Ken and Rachel’s romance started at the cricket, and so it was fitting for the proposal to unfold during a cricket presentation. Rachel recalls the amazing night, “Ken was the MC of the night and at the end they were drawing lucky door prizes and my ticket got called out. I went up expecting a bottle of wine and was presented with a small blue box. I was told it was a last minute addition to the prizes and I should open it so everyone can see what it was. I opened the box to see a ring surrounded by rose petals and looked up to see Ken down on one knee and “Will you marry me?” written across the big screen. I was so surprised and excited I didn’t even respond! After more than 6 years together he still managed to surprise me-and even snuck in our parents so they could be there for it!”
Eighty of their friends and family enjoyed the reception with them and Rachel and Ken had 10 of their closest and dearest in their bridal party. Their wedding was themed around what they both hold dear to their hearts, the cricket and the beach.
Rachel tells us, “The whole day was very relaxing-lots of our friends are mutual so it was a very ‘family’ atmosphere. It was just a party with our closest friends and family.”
They got married on Shelly Beach. When they first started dating they would often take walks along this particular beach, and spent many days BBQ’ing with friends there too – a fitting place for their ceremony!
Rachel says that this series of photos are so suited to them as a couple, “One of our favourite things about the wedding was getting photos at the cricket. As we met playing cricket, we went down to the oval and Ken’s cricket club was playing – they let us have some photos on the pitch.”
“Both of us are very close with our own and each others’ families. So we had all our brothers and sisters in our bridal party (my brother made a lovely ‘bridesman’!), both my parents walked me down the aisle, and we included a sand ceremony in our ceremony to incorporate our parents into our big day! Our three handsome nephews acted as flower boys and a ring ‘master’ (didn’t want to be a ‘bearer’), with one of them even giving a speech at the reception saying he loved us, he’s two!”
Rachel and Ken DIY’ed as many details as they could – they did the centrepieces, bomboniere, place cards, chair decorations at the ceremony and more! Rachel told us “The fact that people commented on the decorations and things we had DIY’ed was great, so much work had gone into it, it was nice to know it was appreciated.”
The couple’s photographer is a family friend, who is breaking into the wedding market. They were thrilled with him and it was extra special having someone they knew do they photos. Their second photographer was a friend who was just starting photography. Wonderful to have talented friends!
The bride tells us one of the most precious parts of their wedding day, “I knew I’d get a bit emotional on the day, but I held it together reasonably well, but when Ken and a few of our friends and bridal party (girls and boys) also got emotional it was really touching to see how much they loved us. The comments and well wishes they gave us were so heartfelt-so many of them had been there for us through our whole relationship and were so close to both of us. We were so happy to be marrying each other after so many years (we did get a lot of ‘about time’ comments), and it was wonderful to have so many people so supportive of us. We couldn’t invite everyone we wanted and it was really lovely to have a lot of those people come to the ceremony because they wanted to be there and be a part of our union.”
Wedding suppliers:
Photographer – Keegan Cronin & Ashleigh Reedy
Bride’s Dress – Sottero & Midgely (for Belles and Beaux)
Bride’s shoes- Pulp
Bride’s Jewellery – family heirlooms, Heritage Jewellers, Diva
Groom’s attire – Gentlemen’s Outfitters
Bridesmaid’s attire – Dress of Your Dreams
Hair stylist – Studio di Capelli
Makeup artist – Jamie Finn (Port Day Spa)
Flowers – Glasshouse Flowers
Ceremony Venue- Shelly Beach, Port Macquarie
Reception Venue- Mercure Centro, Port Macquarie
Cake – Colonial Bakehouse Wauchope
Wedding rings – Michael Hill
Transport- courtesy of groomsman
Thank you so much to Rachel and Ken for sharing their beautiful wedding with us all.
Happy Friday! For more Real Weddings check out Modern Wedding Real Weddings.
Kate xx