Steph & Jay

Summer is all about long sunshine-filled days, days by the water, and magic moments, And this relaxed vibe is exactly what Steph and Jay brought to their elegant outdoor wedding at the stunning Matilda Bay Reserve

Enlisting good friend Little Black Bow Photography to take the photos. the newlyweds spoilt their guests with freshly shucked oysters, a grazing table and not one, but two delicious food truck feasts. And that’s not all because this day? It wasn’t just about the vows, it was about celebrating Steph and Jay’s impending arrival, the couple turning their wedding cake into a celebratory moment of whether they were expecting a baby boy or girl. It was a day of celebration, a day of relaxation and everything these two dreamt of as they enter the next stage of their life together.

Now before we get into their story (and the results of that baby reveal!) we’ve got to dive into how these two met, over to Steph for this one. “We met through mutual friends eventually however our paths crossed many times prior however the timing was obviously not night. Until the moment at the races when Jay asked me on a date.”

The bride found her Martina Liana gown at Tuscany Bridal, choosing  Samantha Wynne to alter the gown to fit her growing belly. She shares “I wanted the first dress I tried on however my friends were underwhelmed by it so I ended going to every shop in Perth pretty much and got it down to 3 favourites. Then took my bridesmaids, Mum & Mother in law to help pick it. It ended up being the very last dress I tried on and had way more detail than I thought I wanted but it was perfect.
It’s a Martina Liana dress from Tuscany Bridal. I took it to another bridal shop for Alterations. Samantha Wynne I had the best experience with Samantha and felt very comfortable with her to the do the alterations. It turned out that I was 18 weeks pregnant at the wedding and Sam had already done all the alterations and I had to break her the news. Nothing was too much trouble even though she had to completely change the back & the way it fit so I could fit into it the week before the wedding, She did the most amazing job and I loved the dress even more.”

Steph and Jay only looked at one venue, and it was a beauty! The couple booking Matilda Bay Reserve for their wedding day festivities and enlisting The Event Mill to help it all come together. “We went to a new years party at the same spot years ago and we said if we ever got married we wanted to get married in the open air at Matilda Bay,” explains Steph. “We didn’t look at any other venues. We hired the spot from the council and pulled it all together. I spoke to a couple of furniture hire places however The Event Mill was the most helpful. They did a 3D floor plan layout with correct sizing etc this helped me so much as I had no idea where to start.”

Floret Boutique styled the blooms of the day, “I left all control to my florist, she is a good friend and she did such an amazing job. I was blown away!” tells the bride.

“I never told my Dad what we were walking down the aisle to, as I wanted to surprise him with bagpipes for our walk as my Dad was born in Scotland” remembers Steph. “The bridesmaids & flower girls walked down to “Just the way you are” by James Smith & “At last” by Clementine Duo.”

“We are both very light-hearted people that enjoy having a laugh,” tells Steph of the couple’s ceremony hosted by Love Stories By Laura.  “We decided that we would do 10 promises to each other these were made up of a mix of serious and funny promises. Jay’s sister read a poem and we gave my brother a poem to read, however he decided to just wing it and in my brother’s true weirdness he had everyone laughing.”

Steph and Jay were, lucky enough to be friends with many of their vendors – including their photographer! The bride explains “Our photographer is a good friend of ours and came from Newcastle NSW to Perth for our wedding. She did my sister’s wedding 10 years prior and we both always said “if” I ever get married she will take the photos.

The moment I was engaged I asked Dea and we made it happen. She was perfect, great sense of humour like my husband and most of our friends and she made everyone feel comfortable. I could not be happier with the photos. Dea went above and beyond and we made her work for it with 220 guests but she nailed it. We will be forever grateful for her. I also loved her type of photography as it’s not all about posing. We are in the moment people and that is Dea’s style.”

After enjoying beers, bubbles, a grazing table and freshly shucked oysters (from Thee Shucker) during cocktail hour, guests were delighted for their dinner, catered by two delicious food trucks – Porta Pizza and Soul Provider. “We hired two fantastic food trucks. We ended up using Ali who is part of Soul Provider to coordinate our night & to provide staff she went above and beyond what we needed & asked her to do. We did not have one bit of stress and everything ran so smooth we were shocked. We are forever grateful to Ali for making our day/night perfect. We also received a lot of compliments from our guests on how amazing the staff were.” Steph’s favourite part? Soul provider’s mac & cheese balls!

To kick off the dance floor, Steph joined her dad to the sounds of “Tennessee Whiskey” by Chris Stapleton. “We watched a Dad sing this song on Youtube with his daughter and it was also a special song to us.”

Steph and Jay chose a wedding cake that did double duty – it also revealed the sex of their unborn baby! “Everyone knew I was pregnant and we wanted all our friends and family to share this special moment with us. Our close friend made our cake and she knew the sex of our baby 2 weeks before the wedding (we didn’t know either). When we cut the cake it was so silent and the moment the blue smarties fell out of the cake and hit the wine barrel it was like we had won the jackpot. We have a lot of girls in the family so to have a boy was celebrated by all. We went straight into our first dance and it was a very special moment we will never forget.”

The dance floor was a hit, thanks to live music from Off The Record. Says Steph  “Off the Record had everyone up dancing to our favourite type of music & our DJ was spot on and had the guests dancing even before the sun went down.”

And because we can’t get enough of these two, we’ve thrilled to include their wedding film captured by Base Imagery.

A big congratulations to you both Steph and jay! Thank you for sharing your beautiful wedding day with us. Thanks also to Little Black Bow Photography for sharing today’s beautiful day!