Anna and Darren’s Colourful Western Australian Wedding

Anna & Darren

Anna met her husband while on a working holiday from Germany. When they married, they infused plenty of colour and plenty of German traditions into their colourful Western Australian wedding but also added a lot of Australian traditions. Making it a true melting pot and coming together of their lives, families and backgrounds captured by photographer Nic Duncan.

Anna tells their story. “Coming from Germany originally, I met Darren in 2006 on a working holiday around Australia, I was working in a pub in Perth at the time, we met at a party through mutual friends. It wasn’t until 2 weeks later he called me and we had our first date. After we had been dating for a few months I went to New Zealand for a while as my visa had run out and he came to see me a few months later, we have never been separated since.”

Anna chose the strapless Wendy Makin – Danielle gown from Samantha Wynne.

Lush Floral Designs created the bright and bold floral arrangements for the day.

Anna and Darren met before the ceremony for photographs, Anna telling, “Darren and I decided to have a reveal/first look, so we could spend as much time as possible with each other alone to enjoy the day. Our photographer Nic Duncan took us to Greens Pool in William Bay National Park – one of the most beautiful beaches in Australia. I went for a paddle in the ocean and got my dress soaked! Probably not a wise decision considering we still had the ceremony ahead of us but it was so much fun!”

Of their photographer, Anna remarks, “I booked our photographer, Nic Duncan, before I booked anything else for my wedding. I’d made wedding invites for another couple a year earlier and the bride sent me Nic’s photos and I knew then and there if I ever got married I would want Nic Duncan as my photographer. She tells a story through her photographs, captures emotions and the natural flow of the day. Her style and personality helped Darren a lot as he is very shy in front of the camera.”

After photographs, the couple headed to their ceremony in the middle of the stunning forest next to William Bay Cottages. Anna remembers, “Our ceremony was at William Bay Cottages where all my German family and friends stayed. It’s about 20 minutes from the beautiful town of Denmark on the south coast of Western Australia, between farmland and the ocean. We had our ceremony under the peppermint trees next to the cottages.”

“We love Denmark and all nature around it and as I am from the country in Germany I wanted to capture that low-key country vibe. We had hay bales for our guests to sit on and my sister and Darren’s dad made a wooden backdrop for the ceremony saying “Love you to the moon and back”.”

The bride surprised her father with a unique form of wedding transport. Anna remarked, “My “wedding car” was a vintage tractor with a trailer. I surprised my dad with the tractor ride as he collects and restores tractors as a hobby. He was blown away – that was one of my favourite moments of the wedding.”

Anna chose, for her processional ” ‘All of you’ by John Legend and ‘Feel so close’ by Calvin Harris, Darren had to organise the songs with the boys, they pressed “play” too early and I walked in half to one and half to the other song, which was great because I couldn’t make up my mind anyway, I wanted a party song but then John Legends song came out and I loved that too.”

The couple’s dog made a wonderful ring bearer, says Anna. “Our Border Collie Ralf was the ring bearer – he did a pretty good job not running into the forest and not jumping up on my dress.”

With Anna’s German background, they added plenty of German traditions to their day, Anna noting, “A German tradition is to cut a heart out of a bedsheet with nail scissors at the end of the ceremony, it resembles the hard work marriage can be but if you work together everything will be easier, also after the heart is cut out the groom has to carry the bride through the heart shaped hole in the sheet.”

Pepper & Salt Restaurant @ Forest Hill Winery hosted the reception, Anna explaining, “Our reception was at Forest Hill Winery in Denmark WA. Half way through organising our wedding, the restaurant at the winery closed and sent me in a big spin trying to work out what to do. Luckily one of the best restaurants in the region “Pepper & Salt” were looking for a bigger space and opened at Forest Hill a few months later. It felt like hitting the jackpot. They looked after us very well and I can’t thank them enough.”

There were plenty of DIY touches from the bride, who remarks, “I love decoration and crafting, so this was the PERFECT opportunity for me to go crazy on making things. I did a short course in Letterpress Printing at Tafe and hand printed parts of my invites. I’m a graphic designer so I also designed the rest of my invites, maps, menus, place cards. I made colourful paper bunting for the wedding and also some clay earrings with help from my friend Lucy who owns Clay and Clasp as favours for the girls.”

Jo Taylor from Eclectic Events was enlisted to help style the wedding, Anna telling, “Our wedding was over 400k away, although the budget was already stretched I booked Jo Taylor and she was the best thing that happened to me. Worth every penny. I could only afford to book her to help me style the wedding, but there is nothing better then local and industry knowledge. You will save time and money.”

Of their first dance, Anna remembers, “We originally didn’t want to do a first dance, just having a big party without too many formalities, but on the day Darren surprised me and pulled me onto the dance floor to Lana Del Rey’s ‘Young and Beautiful’.”

Albany Cake Designs  delivered a delicious two tier cake. “Our wedding cake was made to look like a log of wood, we bought an axe at a local hardware store and cut the cake with that. That was so much fun. We also had a massive German lolly and chocolate buffet.”

Congratulations Anna and Darren! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Nic Duncan for sharing today’s wedding with us!