Lauren & Daniel

The sun shone hot for Lauren and Daniel’s elegant garden Perth wedding, but in the cool of the shade they celebrated in superb style! With friends and family flying in from all over the world, the day laden with breathtaking blooms and Perth’s great outdoors featuring beautifully, we love every detail! Merge Photography captured the day.

The bride and groom met while both in London, on Australia Day at a pub. After they both returned home and Lauren moved to Melbourne to be with Daniel, the rest was history! Lauren shares of the proposal, ”Daniel proposed to me on a trip to Red Hill. He had chosen a beautiful B&B on a farm to stay in that was so relaxing. We had lunch at Montalto winery. They do these special picnic lunches where they give you a map and you walk through the vineyard looking for your picnic spot, when you get there your picnic table is covered in a table cloth, there is a little fridge with food inside and you’re totally alone surrounded by the vineyard. At this point I would’ve guessed Daniel was going to propose, but the thing was, we had been given a voucher for Christmas to use at this winery and I booked it all in! Daniel was sneaky and decided to make me do all the planning so that I wouldn’t guess. We had a three course meal and it wasn’t until we were about to eat the chocolate brownie that he put the ring in front of me and asked me to marry him. I was in shock for the next hour I reckon. He had to repeat the question!”

Choosing their bridal party came easily for Lauren and Daniel, the bride telling, ”The best man was Robert and the groomsmen were Richard and Jon. All of them close friends of Daniel from his school days. They all grew up in Devonport, Tasmania together. The bridesmaids were all originally from Perth, Elizabeth a school friend from the age of 6 who is now in Bahrain, another school friend from age 12, Andrea living in Perth and Sarah a physio who I worked with at my first job and lived with in London who still is Living in London. It was difficult having all the bridal party away from us during the planning! But we made it work, WhatsApp and mobile phone videos and photos are so helpful making people not feel like they are that far away! We couldn’t have chosen anyone else either. They were our best friends and it really made the day special for us to have them all there by our side.”

With all of her bridesmaids and Mum living far away, Lauren called upon a close friend to take dress shopping with her. She shares, ”Emily loves fashion and I have known her for years so she was the perfect person to take with me. We had one full day of bridal shop bookings, it was really fun. We had lunch and coffee and cake stops along the way. By the last shop though it got a little confusing, the day became a big blur of white! It’s probably best to do the shopping on more than one day. The dress I chose was our ‘number 1’ from the first shop we went to, Made With Love Bridal. But I couldn’t settle till I’d seen every dress in Melbourne! Every dress I tried on we compared to ‘number 1’ so obviously it was the one! The dress I chose I absolutely love, it is so comfortable to wear, cool (perfect for Perth heat) and just gorgeous. It’s tulle with embroidery through it, it has just the slightest bit of sparkle, it’s quite fitted with a long train. It’s V neck which I love as a lot of brides tend to go for strapless so I was glad to be a bit different. I was so happy in it, I didn’t want to take it off! I had compliments for months afterwards about how beautiful it was.” The bride did something old, new, borrowed and blue, by wearing diamond studs her mother had given her for her 18th birthday. The groom wore a navy suit from Peter Jacksons, a white textured shirt and a bow tie.

Finding the perfect spot for their outdoor wedding, the bride wanted the ceremony to be relaxed and not too stuffy. She tells, ”I wanted us to get married, but for it to be sweet and not waffle on. We wrote our own vows which was something we wanted to do from day one just to make it more personal. I had my sister in law do a reading ‘Walk With Me’ by Munda. There was something magical about walking down the aisle surrounded by all my family and friends, being outside amongst the trees and having the man of my dreams waiting for me at the other end.” Lauren shares, ”My mum walked me down the aisle. My dad passed away 5 years ago. Although my parents were separated so I was raised mainly by Mum so it was so lovely. We walked to Sam Smith, ‘How Will I Know’.

The bride and groom were keen to incorporate the outdoors during their wedding, and found the perfect spot! Lauren tells, ”We wanted an outdoor ceremony but we were aware of the harsh Perth sun in February. I wanted it to have a pretty view and mean something to me. I had been to Kings Park a lot growing up in Perth and I had taken Daniel there on one of his visits. We had to wait until two months before the wedding to get confirmation we could use the  Marlee Pavilion Kings Park due to the Summer concerts that are on. We were so happy when we found out we could use it! The Pavilion overlooks the Swan River and the city views are stunning, it’s really secluded and surrounded by bush and flowers. It has its own gazebo so we were all undercover and not burnt! Yay!”

In such gorgeous surrounds, the bride and groom were thrilled with their photographer, Jodie at Merge Photography. Lauren shares, ”Jodie was amazing. We absolutely loved her, she is so talented and easy going. From the day we first met her she made us feel so relaxed. She knew exactly where she was going, made us a time planner that worked out perfectly. My husband hates photos and I’ve never seen him so relaxed in front of a camera! She didn’t do too many posed photos. Mostly natural, really catching the emotion on the day. And I really think she did, I love every photo. They’re really beautiful, she’s definitely got that natural talent. I spoke about some people in my speech and it was amazing she was able to get a photo of them at that moment when I was speaking about them. She must’ve been running all over the place! She knew I wanted the beach photos so much and knew the best time to be out there for the sunset. Everything was just perfect.”

Being close by the ocean meant a lot to the bride, so choosing Indiana Cottesloe Beach as their reception venue made perfect sense. Lauren tells, ”We were so happy with how it turned out. It was absolutely perfect! Seeing everyone seated in that beautiful room with the sun setting, with my new husband next to me. I have never been happier! The staff were so friendly and from the start of our conversations via email they knew exactly what to do. The food was delicious and presented well. I couldn’t fault anything. We had six canapes outside with a guitarist playing, a seated main of fish or beef. Then canapés for dessert, there were three of them plus our wedding cake and a cheese table. Nobody was left hungry! I made sure we had photos by the beach as this is the thing I love most about Perth. We snuck out for 15 minutes with the photographer to capture these photos.”

Signature Floral Design created the gorgeous bouquets and reception flowers, and Lauren was over the moon! She tells, ”We chose Annaliese to take care of our flowers. Just one look at her Instagram page and I knew she was the florist for me. I love flowers. Whenever I imagined my wedding I pictured lots of flowers! Some people said to me ‘oh you don’t need real flowers, get fake ones’ I was horrified to hear these comments. Annaliese went above and beyond to make sure I got what I wanted. And the day I walked through the Indiana and saw all the flowers, I was amazed. It was EXACTLY as I had envisioned, I couldn’t believe it. I had told her I wanted roses mixed in with other flowers and lots of greenery, loose and romantic style in blush with pops of bright pinks. She totally nailed it. She is so talented!”

The newlyweds chose ‘Have I Told You Lately’ by Rod Stewart for their first dance together. The bride shares, ”We both love Rod and saw him live in Vegas so it had a bit of meaning for us. We didn’t practice at all and I’m a terrible dancer. I had a friend show me basic dance moves a week beforehand, I think it saved me. I’m quite glad we didn’t have a videographer for that moment especially! Although I lost all my nerves once we were together dancing, it’s like the crowd disappeared and I just felt so comfortable there dancing with my husband.”

Thank you to our gorgeous bride and groom for sharing your wedding, and congratulations on your beautiful day! Thank you also to Merge Photography for your photographs!