Jenna and Aaron

My name is Jenna Harding and I fell in love with Polka Dot Bride before I was even engaged! Even now that I am married – I still love looking at it! I married my soul mate on the 24th of March this year. Aaron and I have been together for 5 years this November. We moved in together after 6 months and never looked back.

The proposal was the most extravagant, romantic night of my like. It was Valentine’s day 2011 and at 4pm I got a call from Aaron asking if anything had arrived during the day. I told him no and as he was on the phone a florist walked in with a dozen stemmed roses. I don’t think he planned this at all and I think actually he was freaking out that they hadn’t arrived yet! I got home and he had organised dinner in Southbank. At this point I didn’t think a proposal was possible as Aaron can be shy and would never propose in a public place! After dinner I wanted to go for a stroll through Southbank – he was itching to get home. I just assumed there was a TV show that he wanted to watch!

As we got home, he waited for me to walk up the stairs. He opened the front door and our unit was FILLED with rose petals ans candles. He had written a beautiful poem and displayed it on the TV and had a selection of my favourite love songs playing in the background! It was magical.

We planned to have a wedding the following Autumn! We decided not to have a bridal party and chose the River Room at Southbank as our reception venue (it is now under redevelopment). The ceremony was held at the beautiful Roma Street Parklands in the city. My dress was from Bella Donna by Wendy Makin. I had the frill sleeve added to their strapless “Tessa” design.

It had rained all week, but the reports were “rain clearing for Saturday”. I held on to that weather report all week and I wasn’t disappointed… it was a stunning day. Aaron arrived by Ferrari which was a real highlight for him! My wedding car was from Allways wedding cars and as I was ready early, the driver took us for a joy ride through the city!

My sister Amy played a special role in the wedding ceremony. She sung “Songbird” by Fleetwood Mac and had practised with our string players (Shoestring Orchestra) the week before. It was a lovely surprise on the day and bought me to tears. The song has special meaning to us as my sister played it for my grandparents at their 50th wedding anniversary.

The reception venue was amazing, everyone was blown away by the food and the staff were attentive and fun! We chose 3 courses and had the wedding cake served with tea and coffee. The wedding cake was made by my lovely nanna. She has been making wedding cakes for years mainly for family, friends, and those in her local community of Kyogle NSW. I was so lucky to have one of her creations and it was even more beautiful than I ever imagined.

My florist was Belinda from Lily Bean – She made my beautiful bouquet and the buttonholes/corsages. Styled Events did the amazing table centrepieces – as soon as I saw them I had to have them and they certainly gave the room that WOW factor. The wedding favours were beautiful Mini French Apothecary Jars from Sharnell Dollar Designs. My friend Rachel Hardman who made the invitations also made the name tags to fit the jars and another friend Tegan Travers made Love heart shaped cookies to fill the jars.

My beautiful cousin Bernadette was the MC and did a fantastic job. As a little surprise she organised a song about Aaron and I with her sister Monica and brother Joseph. They held up a sign with “Hooray” so after each chorus the entire room would yell out Hooray!! It was hilarious and a wonderful suprise.

Our wedding dance was to “Valentine” by Martina McBride – as Valentines day was the start of this wonderful journey. Our photographer was Dan from Sol Photography, Originally based in Kingscliff, they have now moved to Melbourne. Dan was lots of fun and made us feel so relaxed from the get go! We were absolutely thrilled with the photos.

 

Ms Gingham says: A fun & love filled wedding to put a smile on your face! Thanks to Jenna and Aaron for sharing their day with us!

Jenna says: “My name is Jenna & I am a lover of all things pretty! I married my soulmate on the 24th of March and it was the greatest day of my life! I loved every bit of the planning and was so happy with how everything turned out. I can now understand why women get the blues after planning a wedding – you just never want it to end!”