Michelle & Ben: Arundel Hills Wedding
Wedding Photography Gold Coast – Photographic Art
Proposal: In May 2005 during a walk on the beach on a Friday night, Ben wrote ‘will you marry me’ in the sand. With just the lighting from the moon it was just perfect.
How You Met: Ben and I met during ‘schoolies week’ in 2001. My sister and I were eating dinner and he was walking past with his friends, he sat down and we hit it off straight away talking till 1am! 3 months later he relocated to the Gold Coast to be closer to me.
Stationary: We made all of our Save the Date cards and Invitations. We ordered the printed invites from Vistaprint and assembled the kit ourselves. The designs we chose were white and dusty pink with a pearl heart and brown ribbon.
Ceremony Venue Including & Special Vows & Celebrant/Minister (including reception): Our ceremony was at Arundel Hills Country Club. It was important to us having to many interstate guests that the ceremony and reception were at the same place and Arundel Hills was just perfect! Unfortunately for us, it was raining that day and our wet weather option were used for the ceremony. It would have been ideal to have the ceremony in the gardens but the way they set up the foyer was just as beautiful. We were lucky enough to have Clarah Luxford marry us who was amazing, She was so organised and really calmed our nerves before and during the ceremony. Carla from Arundel Hills was so helpful and had answers to every question I had asked. The food at the reception was delicious. We picked the Buffet and everything was cooked to perfection. From the way Carla had set up the ceremony to the organisation during the reception was spot on!
Music: The music was the hardest decision of the whole wedding! It had to represent us and music we liked on a day to day basis, not just typical romantic music. To walk down the aisle we picked Forever by Ben Harper which is just a beautiful song. We picked the Acoustic version of Everlong by Foo Fighters for the signing of the register as that is Ben’s favourite band and we wanted to include music that he likes as well as ones I like. Our first dance song by far was the hardest. Finding a song that’s the right beat, right lyrics, that was modern but older guest could still appreciate was very difficult. We ended up picking Stick wit you by The Pussycat Dolls which was perfect for us.
Decorations/Themes: Our main colour for the decorations was a dusty pink. We had Style On Q do our decorating for the ceremony and the reception. We picked over sized martini glasses with pink and white roses, white crystals and candles. Just beautiful!
Flowers: Because our wedding was in December and I had expected it to be a hot day, I had arranged silk flowers instead of real flowers. Heather from Wedding Flowers by Heather did an amazing job of the bouquets. You couldn’t even tell they were artificial and now I get to keep them forever!
Cake: I had our cake made by Marg Kelley (my Aunty’s mum). She really exceeded my expectations on this. We had one meeting to organise what I wanted and she nailed it, spot on! It was a beautiful 3 tier chocolate, vanilla and fruit cake with pink cherry blossoms and roses.
Dress: I am lucky enough to have a Nana and mum who can sew. I had my Nana make my dress from just a picture I found in a magazine. It was a bit of trial and error but she managed to get it perfect in the end. My mum made the 3 bridesmaid dresses and the 2 flower girl dresses as well. It was important to me to have them make these for me. They are both amazing at what they do and I knew I would get the dresses I dreamed of as well as having them be involved in such a big way.
Hair And Make Up: We had Lara from Lara Quinn Make Up do our make up. She did an amazing job and it was flawless and lasted all day! We were more than impressed with her work and how gorgeous we all looked. Our hair was done by Renee who does wedding packages with Lara. She made an idea I had in my head into a reality, including fitting my birdcage veil with was a bit of trial and error. I loved every part of what they did that day and didn’t want to take it off at the end of the day!
Photography: From the day we started planning our wedding we both agreed that the most important thing above all others was the photography. Unfortunately memories fade and all you are left with is photos. As soon as I saw Photographic Art’s work I was sold! Their talent is beyond anything I have ever seen. I didn’t need to look at other photographers, I knew everything I needed and wanted was with them. I was very stressed the morning of the wedding and as soon Photographic Art came and started work all my nerves and worries went straight out the window. Just beautiful people!!
Honeymoon: We spent 10 amazing days in Hawaii!! Renae Binstead from Flight Centre did a wonderful job organising and planning our accommodation, transport and tours.
Advice: Don’t stress the small stuff, you probably wont remember them anyway. I was upset when it rained but the day was still perfect!
Photographic Art, Gold Coast
