Jessica and Gavin

Summer winery weddings are some of my favourites with the gorgeous bold, bright light streaming through the vines and the relaxed, elegant style that comes with it. Jessica and Gavin chose Western Australia for their Summer winery celebration.

Jessica tells their story. “Gavin and I met online in 2007 through the dating website RSVP. We had both almost decided to come off the dating site, when Gavin one day appeared as a suggested match on my profile. I sent him a ‘kiss’ and asked to see his picture. The running joke is I said, ‘That’ll do’ hahaha but the truth is I thought he was a bit spunky.We kept in touch over email for a couple of months to follow, and didn’t actually meet till I returned from a months trip to Europe.

Our first date was a quick dinner (we only had an hour because Gav was flying out that night). I almost didn’t make it to dinner due to traffic and roadworks and I was running late. I seriously considered turning around but something made me keep going. I walked in flustered and as soon as I saw Gavin I relaxed. Gavin had these amazing blue eyes, lovely smile and I just remember looking at him and knowing straight away that he was a very caring person. We dated for about a month before Gavin was taking off to Europe on a holiday. Before leaving Gavin wanted me to join him and his closest friends for dinner….I remember walking across the road to the restaurant and Gavin said to me ‘Would I be able to introduce you as my girlfriend?”….filled with happiness I said yes. While Gavin was away he called, messaged and emailed every day….all the time making sure I knew he was coming back to me. It was while he was away that I think we knew we were both onto something special.”

Photographs today are by Angela Higgins Photography who always manages to capture the brightest colours beautifully and the most golden of light.

Flower Nation created the floral arrangements for the day, including Jessica’s bouquet, of which she remembers, “I had a locket on my bouquet with pictures of my grandfathers, they were with me in spirit.”

Jessica chose a gown by Jennifer Naglan at Zanzis Couture. Her bridesmaids wore blue dresses from Miin.

The ceremony and reception was held at Millbrook Winery. Jessica remembering, “We choose Millbrook Winery for our ceremony and reception for a number of reasons. We loved the food and wine, having had lunch there once before. We also loved that our guests didn’t have to occupy themselves between the ceremony and reception. Whilst we had our photos outside, guests enjoyed drinks and canapes in the tasting room.”

Jessica walked down the aisle to ‘Watch Over Me’ by Bernard Fanning.

“We just remember everyone being so happy, the day was relaxed, tasteful and really fun!”

“We surprised our mums on the day and they were invited to sign our wedding certificate.”

Of their photographer, Jessica says, “As a bride-to-be my first avenue for research was following blogs and Angela Higgins’ blog was one I became very fond of. I loved reading about real weddings and Angela had this way of capturing the way a couple feels on the day so well. We met with Angela about 11 months out from our wedding. Her relaxed and professional approach to photography was exactly what we were after. We scheduled in an engagement photo session for our 5 year anniversary, which I would recommend to other couples. At first we wondered if it was really necessary, however on reflection this is when we got to know Angela and she helped us relax in front of the camera. As a result we felt very comfortable during the photo shoot on our wedding thanks to the trust we had in Angela.”

For favors, Jessica remembers “We gave all the girls strawberry jams and the boys spicy mustard pickle. My parents made the jams and pickle in the few months prior to our wedding. They loved having a wedding job! Integrated Concept created the labels for our jars. Gavin and I decorated the jars with hessian and raffia. This was fun and I am pretty lucky to have a husband who helped with all of this! All other details were crafted by my beautiful friend Katharina at Flower Nation. The room brought a tear to my eye, we were both so pleased with her efforts.”

The Cake Studio created a simple white cake topped with fresh blooms.

Of their first dance, Jessica remembers, “Our first dance song was ‘Come Away With Me’ by Norah Jones. We choose this song since we are moving overseas this year. We decided to do a couple of dance lessons prior to the wedding day. This was a fun experience in the lead up to the wedding, a lot of laughs. On the day though I didn’t know if I would be able to turn in my dress without tripping, however when it came time to dance we think we did a pretty good job of the waltz. It was nice to have something planned – we were glad we did the lessons.”

Jessica loved “The dancing at the end of the night – everyone old and young was up there, it was great fun.”

Congratulations on your marriage Jessica and Gavin! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Angela Higgins Photography for sharing today’s wedding with us.