D A N & M A D D Y
{at the boathouse palm beach}
F R O M T H E B R I D E
The Meeting…
We were introduced by a mutual friend in Dublin, who suggested we might make good flatmates, at a time when we were both looking for a new place to live. After getting to know each other and realising perhaps there was more to it than just flatmates, we decided not to move in together but have been in a relationship ever since.
Love…
About two months after seeing each other I told Dan one night that I loved him, to which he answered ‘What?’. Not the answer you want to a declaration of love! Later on, his defence at his less-than-romantic reaction was that he wasn’t sure he had heard properly and it would have been really awkward if he said ‘I love you too’ when I had only asked if he wanted some juice.
The Proposal…
Dan proposed, on bended knee on the beach in Byron Bay in front of the shipwreck on Belongil Beach.
Wedding Style…
From the outset we both wanted a casual wedding and for it to be a big party of all our closest family and friends. There was no real colour scheme because both the ceremony and reception locations were already so beautiful we didn’t really need to do much at all to theme them for the wedding. Any colour choices were based around the bridesmaids jade green dresses with elements of pink to brighten things up.
The Ceremony…
The ceremony was held at Snapperman’s Beach Reserve in Palm Beach and the only real theming items we brought in for that were some white folding chairs, buckets of flowers that we bought and arranged ourselves and some white paper lanterns hanging in the trees. We also had a trestle table bar set up with big vintage ice buckets and brought in our own beer and champagne for guests to have a drink with us straight after the ceremony.
The Reception…
The reception was held at The Boathouse and we did very little to theme it because it’s such an amazing venue already. The view, the odds and ends of furniture, the buckets of flowers and fruit everywhere – it was exactly what we wanted and one of the main reasons we chose the venue. That, and the food!
The Dress…
My gown was a beautiful crushed silk and French lace backless gown by Helen English in Paddington. I spent a day shopping at a number of boutiques in Paddington with my mum and bridesmaids and before we set off for the day, one of the girls told me I’d know which was the right gown because at the end of the day it would be the one I couldn’t stop thinking about. And she was right.
Bridesmaids…
The girls wore long jade green silk, near backless dresses that were made by my mum and small wedge heeled sandals.
The Flowers…
My bouquet was a natural, unstructured, garden style bouquet of cream and white seasonal flowers – David Austin roses, freesias, baby echeveria succulents, summer sweet pea and brunii berries.
Reception Details…
As we had a canapé reception not sit-down meal, we decided to make button name badges for everyone and set them up at the entrance to The Boathouse with a sign asking guests to find their name badge then go an introduce themselves to someone they had never met before to get people talking.
We also brought in a couple of Polaroid cameras and a photo album with sticky dots, and ask guest to take a photo of themselves, stick it in and write us a message. This was one of the best things we did for the wedding. It was so nice to be able to take the book home and see some photos from the wedding straight away the next morning.
Wedding Cake…
The cake was made by Sweet Bites, based in Kellyville and were some of the most delicious cakes we have ever tasted. We had salted caramel and chocolate mud mini cupcakes and a top tier sticky-date cake.
On the Menu…
We had a cocktail reception because we wanted to keep it casual.
Canapés
- Bbq prawn skewers
- braised pork bun, boathouse bbq sauce
- pork, fennel + oregano sausage rolls w spicy tomato relish
- kingfish ceviche, avocado + lemon (gf)
- Raw salmon, seaweed + tapioca
- Peking duck pancake
Substantials
- Fish and Chips
- Medium rare grass fed eye fillet, kipfler potatoes + lemon thyme
Wedding Favours…
The bomboniere were jars of homemade raspberry jam made by Maddy’s Mum, and jars of homemeade chili jam made by Maddy’s Dad.
Photography…
We went on the hunt for a photographer early on and ended up finding Milton Gan via a recommendation from a friend for a photographer who wasn’t available on the day so instead recommended Milton. It was a bit of a roundabout way to find a wedding photographer but we’re so glad we did! They capture so beautifully how much fun we, and everyone else, had on the day.
Wedding Music…
We wanted to choose songs that we both love so every time we hear them they would remind us of the day:
Maddy walked down the aisle to Dream Catch Me by Newton Faulkner
We signed the register to an acoustic version of Everlong by Foo Fighters, and a Florence and the Machine cover of Halo.
We walked back up the aisle to Can’t Hold Us by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis because this was the moment we wanted to celebrate.
We entered the reception to Florence and the Machine and Dizzy Rascal You’ve Got the Love.
And our first dance was to If I Ain’t Got You by Alicia Keys.
(The unexpected song of the night, however, was To Be With You by Mr Big. The dance floor went crazy!)
We had a live band at the reception, Big Radio Dynamite. They were incredible, once the speeches were finished there was hardly room to move on the dance floor.
Memories…
It’s too hard to pick just one moment, the whole day was just so much fun. If we really had to choose, it would have to be the moment the celebrant announced us as husband and wife. That’s what it’s all about really.
Wedding Night…
The night of the wedding we stayed at Jonah’s at Palm Beach, and had breakfast there the next morning with both our families.
Honeymoon…
We spent a week unwinding at Alila resort in Uluwatu, Bali.
Suppliers…
Photographer Milton Gan Ceremony Venue Snapperman’s Beach Reserve Reception Venue The Boathouse Palm Beach Bride’s Dress Helen English Bridesmaids’ Dresses Made by bride’s mother Wedding Flowers Japonica Wedding Cake Sweet Bite Furniture Hire Elements for Hire Entertainment Big Radio Dynamite
MW x