Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship:
We met via a mutual friend 13 years ago and ever since then, we’ve been best friends. Jack is an engineer at Bluescope Steel & Caeli is a lender at CUA. We managed to escape the friendzone and decided we wanted to be together forever.
We both grew up in the Illawarra and moved to Perth for a short stint for Jacks work, but have moved back to be close to our friends and families and bought our first home in Shellharbour and have settled in ready to start our family. We love socialising with friends and family, spending weekends at the beach in summer and watching movies and having games nights in winter.
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:
We chose our wedding to be intimate yet sophisticated. We themed our bridal party and our style to be black and white with a touch of blush. We kept everything classic and timeless with our own spin on traditions.
We wanted to make sure our guests had fun but felt like they were transported to a classy venue so we had a champagne tower to tie in the black tie theme and kicked off our reception champagne towers flowing.
The wedding was supposed to be a destination wedding to Brooklyn, New York City, however, Covid changed all our plans 3 weeks before our wedding date in April 2020. So we chose the next most beautiful place in the world 15 minutes from our doorstep in beautiful coastal Gerringong.
We chose Gerringong, because it always feels like another world, it has a relaxing, chilled and stunning vibe. It’s so picturesque, being surrounded by the hills, cliffs, ocean views, farms and the biggest beautiful fig trees made it feel like the right place for us to say I do.
We wanted a small intimate venue that we could have a small group of our nearest and dearest, a venue we could make our own and interact with our guests easily. The vibe was very calm and relaxed but was also sleek and could be dressed up to suit our black tie theme.
We loved that we were supporting a local family business and every time we visit gather we feel like we are on holidays. The food is incredible, the staff are friendly and most of all the vibe was exactly what we were searching for.
Tell us about your main outfits:
We went the classic black and white, black bridesmaids dresses and formal tuxedos for the guys to really keep the elegant, classic and timeless look.
What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day:
Every moment was special in its own way, sharing special moments with each of our parents in the ceremony with the exchange of rings from our mothers.
In the morning, getting ready, we each had our own time with our families to really be present and enjoy the moments with our parents and bridal party, those are such special memories to us both.
Spending quality time with each other on the cliffs of Gerringong when we snuck out with our photographer Matt and videographer Marcus. They played a song called Society by Eddie Vedder while we danced on the cliffs at sunset and that memory really is a favourite of ours.
At our entrance to the reception, the bridal party all had dances to enter, and we immediately poured a big champagne tower as soon as we entered to get the party started.
Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together:
Always communicate, make decisions together even if it means negotiation and finding the perfect middle ground to keep both happy.
Always remember to have fun together and be best friends above anything else.
Ceremony : @mercuregerringong / Reception: @gatherbythehill / Videographer: @marcusrusbournemedia / Photographer: @mattashton_photo / Celebrant: @reneemilthorpecivilcelebrant / Entertainment: @tayzerlan / Styling: @aviarylabel / Planner/day of coordinator: @planned_by_page / Hire: @eljaygoods / Cake: @cakesbyadrienne / Bride’s Gown: @missstellayork / Groom’s Attire: @ferrari_formalwear_and_bridal / Rings: Michael Hill Jeweller @michaelhillj/Shoes: @novoshoes and @ferrari_formalwear_and_bridal / Makeup: @beautifymebb / Hair: @joliehairbychristine / Fragrance: @tiffanyandco / Bridesmaid + Groomsmen attire: @ferrari_formalwear_and_bridal
