Josie + Josh by Sister Sister Weddings

We mainly wanted the focus to be on the stunning Caboonbah church and Coronation Hall in Somerset Dam.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…  

My husband Josh owns his own business in Dalby – WD Building Design. He takes a lot of pride in each job that comes his way, leaving every client impressed and satisfied with the finished product. In Josh’s spare time, he loves to tinker in the shed, building and creating anything he sets his mind to, always renovating our house.

I (Josie) currently work as a registered nurse in Dermatology. In my spare time, I love running, reading and painting. Fitness and health are also a big part of both our lives.

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?  

Josh and I met at the Dalby Rugby Races in November 2021. I lived on the Sunshine Coast at the time, alongside my roommate and best friend, who is from Dalby, asked me to come to her local races. She knew Josh through her Dalby church and knew that he was looking for a nice Lutheran girl, so we had come up with a plan for me to approach Josh and introduce myself to him at the races. At the time, it was for a little laugh, the first words I said to Josh when I approached him were “excuse me, but are you Lutheran by any chance?” Josh was immediately blown away and intrigued to know more. I kept going on about how he just gave off this “Lutheran vibe”, and he believed every word. But soon enough, he turned around to see my friend filming the whole encounter. Still to this day, we have that video footage of our first-ever meeting on film. I never thought I’d cherish that moment so much, and I’m so grateful it was captured. My first impression of Josh was ‘wow, he’s so intelligent’, and I immediately knew that my dad would love him. We were both so hopeful for our possible future together.

What styling and visual elements worked best for you? (could be things, the florals, particular hire products or your marquee, etc., something the stylist created or simply just the scenic beauty of your location or the existing design of your venue).  

When it came to the styling for our wedding, we mainly wanted the focus to be on the stunning Caboonbah church and Coronation Hall in Somerset Dam. So we didn’t deck it out in flowers and lights, we kept it minimal so that nothing took away from the natural beauty and structure the church and hall had to offer.

What did you enjoy most about the planning process, and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?  

 Josh and I took on an even amount of the planning for our wedding, but our biggest lifesaver was Bebe’s Country Weddings. She answered all of our questions with ease, helped plan out our day, had all of the equipment we needed, and was extremely easy to work with before and on the day. We honestly would have been so much more stressed and unprepared if it weren’t for Bebe. I reckon my biggest tip is, unless you’re a very organised person and love planning, get someone who can help or do your planning for you, for me, the stress isn’t worth doing it all by yourself.

Tell us about your vendors. Were there any standout suppliers you would like to make special mention of?   

We didn’t have many vendors because Bebe was able to do the catering, decorating and running of the day. But I would love to make a special mention to our photographer and videographer, Sister Sister Weddings. Our engagement photos were absolutely stunning and perfectly us, from that moment I knew we had picked the best people to capture our wedding. They did such an amazing job accommodating our schedule, running around to different locations to take photos and went above and beyond for any requests we asked of them. Not to mention how they managed to capture and edit all of our photos and video perfectly, it all turned out better than I ever could’ve imagined. We are so blessed to have come across their socials when searching for a local photographer, and I’ll forever be super grateful to both of them.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, and is there a story?  

I always knew I wanted to wear my wedding dress the whole day; I wanted to soak it all in as much as I could. I chose my dress because it felt timeless and elegant, with subtle detailing on the back, and it perfectly suited me. My veil was also quite simple with small flower detailing towards the end of it. For the reception, I switched my veil to a beautiful lightweight scarf. I couldn’t have been happier with my dress choice.

Tell us about your wedding and engagement rings.   

Josh took me to look for engagement rings at Hogan’s Family Jewellers. I wanted something simple and elegant, a small diamond oval on a gold band – perfection. Our wedding was everything and more, celebrating with all our loved ones, uniting together in the eyes of God. We knew we always wanted to get married in a quaint little church. Josh came across the Caboonbah Church online when searching, then found the Coronation Hall not far from the church. It was perfect! It didn’t take us long to then find Bebe’s Country Weddings, which organises weddings in both the church and hall; it was all too good to be true!

What were one or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on? (food, photography, florals, the venue, your outfits?).   

My husband and I both agreed we wanted to have a live band for music instead of a DJ. It was worth every cent. People still to this day complement us on the band. Everyone had the best time, the dance floor stayed full the whole night, it was like having a personal concert at our wedding! Not only that, but we also had a guitarist sing and play throughout the whole day; it really set the tone and ambience for our guests. If live music is something that interests you, I highly recommend Andrzej Fenner and his band.

Was there a favourite moment (or two) that you will treasure always?   

Honestly the whole day is something I’ll treasure and cherish forever, but if I were to pick a singular moment that stood out to me the most as a distinct memory, it would have to be hearing all of our loved ones speeches, they were all so well spoken and truly touched our hearts, we both felt so loved by everyone in that room.

What does being married mean to you, and are there any special rituals you have that you would like to share?   

Being married to us means sharing our love, not just for each other, but our love for God as well. It’s not just a legal contract; it means we get to enter into a lifelong commitment to each other, as we become one flesh union established by God. We are committed to our faith and thrive when God is included in our love.