A decade into marriage, love often speaks in quieter, steadier ways. For Jessica and Adrian, renewing their vows in the Blue Mountains wasn’t about recreating a wedding day or following tradition; it was about pausing in the midst of real life and consciously choosing each other again. Designed to be intimate, family-centred and neurodivergent-friendly, their vow renewal made space for emotion over expectation. Set against the ancient beauty of Mermaids Cave,  just moments from the land where they’ll soon build their family home. This deeply personal celebration was beautifully captured by Who Shot The Photographer, and we’re so pleased to be sharing every thoughtful, heartfelt detail with you here on Polka Dot You today.

We met the modern way, on a dating app, where I somehow thought posting my special effects makeup portfolio (zombie fingers) as my display picture was a great draw card. We talked online for months before I realised Adrian wasn’t going to make the first move, so I made it for him by showing up to his workplace unannounced. I always say it’s lucky I was only 20, and my frontal lobe wasn’t fully developed yet, because any older and I would’ve realised how ridiculous and irresponsible that plan was. Thankfully, it worked. We’ve been laughing (and choosing chaos at times) ever since.

Our engagement was perfectly us – slightly messy, unintentionally funny, and rooted in real life rather than romance movie choreography.

Adrian proposed on 10th January 2015 at the Hilton Sydney. I was halfway through doing my makeup, one eyelash on, lash glue literally in my eye, when I spun around to find him on one knee, anxious, determined, and finally holding the ring we’d bought a full year earlier and then left in the linen cupboard like absolute lunatics. I said yes with one blurry eye, glue still drying. It was imperfect, unfiltered, and completely ours.

We met on 5th September 2011, got married on 5th September 2015, and renewed on 5th September 2025.

We renewed our vows at Mermaids Cave, a hidden pocket of the Blue Mountains, nestled in the Megalong Valley. It felt ancient, untouched and protective. It was just us, the kids, and the sound of water echoing through the trees. Only later (after choosing this pot) did we realise Mermaids Cave was minutes from the land we eventually purchased to build our family home. Without knowing it, we reaffirmed our promises right beside the place where our future was waiting for us. It still gives me goosebumps.

Our vow renewal plans were put into motion after our youngest found our wedding album and was confused as to why he wasn’t there. When we told him, “You weren’t born yet,” he replied, “Was I dead?”

He couldn’t comprehend a time that we existed without him, and honestly, it doesn’t even seem like there was a time without him or his sister. That’s why a renewal was so important to us. To recognise this new phase of our life as a family. Letting our children witness our story from the very beginning felt important. We also included them in the ring exchange, asking them to hold the rings tightly and think about what they love about our family. It turned a symbolic moment into something deeply personal that they could be involved with.

Ten years in, love feels different, deeper, warmer, and a little wiser for the storms and sunshine it has moved through. Renewing our vows wasn’t about recreating a wedding; it was about pausing in the midst of real life and saying, we still choose this. We still choose each other. We designed our vow renewal to feel soft, family-centred, and neurodivergent-friendly with no rigid timelines, no forced participation, no “stand here, smile now” moments. Just space. Space for emotion, curiosity, comfort, and quiet joy. Our children were invited to be involved however they wished, drifting in and out with the freedom to be fully themselves. Nothing was staged, yet everything felt perfectly intentional simply because it came from our hearts.

There was a beautiful serendipity woven into the day, too. Long before we had any idea, we’d be building our family home, we chose this particular spot to renew our vows… and only later realised our new land, the home where we will continue to grow, laugh, and live out the promise of our vows, sits just up the road. It feels like life knew before we did, quietly nudging us toward a future that already had our names written on it.

The renewal wasn’t grand or elaborate. It was honest and intimate, filled with the kind of love that understands presence matters more than performance. A soft reminder that marriage is not one big moment, but a collection of everyday choices, held together by patience, humour, devotion, and the gentle courage to grow, separately and together.

A vow renewal isn’t starting again; it’s continuing, consciously. A quiet celebration of then, now, and everything waiting for us just around the corner, in a home built on the same foundation as our marriage: love, resilience, and a shared commitment to the life we’re creating, one decade at a time. Moments like these tend to echo, and this one feels like it will echo for years. Where you renew your vows, and then build your future just down the road from where you promised it.

We didn’t do a traditional aisle. Instead, the four of us, me, Adrian, and the kids, all walked together through the forest path into Mermaid’s Cave. No choreography, no pressure, just our little family taking the steps side by side. We played “I Won’t Give Up,” which is a reimagined version of our original first dance song. It made the moment feel full circle in the most emotional way.

The ceremony was intimate, relaxed and pure. Designed first and foremost to be child-friendly, neurodivergent friendly, and stress-free. We wanted warmth, family connection, and a calm, grounded energy rather than theatrics. Think heartfelt over flashy, thoughtful over traditional, and a focus on presence and authenticity.

Our original wedding day highlight was… leaving early to eat Domino’s in our hotel room. That should tell you everything. Ten years later, standing in front of a secluded waterfall with our two kids climbing over us between vows, we finally had a wedding moment that felt like “us” in the best possible way. We still ended the night with pizza in a hotel room, but this time it was with our 2 children, jumping on the be,d and our Autistic daughter telling us she loved us and loved our family (extremely rare for her), unprompted and spontaneously.

Working with James from Who Shot The Photographer was, without question, one of the best decisions we made for our vow renewal. He has this almost supernatural ability to be everywhere at once while remaining completely unseen. Because of him, we weren’t performing for a came; a, we were simply there, fully in the moment, connected and our kids. Everything with James was seamless. Nothing felt staged, rushed, or difficult. It was all ease. But the experience is only half of it.

His work? It’s art. Pure art.
James doesn’t take photos; he documents living memories. Every image carries movement, emotion, and an honesty that makes you forget it’s a still frame. His photos feel alive, like you could step back into the moment just by looking at them.

We are genuinely blown away. James, thank you for translating our vision so beautifully and for giving us an experience and photographs that we will treasure for the rest of our lives.

We wanted a ceremony built around honesty and presence. Our original wedding was beautiful but traditional, full of people we didn’t know, and didn’t really feel like us. This time, we designed everything around our happiness and reflected ourselves authentically, not what was expected of us. This was important for us both, but especially for the kids. They were invited to move, wander, explore and speak freely. Our celebrant guided us through a ceremony that felt more like storytelling and a walk through the life we have built together,r rather than structure and typical format. It was reflective, emotional, and the most “seen” we’ve ever felt as a couple.

Both our celebrant and our photographer shaped this renewal into something far more meaningful than a simple ceremony. Kyle Stewart, in particular, transformed the entire experience from “planning a vow renewal” into something deeply personal. We genuinely struggled to answer his questionnaire on paper, so we filmed ourselves interviewing each other instead – a chaotic, heartfelt little project that any other celebrant might have rolled their eyes at. But Kyle didn’t.

He watched those videos closely, paying attention not just to our words but to our reactions, our pauses, the way we looked at one another. He learned who we were as a couple in a way text never could have captured, ed and he even managed to draw out my notoriously shy husband, uncovering the depth behind Adrian’s vows and honouring that in the ceremony he wrote for us.

Kyle held space for us to be ourselves, which was awkward, emotional, and honest, and he crafted a ceremony that felt like someone had opened the book of our lives and read it aloud with kindness.

Then there was our photographer, James, who didn’t just document the day; he helped us feel it. Instead of posing us or directing us, he asked gentle, thoughtful questions. Those prompts pulled us instantly into our own world, reflecting, smiling, tearing up,p and suddenly the camera disappeared. There was no awkwardness, no stiffness, no awareness of being photographed. Just the two of us reliving a decade of life together, wrapped up in a love we’ve built brick by brick.

The result? Candid shots that feel like memories, not portraits. Images that look effortless because the emotion behind them was effortless.

Kyle and James weren’t just vendors. They were the ones who elevated the entire experience, making the journey to the vow renewal as meaningful as the ceremony itself.

The 5 things that made our wedding special to us were:

  1. A ceremony built entirely around who we actually are as a family.
  2. Renewing our vows metres from the land that would become our future home.
  3. Letting the kids be themselves — no expectations, no forced roles
  4. Reclaiming our wedding experience with intention and honesty
  5. Choosing our small but perfect team of vendors. People who made us feel comfortable, encouraged us to be 100% ourselves and step away from the people-pleasing mindset we had when we planned our 2015 wedding.

 

My advice to future couples is to build a day that reflects who you actually are, not who you think you’re supposed to be. Traditions are optional, expectations are noise, and perfection is a myth. What lasts is the feeling. The connection, the comfort, the little moments where you look at each other and think, “This is why we’re doing this.” Honour that, and everything else will fall into place.

A heartfelt thank you to Jessica and Adrian for sharing such an intimate and meaningful chapter of their story with us. Their vow renewal is a beautiful reminder that love doesn’t have to be loud to be powerful. Sometimes, the quiet moments say the most.