Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship:
Caitlin – I’m a Speech Pathologist at Children’s Hospital. I love my job, it’s incredibly rewarding to help make a difference in the lives of sick children and their families. My job can be very demanding which makes me value my time with Luke, Winston and family/friends even more.
Luke – I’m a Geologist. I love the outdoors and rocks! We both love spending time with our Australian Shepherd, Winston. We love taking him to the beach, river, and on hikes. We love trying new bars/restaurants together. We both love to travel and get excited about exploring the same things – never a disagreement about what we should do on holidays.
We’ve been together almost 10 years, we met when we were 19 (set up by friends after meeting at a house party). One thing that is unique about us is we’ve had to be away from each other for periods due to long distance (moves for work) and fifo but we’ve always made it work. We’re best friends. We feel lucky that we’ve gone through so many life experiences together (uni, starting/establishing our careers, travelling, buying first house) and understand each other so well. We really value that our relationship is an equal partnership, and we’ve always made decisions as team.
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 had the most amazing day. As soon as we got engaged we knew we wanted to get married in the Southern Forrest region of WA. We lived there for a few years and love the area, the greenery, the beautiful tall karri trees, rivers. As soon as we saw Clover Cottage we knew it was the perfect venue for us. We loved the stunning scenery of the venue and that we could really make the day our own there. We didn’t have a specific theme, we wanted to showcase how beautiful the area is. We also kept the styling very simple to allow our bright floral arrangements to pop. We loved the contrast of our bright flowers against the greenery of the venue and simple white and natural timber of our other styling choices. The bright floral arrangements were one of our favourite details as was how beautiful the venue looked at night, the festoon lights lit up the tree our bar was set-up under and were reflected in the water. We also loved how much fun we had! It made all the planning so worthwhile having so many guests tell us how much they enjoyed themselves and how much fun they found the day. We really wanted our wedding day to represent our personalities and for all our loved ones to enjoy themselves so it was so rewarding to see that come together in reality.
Tell us about your main outfits:
I loved my dress as soon as I tried it on. I found it hard to find a dress that felt like ‘me’ and this did. I added the off the shoulder tulle sleeves as I felt it gave the dress more balance. I asked the seamstress to make them removable so they wouldn’t get in the way dancing! Luke’s suit is from Joe Black – their suits are well tailored and incredibly flattering.
What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day:
Caitlin – One of the most memorable parts of the day was when my dad saw me for the first time. I wasn’t prepared for how emotional that moment would be and it was the first moment that it really sunk in that this really was our wedding day.
Luke – The most memorable part of the day for me was Caitlin’s long walk down the isle (where the ceremony spot was meant it was a long walk). I had a lot of time to see her amazing beauty!
Unique;
– Our wedding was in an area that a lot of our guests had never visited to before. We arranged events before and after the wedding to showcase the area and encouraged everyone to make the most of their time there.
– All small things that went wrong, everyone always warns you that things will go wrong but it was almost comical how many things did on the day – we just had laugh and to roll with the changes!
Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together:
Advice for married life – Never stop dating your partner is a good way to approach life together.Advice for wedding planning – Get multiple quotes for each vendor and listen to your gut. The vendors we clicked with and had the best feelings about where the ones we were most impressed with and highly recommend.
Photography: @emmamacaulayphotography | Ceremony and Reception location: @clover_cottage_retreat | Celebrant: @wendyhendry_celebrant | Bride’s gown: @purplefoxbride | Groom’s suit: @joeblackofficial | Bow Tie: @otaa.australia | Bride’s ring: @rohanjewellers | Groom’s ring: @linneys_jewellery | Bride’s shoes: @wittnershoes | Groom’s shoes: @r.m.williams_official | Earrings: @rubysageofficial | Bride’s veil: @kezanijewellery | Makeup: @belle_couture_mua | Hair: @forevernow.hair.designs | Bridesmaid’s attire: @shonajoy_ | Groomsmen’s attire: @blackandbloom_ | Entertainment: @thewedding_dj | Planner: @gemeventsmanagement | Hire and Marquee: @hire_in_style_wa | Flora: @thegesturemill | Catering and Beverages: @amoveablefeastperth | Cake: @sweetforyoucakery
