Tamika & Shaun

I am so thrilled to kick off the year with such a beautiful wedding. The wedding of Shaun and Tamika is full of beauty and romance, a favourite combination! Taking place in Northern NSW, Tamika and Shaun hired a private property for their day- leading their guests through celebrations in the gardens and under a glittering marquee.

Tamika tells the story of how they met. “We met over nine years ago through a mutual friend. Shaun was working for his parents and had decided to not go into work that Sunday night and go out with friends instead. I was out with two of my friends Kate and Geoffrey. Geoffrey recognised Shaun from when he lived in North Queensland, so Shaun and his two friends Brett and David, (who were part of his groom’s party) joined us for the rest of the night and the rest is history.”

Photography today is by Caroline and Hannah from Mihaja Photography who have captured the romantic, elegance of Tamika and Shaun’s special day so beautifully!

Tamika wore a beautiful gown from  George Wu . She explains “I have had a special place in my heart for George Wu after meeting him at buying appointments for his collections and I always said if I decide to have my wedding dress made, George would be the first designer I would ask. Lucky for me, George had decided to start creating bridal gowns, happy days! We spend a year and a half, chatting, sketching and creating the gown for me. I feel so grateful to George for letting me be such a big part of the process and it’s a time in my life I will always treasure.” Her bridesmaids wore white gowns from Casey Tanswell.

Tamika and Shaun were married at a private residence, Velleron House, North Tumbulgum, in Northern NSW. Tamika says “”We decided to have our ceremony and reception at the same place, all I wanted was a big tree and a flat area for a marquee. From the first moment we saw the property I knew there was no other place that could compare, it was perfect. A magical tree, a beautiful green garden and a quirky little chapel style hut with the bar inside. The owners of the property were such beautiful accommodating people, who did absolutely everything they could to help us create the day that we envisioned. ”

There were plenty of handmade touches. “We made our wedding invitations from a photograph Caroline took on our engagement shoot, mounted on kraft paper with mismatched buttons in the top left corner. We made our aisle from hessian and stenciled the words “Be Married” in black paint. Our Bonbonniere’s we home made almond shortbread biscuits dusted with icing sugar inside kraft boxes, finished off with lace, twine and personal name tags. We made all the lawn sign posts by cutting, painting and attaching the wording to them.”

Tamika walked down the aisle with both of her parents to ‘Paradise’ (Instrumental) by Coldplay.

Guests were served tea and cocktails after the vows were said.

Tamika describes the day as, “A whimsical day of fun and love, surrounded by beautiful family and friends.”

White Ivy Design created the floral arrangements. Tamika remembers “I had some of my grandmother’s lace from her wedding dress wrapped around my bouquet and secured by my great-grandmother’s brooch.”

Of their photographer, Tamika remarks, “Caroline is so passionate about what she does and loves to take on your ideas and give them her own special twist. I love Caroline’s photojournalistic style and how seamless all her shoots are, we have had a lot of fun with her over the last 12 months getting to know each other and creating memories. We used one of our engagement shoot photos for our wedding invitation. Hannah shot with Caroline on the day and she did an amazing job complementing Caroline’s style of photography.”

For favors, Tamika recalls, “We home made almond shortbread biscuits dusted with icing sugar inside kraft boxes, finished off with lace, twine and personal name tags.”

“Most of the serving ware for our dessert bar and the vintage tea cups were my great-grandmother and grandmother’s pieces.”

The wedding cake was made by Cakes By Mark.

Tamika tells, “I think the most talked about stories from our guests were definitely the speeches. We had a microphone hijacker which happened to be my uncle, who made a grand entrance into the marquee and waited with great anticipation until the microphone was free. Then of course the beautiful emotional speeches from both our father’s, I don’t think there were many dry eyes in the room. We decided to have a guest book with questions to be answered to prompt our guests to write a little more and have some fun with their answers. Every time I read through it I can’t help but to have a little laugh at some of the responses to the questions.”

Tamika remembers, “Our first dance was to ‘Burn Your Name’ by Powderfinger. Half way through the song we called for all our friends and family to join us on the dance floor, it was such a nice feeling being surrounding by our loved ones and sharing such a beautiful moment.”

A big thank you to Tamika and Shaun for sharing their wedding day with us! Thank you also to Caroline from Mihaja Photography for sharing today’s images!