Sarah and Ben – The Marriott Wedding

 

Wedding Photography Gold Coast – Photographic Art

The Proposal: It was Valentine’s Day 2011, we had gone out to dinner at Changmai Thai in Broadbeach and then we went on the Big Wheel in Surfers Paradise. The wheel stopped while we were right at the top and Ben got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, presenting me with a white gold 1 carat princess cut diamond ring. It meant a lot to me since 37 years earlier on the same day my dad had asked my mum to marry him.

How you met: We both worked at Maritimo (boat building company) but didn’t get introduced to each other until a mutual friend’s birthday dinner.

Wedding Stationery: Created By Candy who I found on Facebook.

Wedding Ceremony: We chose the Surfers Paradise Marriot Resort as our Wedding venue as it was the first hotel that Ben took me to for dinner and a nights’ accommodation.

Wedding Celebrant: Our celebrant was Caroline Hamilton-Smith who is a family friend.

Wedding Music:  Barry from Peppers Entertainment who my mum has known for more than 15 years. He was also the DJ at my 21st, I walked down the aisle to Canon by which is an instrumental song. Ben & I walked back up the aisle to Forever by Chris Brown, Our bridal waltz was Kiss from a Rose by Seal. We also had Janice Preece a harpist from Brisbane play during the pre-dinner drinks & canapés while we were out getting our professional photos taken.

Wedding Reception Venue: Our wedding reception was also at the Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort in the Garden Terrace Room, which overlooked the Surfers skyline. We had a seafood buffet which was fantastic and the service by the staff was exceptional with no one ever having an empty glass.

Wedding Decorations/Theme: We chose to go predominately with a white colour scheme but mix it up with different shades of purple and then each table centrepiece had 1 yellow rose which represented my dad (mum had yellow roses when she got married) Each table had a name “Believe, Dream, Smile” etc instead of the traditional Table 1, Table 2.

Wedding Flowers: My bouquet consisted of 30 roses which were 2 shades of lavender/ lilac which mean “Love At First Sight” Elise had 20 roses which were an ivory with a shade of yellow. The flower girls carried little satin baskets with lilac rose petals. Our mums each had mini rose corsages.

Wedding Cake: We had a 3 tier square finished cake, which the bottom 2 tiers were fake. Each guest also got a vanilla bean cupcake in a presentation box, which served as bonbonniere.

Bridal gown – Maggie Sottero (Teagan) made from Gossamer Chiffon. The design had an illusion one-shoulder transitioning into an eye-catching double back strap. Rich & elegant beaded embellishments accent on the side waist and shoulder with a corset back closure.

Grooms Suit – Ben hired a black suit including the shoes with an ivory shirts, vest, tie & hanky. Scott his younger brother (Best Man) had the same suit but with a black vest and lavender tie & hanky.

Bridesmaid Dress – Elise’s dress was custom made by Shiraz Bridal. It was inspired by a Watters’ dress however we extended to make it a full-length dress and straps.

Wedding Shoes and Accessories: All the boys hired their shoes from Spurling, my shoes were Tony Bianco and my maid of honour borrowed her shoes from my mum.

The boys also had personalized cuff links. “Groom” “Best Man” & “Groom’s Father” Both my bridesmaid and my jewellery were from Strictly Bridal, I also “borrowed” a close family friend’s bangle.

Wedding Hair and Makeup: Eliza & Jess did Both Hair & Makeup from Brides Best Friend.

Wedding Transport: The flower girls, maid of honour, my mum & I all arrived at the ceremony on board a Maritimo C50 Sports Cabriolet, which Luke Durman from Maritimo arranged for me.

Wedding Photography: Photographic Art  just amazing, we are so very happy with everything and we absolutely love our album.

Honeymoon: We didn’t go on our honeymoon straight away; we were both back at work the Monday after our wedding. Instead we spent 6 weeks travelling to Whistler Canada for Christmas then New York for New Years, Washington DC, Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Advice:  Enjoy every minute as it does go fast. Soak everything up and just have fun.

Things that were exceptional or went wrong: A lot of unexpected things happened over a 6-week period and only 3 months out from our wedding. Our previous venue, Couran Cove had closed down; I was made redundant from my job and my dad unexpectedly passed away.  But through all these the love that Ben & I share got me through.

Photographic Art, Gold Coast

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