A M Y & J A M E S

Amy's mantra was "don't let the wedding become bigger than the marriage" . With an all white theme and classic details, the focus was well and truly on the couple. If the wedding is anything to go by, the marriage is sure to be timeless and beautiful.

F R O M T H E B R I D E . . .

We first met...

Not the most romantic story, but we meet at a nightclub in Subiaco. I was out with some girlfriends. It is very rare I go out, let alone on a Friday night. James was also out with a friend that was over from the east coast. A few (lots of champas) into the night I was on the dance floor with the girls, I looked over to the bar and saw James. I turned to the girl's and said "he's gorgeous". By the time the girls heard me, turned around and looked for 'the gorgeous guy', I was already making my way over to him. I asked him if he was single and he asked if I wanted a drink. From that day on we were inseparable.

We knew it was love...

On our third date. I had a terrible day at work and asked me over for some wine and dinner, so I got home, had a shower and went over in my jeans and tee shirt. Zero makeup and hair not done. On my way there he said I have a bottle of wine with your name on it. I thought that was cute. But when I got there it was actually a bottle of wine called Amy's (still my favourite red to this day). Anyway we sat up until the wee hours of the morning just talking and listening to music. I think it was then I knew it could be something special.

The proposal...

We were in Boracay on the holiday that James bought me for Christmas. About the forth night into the stay I started to get ready to go out for dinner, what I thought was just a normal night on our trip. When I was ready I came out into the bed room where James said, "I have a confession to make". My heart sank as any woman's would. He said "I have already planned dinner tonight", he then got up off the edge of the bed and got down on one knee and proposed. I burst into tear as I had NO idea it was coming. James and I had only known each other for seven months so I was totally surprised and so happy. He took me down onto the beach where there was a private dinner set up for the two of us. However the staff were unaware that he had already proposed in the room, the Manager came out with a bunch of flowers for James to give to me, so I discreetly gave the ring back so James could do it again for the camera. What a lucky girl, proposed to twice in one night!

T H E W E D D I N G

Our dream wedding...

The theme behind the wedding was "James and Amy". I was very passionate about NOTHING taking over what the day was about, and that was our love. I didn't want the day to turn into just a wedding. It was a day that started our next chapter as husband and wife. I have witnessed many of my friends get caught up and forget what the meaning of a wedding was.

I wanted it to be simple, classy and classic. I want our children to look back on the photos when they are older and think "that's a wedding I would have". We wanted it to be timeless and to reflect us. Our venues spoke volumes so I didn't want to over power them. Everything was to be white on white with a touch of white. My motto through the process was, "don't let the wedding become bigger than the marriage".

Ceremony venue...

The ceremony was held at St Columbus Church in South Perth, it was lovely and on a quiet street that over looked the river and had amazing views of the city. The Priest that married us was Father McMahon who taught James through school. This was really special as he had married other guests that attended our wedding. It was a smallish wedding of 80 people - only our closest friends and family. The church has beautiful colour lead lights and a marble altar so the only decoration we had were candles in glass lanterns and white floral arrangements. Pictures of our Grandparents, past and present, were also in the church.

Reception venue...

For the Reception we originally looked at a winery in the Swan Valley however just before booking it we decided it did not reflect us at all as we live by the sea and I grown up in a coastal town. We wondered what the hell we were thinking. A week later we booked Indiana Tea Rooms and never looked back. Much like the church the actual location and view over the most amazing beach in Perth was breath taking and we didn't want to take away from that. Lots of white candles, white flowers and lanterns filled the space. All very low lying so it did not block the sunset.

Wedding Photography...

Carly J Williams did a friends wedding and I looked no further, I knew that her photo's reflect that couple perfectly. I spoke to my friend and she said that she hardly knew Carly was there. They went about their day and Carly merely captured exactly what happened. I didn't want a photographer "setting up" images. I wanted someone to tell the story of what happened on the day. I wanted her to capture us. And she did!!

She captured us, and she did it in such a subtle way. We hardly felt like we were been photographed. During our assigned "photo time" she sent us for a walk up the beach, we came back, sat on the stairs and the images she captured were amazing. The day was breath taking as well. Cottelsoe is Perth most popular beach and there were no people, the water was like glass, the cloud was amazing and the sunset was incredible.

The bridal party...

We had 4 Bridesmaids and 4 Groomsmen.

Bridesmaids - Chrissie was the maid of honour I meet through other friends about seven years ago and we have been best friends ever since. She came as one and a half bridemaids as she was carrying her first child

Gemma was my spray tan technician and we became very close friends over the past five years.

Kirstyn I studied Interior Design with.

Fran is James' sister. I thought it was important he have her up there with us.

Dean was James Best man, James meet Dean at high school and are best of friends. James was also Dean's Best man.

Simon is James Cousin.

And Trent and Chris were also James friends from Primary school.

The bridesmaids wore...

My Bridesmaids have such different personalities - I could never of put them in the same dress. Or even similar dresses. I trusted their judgment and I let them choose their own. The only thing I told them was that it has to be white. I had only seen pictures of each of the girls dresses but I didn't see them in the flesh or together until the day and they looked amazing. I couldn't of chosen better it I tried. I gave them a pair of earrings each on the day to tie it all in.

The groomsmen wore...

The Groomsmen wore black suits with a fancy shirt and black bow tie. It was a modern take on a classic suit. We had James' shirt made with black enamel buttons and the boys had white buttons to differ them. The had a white rose button hole.

The dress...

The inspiration behind my dress was timelessness, much like the whole theme to our wedding. It was a cap sleeve, keyhole back with a small train. It was from Samantha Wynne. I was very against anything that sparkled however this dress had transparent sequins that gave it a glint, which was perfect. I didn't look for very long for my dress. I took my mum and dad shopping with me, as they know me better then anyone. This dress was in the first store we tried, we then had a second appointment that I nearly cancelled because we were so in love with this dress. The veil was my favourite part of the outfit. It had the same lace on the trim and was longer then the train on my dress. It was amazing.

Wedding flowers...

The flowers for my bouquets were mostly peonies with some white roses. The girls had mostly white roses with some peonies. Again, simple and classic. Nothing to over powering. The main criteria was white, white and white. Our very close family friend who is a florist did the flowers. She put so much love into the flowers which made them so special. Some of the roses were from her own garden.

Reception decor...

The reception venue is absolutely beautiful and definitely has a very specific feel to it so it was hard to move away from that look. We just accentuated it. We had tonnes of white candles in glass vases and white flowers over the table, along with all of the white picture frames. Candles in glass lanterns also lined the floor. A curtain of fairy lights lined the dance floor.

On the menu...

During the sunset our guests gathered on the balcony for canapés and pre dinner drinks. They then moved into the dining room for a three course meal.

Entrée - a choice of Confit duck leg; green pea and mint or Warm goats cheese and rocket tortellini; pumpkin puree, pine nut and sage beurre noisette.

Main - a choice of Barramundi fillet; sautéed potato, caper and tarragon vinaigrette or Roast beef fillet; parsnip puree, beef cheek sauce and crisp parsnip.

Dessert - Sticky Date Pudding, tea, coffee and wedding cake.

Bonbonniere...

We gave our guests frames that I made with my husband and parents. My Mum and Dad collected shells from the beach I grew up on and we glued them onto every frame. Then in the frame we had a note to our guests, "Dear 'Guest Name', Thank you for helping us celebrate the start of our new chapter in life. The beginning of our story as husband and wife. They say pictures paint a thousand words, so please take these frames as our gift and paint your own picture to add to your life stories and remembering our day these shells come from a treasured chapter in Amy's past. They have been collected by her beautiful mother from the beach she grew up on in Lancelin. Thanks Mum!" These frames also doubled as place cards and guest replaced the notes with a polaroid of themselves from the night.

Memorable moments...

The best mans speech was AMAZING!!! He had planned it within a few hours of James asking him. He recruited some of James' closest friends to dress up as James' through the many phases as he grew up. In chronological order he brought out "Bogan James" with a mullet and a Metallica T-Shirt, the "Surfer/Punk James" in a wetsuit, "Ladsy James" in a pink polo and white shoes then "Gambler James" in shades and a striped shirt and croc shoes. Once all the guys had come out he got the "Real James" up in his wedding suit to show how far he had come. It was amazing.

Wedding night accommodation...

Our wedding night we went back to our house. We had only purchased our dream home the year before and we wanted to have that memory at home. Not in a hotel room that we will never go back to. I also got ready at our house and I am so glad I did because now we have fantastic photos in our house.

Wedding soundtrack...

The processional song was "We Found Each Other in the Dark" by City and Colour (because we did find each other in the dark) the first line in that song is " I heard the church bells from the far, we found each other in the dark " so it was perfect. However this was the only modern song we had. The candle ceremony was "Can't help Falling In Love" Elvis Presley, the signing song was "At Last" Etta James. The cutting of the cake was "The Best Is Yet to Come" Frank Sinatra and our first dance was "Unforgettable" by Nat "King" Cole. Our DJ said we had the clichés down pat but I didn't care.

T H E F U T U R E . . .

Where did you honeymoon?

For our honeymoon we went to Bingin, it's a small village in Bali that we had been to a few times before. We wanted to go somewhere we knew we would go back to and somewhere we were familiar with so we didn't have those small stresses that travelling can sometimes come with. We need a huge chill out so that exactly what we did.

Married life...

We are still living in our dream house near the beach and loving it. I am so happy we bought our house before getting married because it meant that we can now relax and enjoy been married.

What are your plans for the future?

Our plans for the future is to do some travel in the next couple of years. Go to the US and then the following year do Europe. Get all of our travelling out of the way before we try for babies! We got engaged and married fairly quickly so now I just want to have James to myself for a little bit longer before having to share his attention with a baby 😉

MW x

Photography Carly J Williams Ceremony venue St Columbus Church in South Perth Reception venue Indiana Tea Rooms Wedding gown Samantha Wynne