Jake + Katelin by Shoot Me Jimmy - Together Journal

Looking back I remember realising Jake would be the first person I would want to speak to in the morning or when something happened. I missed him when I wasn’t with him. I remember my mum saying to me, you are always on the phone talking, you must really like this person as you will never talk to anyone on the phone. It well and truly dawned on me then.

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

JL – I am an Engineer. I love the outdoors and most of all I love to travel, I’ve fortunately been able to work overseas and travelled around the world, usually with my travel buddy Kate. I enjoy being able to experience different cultures and I’ve lost count the number of times Kate and I have been somewhere where we felt like the only two people there – which is all the more fun and not to mention all the in-jokes that have come from our travels together.

KS – I work in Mining. Similar to Jake, I love to travel, experiencing new countries and finding new foods to fall in love with. I’m a bit of a foodie, so spend a lot of my spare looking at food menus, food photos and of course eating! I also really enjoy sitting down to enjoy a ridiculously trashy reality TV show, much to Jake’s disgust.

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

JL – Kate would often be on campus visiting friends and I knew of her however I didn’t actually meet her until we both attended a ball at the University Club at UWA. Photographers were taking group photos in the foyer. For some reason, Kate and I both found ourselves in the foyer. Some guys we knew were getting group photos taken and Kate turned to me and said “Shall we run in and photobomb their photo?” which I thought was a great idea for a laugh. When we went to jump in the back of the photo, the group moved on and Kate and I were left there alone. The photographer assumed that we were a couple and proceeded to take what felt like an endless amount of couple photos of the two of us. I had my arms around Kate and we were doing whatever the photographer told us to do (I’m not sure what we would have done if he asked us to kiss!). Afterwards we had a laugh about it and started talking outside, it was certainly a good icebreaker.

Before we met I often saw Kate and how she used to wear really alternative clothing and I thought this girl is interesting, but a bit strange. (Unbeknown to me, apparently, I had terrible fashion taste when I first moved to Perth so she probably thought the same about me). My actual first impression of Kate (as in once I spoke to her) was that she isn’t strange at all and actually she is really down to earth, easy to get along with and someone who I enjoyed being around.

KS – A couple of months after we had booked our venue and decided on our wedding date, I was thinking late one night and something tweaked in my mind that our wedding date was quite close to our “meeting date”. I searched and searched through my emails to find the email with a copy of the photo from the ball. It turns out the ball was also on the 8th of October. This date is fate! I thought Jake was interesting, easy to talk to and funny.

When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?

JL – I saw Kate a lot at mutual events at University. I remember sometimes when she wasn’t at places I had anticipated/expected her to be at I felt disappointed that I wouldn’t get a chance to see her that week. Later, I was on a trip with the guys in Europe for 5 weeks during the mid year uni break and remember often wondering what Kate was up to on the other side of the world to the point that I started to miss her in a way as we were seeing each other quite a bit before I left. At that point, I knew I had fallen for her. As the travelling slowed down, we started talking more regularly while I was away and then Kate came to the airport when I landed to pick me up which was a highlight of coming home to Perth. Funnily enough, in the past 8 years, Kate has been waiting at the airport for me when I’ve flown in countless times more and it’s still the number 1 highlight of coming home.

KS – Looking back I remember realising Jake would be the first person I would want to speak to in the morning or when something happened. I missed him when I wasn’t with him. I remember my mum saying to me, you are always on the phone talking, you must really like this person as you will never talk to anyone on the phone. It well and truly dawned on me then.

Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…

KS – We went away to Rottnest for my birthday. It was the end of 2020, so the pandemic looked like it was mostly over. I was so excited for some time off and to be getting out of Perth. The first day we were there was beautiful, sun shining, belter of a day. The next two were cold and rainy, not ideal November weather. Though we made the most of it and still had a great time. We went out bike riding one afternoon once the weather looked like it was clearing and we were stopping at the bays along the way – too cold to swim at the time so we were eyeing out where we wanted to go swimming the next day. Little did I know, Jake was doing some scoping of his own.

On our final morning in rotto, there was finally no rain although still a little overcast. We headed off to the beaches to make the most of being on Rottnest. The first bay we stopped at I went for a dip – I was determined to enjoy my last morning although it was a touch chilly. We then moved onto the next bay. Right as we settled down on the beach, the skies opened and the sun started shinning. Jake turned to me and asked me if I wanted my final birthday present – something he had been telling me for the last 3 days that I had to wait for. I thought okay, odd you want to give it to me on a beach. I thought maybe a helicopter might land, or a boat trip. I closed my eyes, having no idea what is going on. I opened them with Jake giving me a ring box and asking me to marry him….I was in a little bit of shock and not really sure what was going on. To which Jake proceeded with “is that a no?”. Once I realised what was going on and this was in fact real, it was a big yes from me! We spent the rest of our time on the bay swimming, snorkelling and me pretty much frolicking up and the beach as the happiest person ever!

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding…

KS – The style and vision I had for the day was modern, restrained and timeless. Colour scheme for the day was black and white.

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

KS – I spent a lot of time finding my dream dress. I initially started with the idea that I wanted lots and lots tulle, however as soon as I tried on what I thought was my ideal dress I didn’t feel like it was me. I then proceeded to visit almost every bridal store in Perth in search of the right dress for me. I finally found it, by Australian designer Alex Perry. I couldn’t be more in love with my dress! I also had my mum’s veil altered from her wedding – it initially had three layers on a headband with flowers. I had one of the layers taken off and attached to a hair climb. I wanted a dramatic effect when I walked down the aisle, and although old school to some I loved the idea of having my veil over my face as I walked down the aisle. I also had custom gloves made to had extra oomf to my outfit. I also had a crown made by hand with pearls added to add that extra bit of glam!