There are some weddings that feel thoughtfully crafted from beginning to end, where every detail carries a little piece of the couple. Sarah and Brendan’s Fremantle celebration was exactly that! From hand-painted touches to the venue that felt beautifully unexpected, their day was equal parts romantic and whimsical. What unfolded was a wedding full of pastel colours, uncontrollable laughter, and the kind of moments that had everyone leaning in. With Leah Goodman Photography on their team, each moment was beautifully captured – and we’ve been utterly captivated!

After matching on Bumble, Brendan and Sarah bonded over their shared love (and playful rivalry) of trivia! “I messaged him to say something about having been the reserve on my high school’s team for the quiz show, It’s Academic. Turns out Brendan was on his school’s team as well. A few dates in, we went on a date to a local pub quiz as a team of two. We were both a little conscious that we had each talked up our trivia skills and did not want to look like a fraud to the other by completely bombing out. Whilst we did not win, we both contributed a decent amount and were right up there in the scores. Since then, we make it a point every few months to go on a date night to a pub quiz, just us two,” she explained.

With their shared love and passion for cooking, Brendan and Sarah took turns experimenting with new dishes and cuisines. So nothing seemed suspicious to Sarah when Brendan was whipping up a surprise dish for the two of them. “He served up the meal and asked me if I knew the name of the dish. He said it was called marry me chicken and then he proceeded to get down on one knee and ask me to marry him. He’s also written the question on a card, so I grabbed a pen and promptly wrote yes on it!”

Brendan wore a classic, sleek black tuxedo from MJ Bale, with Sarah adding, “He is very classic with his styling, so we wanted something very simple but sophisticated.”

Luv Bridal in Cannington is where Sarah found her own gown. With a stunning V-neckline, off-shoulder neckline, and whimsical, floaty fabric, it was the perfect addition to their romantic whimsy vibe. “I was originally looking for something more minimal and understated. When the lovely sales assistant suggested this dress to me on my first try-on appointment, my three sisters instantly loved it, and it remained their favourite throughout the whole dress shopping process. I was surprised by how taken I was with the dress, but it took me a little while to decide if I could carry off just that little bit more drama. Looking back, I don’t know why it took so long; it was the perfect dress,” Sarah shared.

It was really special for Sarah and Brendan to be able to get ready in their home, surrounded by all the hard work Sarah has put into creating their dream home. “Long before Brendan came along, I’ve spent the last 10 years renovating and styling our home to bring out the cottage core with a white picket fence, reclaimed brick paving, overflowing garden beds and a pink front door. The house blended perfectly into the aesthetic of our wedding and was such a happy place for us to start our morning together.”

Leah Goodman Photography captured the romance of Sarah and Brendan’s wedding alongside them. “I had found Leah’s work online and had followed her Instagram for some months before we started wedding planning, and really fell in love with her true tone photos with an effortless style. She was so much fun to work with, giving us gentle prompts as we wandered around Fremantle taking our portraits. We completely trusted Leah to know what to capture and where, and for many of the photos we didn’t even realise how they would turn out until we woke the next day to a huge sneak peek of photos delivered by Leah in record time,” Sarah explained.

“She was so warm, reassuring and had such a bright and friendly presence that she just fit in so well with all our family and friends on the day. It just would not have been the same without her.”

For Sarah, the top five things that stood out the most from her and Brendan’s romantic whimsy wedding included:

“1. The groom will always be my favourite part of the day. With the wedding now over, we continue to feel so incredibly blessed with the shared life we get to lead together.

2. Having all our closest family and friends at our wedding, including those friends and family who travelled from England and the East Coast.

3. Our heartfelt ceremony with tears and laughter. Sharlene did such a wonderful job at bringing our personalities through.

4. The styling of our ceremony and reception being everything I had dreamed and more – I am so in awe at how beautifully our vendors executed our vision.

5. The kids. They were so excited for us in the lead-up to the big day. With the little ones taking their duties very seriously and practising petal tossing every chance they could. And they looked so cute in their outfits, they brought so much energy and enthusiasm to the day and to the early part of the dance floor, especially when our DJ played some K-Pop Demon Hunters.”

If there’s one thing Sarah loves, it’s being surrounded by vibrant flowers! So when she stumbled across Jane from Wildwood Floral, it was love at first sight. “I love to fill the house and the garden with flowers, and Brendan will invariably surprise me with a gift of flowers for no particular occasion other than he knows how much joy they bring me. So, when we were planning our wedding, we knew we wanted to make a statement with both the ceremony flowers and my bouquet. I’d come across Jane when she was tagged at a previous wedding held at the shipwreck museum, and her work really resonated with me for its very soft, garden-like floral arrangements that perfectly matched our wedding aesthetic. We wanted to bring in some garden, meadowy greenery, flowers to contrast against the limestone walls of our ceremony venue with pops of soft pinks, purples and peach,” she explained.

“The floral towers Jane created for our ceremony were the absolute standouts of the day, and it was so overwhelming to see them for the first time as I walked down the aisle towards Brendan. Jane also included the most beautiful roses grown from her own garden. A few other details we added to the flowers were a swan planter vase and flower baskets for our two eldest flower girls.

The morning after the wedding we went back to our venue to collect our décor and Jane was there at the same time to pack down the flowers. She helped me pull out all the flowers so I could take them home and put them in my flower presses and distribute bouquets to a few friends and family members.”

When scouting their venue, Sarah and Brendan were drawn back to Fremantle again and again. “It is filled with the most beautiful buildings, restaurants and beaches, and we spend a lot of time together there, especially at South Beach during the summer months. Our second date was in South Fremantle, and that was where Brendan and I first started to realise that there might be something really special between us,” she explained.

“The WA Shipwrecks Museum is located in a 1850s-era Commissariat building. When its Storehouse room is not being used for temporary exhibits, it is available for hire. I was originally considering the Storehouse as a wet-weather back-up; however, when Brendan and I toured the venue, we fell in love with its beautiful architecture and the peace of mind in not having to worry about changing plans in the event of rain.”

Between Sarah and Brendan, they have seven nieces and nephews that they wanted to involve in the day somewhere. “We asked them to walk down the aisle with us. My two eldest nieces chose dresses from Billy J Boutique (peach) and Showpo (purple), and the younger girls all wore ivory dresses from Oui Babe.”

Sarah followed soon after, walking alone as Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years” began to play. “As much as I love my dad, I have always been fiercely independent, so I opted to walk down the aisle by myself and just have that chance to pause and take it all.”

Light-hearted? Yep! Full of non-stop laughter? Double Yep! And finally, reflective of their love story? Well, with the help of their celebrant, Marry Me Sharlene: of course! “I get very emotional over sentimental moments so the tears started running just before I walked down the aisle, just hearing the music playing. We chose “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri to walk down the aisle to, and although that may not be the most original choice, the lyrics really resonated with our dating journey, as it took us a fair amount of time before we found each other.

I managed to pull it together by the time I made it down the aisle, and our celebrant, Sharlene, had a warm and bubbly energy that helped me get through the ceremony with more laughter than tears. As Brendan and I are both West Coast Eagles tragics, at Sharlene’s suggestion, we had my brother Jonathan come up and do a coin toss to decide which of us would say our vows first. Brendan won.”

“Before the wedding day I had assumed that there were bound to be a couple of things that went wrong, whether it was a vendor underperforming or a design element not meeting expectations.

However, the whole day was like a vision of the perfect wedding unfolding throughout the day. Sarah looked absolutely stunning in her wedding dress. The floral arrangements looked out of this world amazing. Our celebrant, photographer and all our vendors did a fantastic job. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect day,” Brendan shares.

“Every time I think of our wedding, I remember a different detail that makes me smile. It’s so exciting to know that I will get to remember all these special moments for the rest of my life, and get to share them with the love of my life.”

Some of Sarah’s favourite shots were captured during the ceremony, where she couldn’t stop giggling! “There are quite a few where I am half bent over with laughter, and that perfectly reflects my memory of the ceremony and what a joyous time we had. I’m also obsessed with any photos of my nieces and my nephew. They are always the life and soul of the party, and our wedding was no exception.”

While Sarah’s favourite thing is flowers, her next greatest love is crafting and DIY projects! “I love to experiment with different crafts and DIY projects, so having a year to plan the wedding gave me ample opportunity to do just that. Aside from the flowers, all my stationery and most of my décor was DIY, including: I painted a series of watercolour floral designs in our colour scheme, drawing from images I’d found on Pinterest which we used in our invitations, menus, lyric sheets, and signage,” she explained, before adding:

“I love to plan a party or event, so having a whole year to do it was an absolute dream. I loved every minute of the late-night crafting sessions, cutting out swan-shaped place cards, or the dozens of afternoons spent painting different versions of the watercolour flowers for our wedding stationery until I got the colours and technique right. But my favourite part of wedding planning was those moments when Brendan and I would collaborate to bring all these little projects together into something cohesive. From choosing venues, vendors, napkin colours, menus and dance steps, we had a ball doing it together.”

Every single vendor on their dream team blew their expectations out of the water – this wedding truly wouldn’t have been the same without the whole team. “In addition to the wow factor brought by our photographer, florist and celebrant mentioned above we were very impressed with all the staff at Bathers Beach House especially our venue coordinator, Bec Edmondson. Bec was so relaxed about all of our requests for the day and executed our décor plans to perfection. The food, which included grazing boards, seated entrees and mains, was delicious. The pork belly, in particular, got a lot of praise from our guests.

Another standout was Mitch from Wedding Music Perth, who provided live music, MC, and DJ services at our reception. Mitch didn’t miss a beat the whole night from seamlessly organising our entry, sing-along and our speeches, which included music excerpts we had selected when each person got up to speak. Mitch sang and played his guitar during cocktail hour and dinner with the most romantic set list.”

Sarah comes from a family with a big love of singing (with no exceptions for ability) and knew she wanted to include that love somewhere in their reception. “By singing, I don’t necessarily mean singing well. But we are that kind of family that will spontaneously break out into song when driving in the car without any prompting from the stereo. Although Brendan said he wasn’t much of a singer when we met, since we have been dating, he will often join me in a sing-along as I go about my day, even if he has to guess the lyrics to do so. To bring a bit of that energy into our wedding, after speeches were concluded, we led our guests in a group sing-along of “Say a Little Prayer” just like out of the scenes of My Best Friend’s Wedding. All our guests got so enthusiastically into the song, and it was such a hilarious and memorable moment from the day.”

Their first dance was to “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer, and while neither of them is particularly coordinated, they worked together to choreograph some moves for the day. “We had a lot of fun at home, trying to replicate snippets we saw on TikTok and mashing them together to fit with the timing of our song. I was a little nervous when we realised we were walking into the dance floor from the opposite direction we practised, which goes to show how uncoordinated I am. But it all worked out, and we both agree that our best attempt was the one we did on the day. We just laughed and smiled our way through it together.”

Thanks to Leah Goodman for capturing and sharing these moments with us, and a huge congratulations to Sarah and Brendan on bringing this beautiful wedding to life!