Rebecca & Jaron's Nedlands Yacht Club Wedding

WHAT WERE YOU LOOKING FOR IN YOUR DRESS? I was looking for something simple that I felt comfortable in and would allow me to dance and move around all night. Sam’s store was the second store that we visited.

HOW MANY DRESSES DID YOU TRY? In the first dress shop I had tried on five dresses of completely different styles to start to get a feel of what I was looking for in a dress however I still didn’t really have much of an idea.

WHAT DID YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR SAMANTHA WYNNE GOWN? The lace detail was so pretty and delicate and different to anything else I had seen in other stores. I especially loved the different detail on the sleeves. When discussing options in store with Sam, my mum and bridesmaids, I initially declined to try on the dress however Sam put her foot down and said I had to try the dress on – which ended up fitting perfectly and was the clear winner! I loved each of my visits to Sam’s store as she helped to make the occasion even that little bit more special! She was also able to help out with the alterations of my bridesmaid dresses that we had purchased from another store.

CAN YOU REMEMBER THE MOMENT YOU KNEW IT WAS THE DRESS? We all very quickly knew we had found ‘the dress’ as I kept walking around the store twirling around and didn’t want to take it off!

HOW DID YOU FIRST MEET? Jaron and I met through the tinder app. It was the first date I had the nerves to go on from the app and the only tinder date I ever ended up going on!

After speaking over messages for about a week I went to Jaron’s house where we walked to the river and went for a kayak. Our simple date ended up lasting over 5 hours and included getting dinner and watching a movie. I was very nervous about going on a tinder date and had written down the address for my brother (who I lived with at the time) who ended up calling me after 5 hours to check that I was all ok!

We casually dated for a few weeks and then a couple of months in Jaron announced that he had accepted a work secondment in Switzerland earlier in the year and was moving for a likely two years in a couple of months’ time. This was a major shock and after speaking through it with friends I discovered that I really really liked this boy. We ended up successfully doing long distance for a year with a total of 5 trips between the two of us which included Jaron flying home for a surprise 48 hours to attend a friend’s wedding with me. Best surprise ever!

THE PROPOSAL Jaron proposed on a beach during a trip to Esperance. I remember wondering why he was being so particular at trying to find a spot to set up for the day and we ended up on the beach next to lucky bay as we had it all to ourself and could set up for the day. Jaron put on the Ed Sheeran song of ‘Perfect’ (very cheesy but we had danced to it at my friend’s wedding when he had flown from Switzerland for the surprise weekend), he stared saying lots of nice things and then was down on one knee in the sand with a sparkly ring in a box asking me to marry him.

FAVOURITE MOMENT We were so very lucky to have an almost perfect wedding day. The only hitch was that my wedding car broke down just as we left my parents house… old cars in the heat weren’t the best of idea in the heat! After the driver unsuccessfully tried to push start the car in the middle of my parent’s street Dad and I were lucky that we could jump into the second car that had my bridal party and my Mum could drive to the ceremony with my flower girl. After all of the unexpected drama we were still able to arrive at the planned time!

We were so very lucky to be surrounded by our family and closest friends at our wedding day and that was the main focus when planning our wedding day. My favourite moments would have to be seeing Jaron’s face as I walked down the aisle and hearing his incredibly sweet wedding vows.  I had several people comment after our day that you could clearly see the love that we had for each other showing all day and that we both appeared incredibly happy. 

THE VENUE Nedlands Yacht Club was the first venue that we looked at. We decided that we wanted to get married somewhere in Perth to avoid having to ask our close family and friends to travel and liked the idea of a venue on the river. Nedlands had good availability and suited exactly the style of day we were looking for and it allowed us to bring our own personal touches to the day.  

FAVOURITE DETAILS We loved that our wedding ceremony and reception could all happen at one location. We were also lucky that we could stay at the venue for our photos and find lots of simple locations without having to travel or miss out on too much time celebrating with our guests.

I loved the way it all came together after not being all that helpful to suppliers when the asked for the style of wedding I was looking for as I didn’t realise I was that picky until I was presented with different options. The special touch we had on the tables was homemade jam made by my 82 year old grandma which served as our place settings and bonbonniere. 

ADVICE FOR FUTURE BRIDES

What were you really glad you did? Dance lessons! We had a lot of fun and it was nice to have the time together doing something different before the wedding.  A friend recommended them to us and we are both definitely glad that we took the time to do them! It was also nice having a small planned dance for the first dance as it made the moment event that little bit more special.

Advice for dress shopping? Try on all the styles even if you think you won’t like them. You might be surprised or find something you wouldn’t have considered!

Advice for finding vendors? Ask friends / colleagues / family for recommendations as that is were we found all of our favourite suppliers. Instagram / facebook can put you in touch with lots of options but personal recommendations were much more useful.  

What kind of music did you have? Were you happy with your decision? We had a solo guitar player / singer for our ceremony who stayed on to play during the ‘cocktail’ part of our evening. He was great and I loved the sound of having live music at the ceremony. We then had a DJ booked from a large company from Perth however I wish we had kept the musician from the ceremony as he provided a much more personal touch and service. 

BEST WEDDING SPEND Our photographer was recommended by friends and I am definitely happy that we picked Simone. She was able to capture our wedding day and all of the small special moments perfectly and she was absolutely lovely to deal with on the day and during the meetings beforehand. It was so very important to me that we had photos to look back and I still love looking at our wedding album!

I also loved our flowers created by Lee-anne. They were so beautiful and during meetings she helped considerably with the planning always pointing me in the right direction and coming up with so many practical hints and suggestions that prevented us from overspending on additional items.