Ashlea & Brant by Ricky Gestro - Together Journal

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship … My name is Ashlea, and I am a paediatric nurse currently working in ED, and my husband Brant is a miner, working FIFO.

We have been together for nine years! Brant asked me to marry him last year, on the morning of my 30^th Birthday, at our favourite beach (South beach Fremantle) with our dog, Quinten. It was a complete surprise and I literally had no idea! He had then organised a surprise breakfast with my family afterwards, and that night I was having a big 30^th birthday party, which turned into a joint engagement party. I thought nothing could ever top that day – until we actually got married!

We love to go out for brunch, spend time with our family and friends, travel, and we don’t mind a chardonnay or two. We are obsessed with our fur baby Quinten (the apricot moodle), who loves the park, his brother and chicken nuggets. Brant and I definitely balance each other out, he is very relaxed, where as I am always going at one hundred miles an hour and can sometimes be pretty extra! He loves sport and relaxing at home, where as I love to be out and about, and always ready for the next activity. We both bring out the best in each other and I would be lost without him.

Tell us about your special day, was there a specific theme or style? Tell us a little about the setting, the styling and some of your favourite details… Our wedding was like a dream! The most magical day of our lives and it couldn’t have been anymore perfect if we tried. Originally Brant didn’t want a big wedding, so we tried to make it as informal as possible, and more of a fun party vibe! We wanted a one stop shop for the ceremony and reception, to make it easy for our guests, and Matilda Bay Reserve was the perfect location for that. Our ceremony set up was something out of a movie with the perfect back drop over looking the city and river.

I think our theme was quite modern and fresh, with the white, black and gold colour scheme, which matches our personal style. We wanted something different, that had that extra factor and the amazing DUO team totally got our vision and created our dream ceremony and reception. The dance floor under the stars was definitely a high light, as well as the hanging lighting and floral arrangements, as well as the table décor – it is really hard to pin point our favourite details as we loved it all! The espresso martini cart during the cocktail hour was another highlight, as all our guests got right into it – which helped get the party started!

Tell us about your main outfits: My dress was from Zanzis Bridal Couture. I knew I didn’t want anything traditional or super “bridey”, and went for something a bit more modern and unique. It was the first dress I had tried on, and it was that simple – I had to have it. I loved the mesh and see through aspect of the skirt, and the detailed beading throughout the dress. Jen at Zanzis nailed it – the dress fit like a glove and I felt absolutely amazing in it. As the dress was very detailed, I went with a simple nude heel, and a sheer veil which complemented the dress. I went with a fresh and natural makeup look, with big waves through my hair, as I still wanted to look like myself – just a better version!

We went with black bridesmaid dresses as I wanted something classic and timeless – and who doesn’t feel great in black?! My brides-baes all wore different Natalie Rolt gowns and all looked bloody smoking. We decided to roll with their own choice of dress and hair style for the day, so each of the girls could feel their absolute best. Natalie and her team were amazing in assisting with this, delivering great styling advice and making the process so easy and fun!

The boys decided on classic black suits, with Brant wearing a black tuxedo. The team at Suited for him really delivered and the boys looked sharp as ever. Brant went with R.M Williams boots, which he says “wore themselves”.

What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day? So hard to pick the most memorable parts, but definitely getting ready with all my best friends at my mum’s house was a massive high light. We had so much fun getting our hair and make up done, popping some bottles and there were lots of boomerangs involved!

The ceremony would have to be the best part of the day! We wanted it to be fun, personal and light hearted, and Kirk our celebrant created that vibe for us – he is the BEST! It was such a sureal and amazing experience to see all our closest family and friends in front of us, as we read our vows to one another and were announced husband and wife!

The speeches were hands down bloody great! Our Best Man speech was so personal yet hilarious at the same time, and my sister (my Maid of Honour) reenacted one of our favourite movie’s – My Best Friend’s Wedding – and busted out into “I Say a Little Prayer” and had everyone up singing and dancing – it was the highlight of the day!

And the dance floor was LIT! Everyone was up dancing the entire night – we couldn’t have asked for a better reception party!

Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together? Any advice we could give would be don’t stress the small stuff – It’s really not worth it and everything will work out on the day! Also to remember the purpose of your wedding – to marry the love of your life!! It’s that simple! Whenever we were getting worried or stressed during the lead up, we just had to remind each other how lucky we were to be getting married in front of all our favourite people – and nothing else mattered!

Another thing that one of our friends told us to do, was to take a few minutes at the wedding, and walk off and look back to the wedding we / the Duo team had created. It was really amazing to have that special moment really taking it all in, and everyone was having so much fun so it was really special.