planning late, Bridget couldn’t confidently say she LOVED doing it, but one particular moment stood out to her. “One thing that did stick out was sitting on our couch late one night, making our music selections for our DJ. It was so much fun listening to our favourite songs and finding songs that everyone likes to dance to,” she explained.

Of all these incredible details and moments from Bridget and Dan’s fun cocktail wedding, these five stood out the most:

“1. Using Dan’s car as our wedding car (we had our first kiss in that car!)

2. The reception was where our first date was.

3. Our dog Kimba’s special candle and photo.

4. We had friends and family fly in from all over the world and interstate for the wedding, which was really special, and we are so grateful for it.

5. We had a photo booth with a bright flower wall as the background, that perfectly matched our flowers. Everyone loved the photo booth in particular our nephew who managed to get in 90% of the photos!”

For the cocktail reception part of the celebration, Bridget and Dan chose the Guildford Hotel as their venue. “We had about 80 people and hired out a room upstairs, but they basically gave us the entire upstairs floor to use, including our own bar and balcony. We had our first date at the Guildford Hotel, and it’s around the corner from the home we bought together, so it is really special to us. We are obsessed with their cheeseburger spring rolls, and we’re lucky enough to be able to have that on the menu!”

They created a DIY lolly bar, full of all their favourite lollies and chocolates – and it was a massive hit with their guests! “The lolly bar was conveniently stationed next to the dance floor, so most people would dance with a handful of lollies. Our nieces and nephews were also big fans and enjoyed the sugar hit.”

While their vendor team was incredible all around, one vendor really stood out to Bridget: Jane from Wedding and Events by Belle! “We met with Jane a number of times and I am the most indecisive person so I can imagine I was a bit of a nightmare. Jane brought what I had in my head to life and did such an incredible job. Whenever we met, Jane would just agree with everything and tell me she would make it happen, and she did. The styling was phenomenal.”

On a sadder note, their beautiful dog Kimba had passed away only three weeks before the wedding. It’s never easy losing a pet, especially one you thought would be there to share in the joy of your wedding. To honour her, Bridget and Dan set up a photo of her at the bar with a memorial candle and a sign saying, “This candle burns in memory of our Kimba”. “We also made dog treat bags for everyone’s dogs and had these next to the candle for people to take in her honour.”

“Yellow” by Coldplay is one of the songs that defines their relationship and means a lot to both Bridget and Dan, so it was no surprise to their guests that they chose it for their first dance! “I YouTubed a couple of moves we could do for the intro and then just swayed back and forth and laughed during the whole thing! Halfway through the song, the DJ invited everyone to join us, which I’m so glad everyone did, and we sang along to Yellow. I felt the song was perfect because everyone knows the words.”

Bridget even surprised Dan with indoor sparklers! “They went off during our first dance and it was so special and such a surprise for him.”

A piece of advice Dan and Bridge want to leave behind for future couples planning their own dream weddings is this: “The best part is letting go of all the stress and worry the night before because you have to trust your vendors that they will make your day everything you wanted.”