Wedding Ideas|Wedding Planners|Coast to Country Weddings - Wedding Ideas | Wedding Planners | Coast to Country Weddings

What was the theme and colour scheme for your wedding?
Our wedding was a beachy, casual theme with light pink colours.

Where did you get inspiration for ideas for your wedding?
I work at Laurance Wines and have seen some beautiful wedding's held here. I got my ideas from seeing others table pieces.

How many guests did you have at your wedding?
35.

What was the hardest part to plan for your wedding?
Hmm, I probably got a bit too involved in the small details - things like DVD’s playing in the bus when the guests were going to the reception.

Details about your dress and accessories:
My sister's are quite fashion forward whereas me - I don’t have a clue! I basically let my sisters organise their own dresses and accessories- I just paid for it! My dress wasn’t at all what I had in mind - I wanted a soft flowing dress that would suit the beach theme. Unfortunately soft flowing dresses are not so kind on lumps and bumps so I had to go with something more fitted. I took a girlfriend dress shopping with me (my bridesmaids live in Perth and I live in Busselton so they couldn’t always be there) and we both agreed that the dress I found was the dress for me - very plain and simple!

When did you start looking for your wedding dress?
Scott & I got engaged early December and married in February so I didn’t have a lot of time but I was lucky that I could just buy off the rack, which is what I did from Ormalu in Busselton. I had a dress before Christmas!

What flowers did you carry?
40 roses

Describe what happened at your ceremony?
We had a beach wedding which means that it is open to the public. When the Groomsmen arrived there was a couple fishing with a tent right where we had planned to hold the ceremony. They were asked (nicely!!) if they could please move a few meters either side so that we could still have the ceremony where we planned - they flat out refused!! Naomi our celebrant tried a female touch - still they wouldn’t move. Another three people tried - still no luck! Finally when the crew from Tentswest rocked up to set up the umbrellas they decided to shift a few meters to the side!

We had a few stingrays come right into shore during the ceremony which was amazing!

We wanted a very short ceremony and we decided that we didn’t want to take the traditional approach so we wrote our own vows that went along the lines of:

Bride: “ I promise to stay within a healthy weight range, and to slow down and not get any more speeding fines”
Groom: “ I promise to not get a beer belly, and to help out more in the kitchen”

My sister-in-law Emma Hasson and good friend Corinne Giuliani (who also played the guitar) sung a wonderful rendition of “Grow old with you” by Adam Sandler after the ceremony!

What did your guests do after your ceremony while you and Scott went off and had wedding photos?
The guests all boarded a bus and were taken to Wills Domain where they were served canapés and drinks whilst waiting for us to return. On the bus we had playing a DVD of some of the things that Scott and I had done together - a few travel pictures, sky diving and bungy videos etc.

Why did you choose Wills Domain Winery as your wedding venue?
It is a beautiful spot, affordable, with great food and wine!

What happened at your reception any funny or meaningful stories?
There is a bit of a running joke in the family where one of Scott’s brothers proposed to his then girlfriend after three years as she had “completed her apprenticeship”. Scott and I had been together for 8 years before he proposed so he presented me with a certificate “Professor in Hasson”

We played a game that went down well - Knights, horses and cavaliers where everyone has to partner up and dance around, and when the music stops, the person playing the music will shout knights, cavaliers or horses. Knights you sit on your partners knee, horses you sit on their back while they kneel on all fours, and cavaliers your partner has to hold you in their arms.

We also had a photo of Scott and I in a silly pose and asked our guests to write a “caption” and gave out a bottle of champagne to who we thought had written the best caption.

We also decided not to do the traditional bouquet toss - I gave the bouquet to my mum.

We did a bridal waltz to Little Birdy - Hairdo.

What food was served at the reception?
CANAPES
Feta, english spinach & tomato tartlet
Prawn cocktail
Beef satay sticks

ENTRÉE
Braised pork belly, cauliflower puree, apple & chorizo
Abrolhos Island scallops, roasted red peppers and avruga caviar
Gnocchi, braised Dandaragan black angus beef, green olives, spec & burnt sage butter

MAIN
Black Angus beef fillet, beetroot skordalia, baby beets and kipfler potatoes (with your choice of sauce béarnaise, pepper, horseradish cream)
Dorper lamb cutlet, gremolata crusted shoulder, parsnips, pomegranate, pine nuts & tatziki
Fish of the day served with smoked blue swimmer crab stuffed tomato, kiplfer potatoes & agvolemono sauce

DESSERT
Wedding Cake

Describe the look and flavor of your cake?
It was two tier's one tier was white mud cake and the other tier was chocolate mud cake. It was white with light pink hearts around the out side and pink hearts exploding out the top!

What were the bombonieres for your quests?
Small bottles of spirits all different types.

Where there any wedding-related events that followed the wedding and reception? (Pre-wedding dinners, farewell lunch etc)
We invited our guests to the house we were staying at in Yallingup for a BBQ the following day.

Your wedding photographer was John Kuppens Photography - what made you initially choose John and how did her perform on the day?
I see copies of the photos that have been taken of weddings at Laurance Wines and I felt that John's were the best! Also a friend of mine was an international model for many years and was a big fan of John's work and she would know as she has worked with some of the best photographers in the world!

How do you feel now that your wedding is over?
No different to how I felt before the wedding!

Were did you honeymoon?
Our most favorite place in the world- Hawaii (Oahu and Maui) for three weeks!

Being involved in weddings with your job, do you think it is any easier planning your own wedding?
Yes - it was definitely easier as I had a few contacts and have seen how weddings can go wrong and tried to avoid these mistakes myself. I have seen speeches go on for an extraordinary amount of time I wanted to avoid this myself! I knew the photographer and venue that I wanted to use straight away. I didn’t select my own workplace as the venue as it is my WORKPLACE! I did go to Laurance Wines for photos and they have come out wonderfully.

Advice for other planning brides:
Try to use your friend’s recommendations as much as possible, that way you can be sure of what you are getting. If you are getting married somewhere that you don’t have much local knowledge, find yourself a good wedding coordinator and trust their advice. The majority of the venues in Margaret River provide wedding coordinators as part of the fee when booking the venue.

Also I think having a wedding videographer is a great idea because the day goes so quickly and is over before you know it! It is a great way to remember the day with a combination of photos!

When you look back what would you have done differently on your wedding day?
I would have chosen a different DJ! Through work I had good contacts for DJ’s but the down side to organizing a wedding in a few months and having the wedding on a Saturday in February is that you can’t always use the service providers that you would prefer. Other than that I wouldn’t change anything.