Kaila + Joshua by Matt Rift - Together Journal

We both want to be the best versions of ourselves; this keeps us in a perpetual state of growth, both individually and as a couple, and that feeling is addictive.

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

We live in a small unit in the heart of Victoria Park, Perth which we have slowly renovated over the years. Kaila is an Interior Designer who is currently building her own business called Studio Rommi after 8 years in the industry. Josh is a technology consultant, and his day-to-day includes helping clients solve complex problems and deliver digital transformations.

We’re both very close with our families. We love to spend our weekends outdoors, pottering around the house or hanging out with friends and family. In summer, we spend a lot of weekend mornings at Port Beach. We’re always on the lookout for new restaurants and bars to try out with friends – we’re both big foodies, and we don’t let Kaila’s dietary restrictions stop us! Most weeknights, you will find us cooking up a storm and dancing around the kitchen at home, at the gym or having dinner with our families. We are both VERY competitive, enjoy travelling, love a bit of banter and have mastered the art of pulling each other into line.

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

It was June 2018, and it had been a difficult year for Kaila; having faced some major challenges with her gut, amongst other things, she’d finally said to herself that she was sick of meeting up with randoms from Tinder, and she was more than ready to focus on herself and her health.

The following day her friend Bec was coming over for some nibbles and drinks. Later in the evening, Bec convinced her to head into a bar in the city, where they eventually met up with Bec’s boyfriend Alex, who was at a nearby pub watching the Socceroos play in the FIFA World Cup with an old mate from school.

When they arrived, Kaila sat down next to said friend, who she thought was giving Clark Kent vibes, and he introduced himself as Josh. These two clicked immediately and did not stop chatting for HOURS.

For Josh, he was attracted to her positive energy. It just seemed like, despite everything going wrong for her at the time, she found a way to smile and laugh and enjoy herself… she also had the most adorable laugh.

For Kaila, this was the first guy in a long time who could hold a conversation and genuinely listen. He was confident…but not cocky. He knew who he was and wasn’t afraid to ask questions…or evidently chat to a beautiful lady.

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

Josh: I don’t know exactly when it was that I decided that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Kaila, I think it was more of a realisation that I needed to. As someone who came from a very closely-knit family, I always knew that I wanted to get married because I wanted to emulate what my parents had – to have a best friend to share all the happy (and sad) moments of my life with. Kaila and I share similar values on family, food and life in general. I think our collective outlook on life is to not be content, just being average. We both want to be the best versions of ourselves; this keeps us in a perpetual state of growth, both individually and as a couple, and that feeling is addictive. On reflection, it is because of this feeling that I have with Kaila that I couldn’t imagine living without her.

Kaila: What he said 🙂 haha!

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

We were on holiday in the northwest of WA, in Karijini National Park. Josh had settled on this trip for two reasons: Kaila loves the wilderness and a good sunset.

After sussing out the best location to watch the sunset, we took a picnic dinner and settled in. We had time to kill before the sunset, so we set off on a little walk. Kaila was merry and oblivious, floating along the path, taking photos, and admiring the views. Josh, on the other hand, was sweating bullets. A tad distracted at this point, attempting to act normal whilst internally panicking that Kaila would see or feel the ring box in his pocket at any moment.

Finally, making our way back to the tent was when roles somewhat reversed. Kaila had reached for Josh’s hand (Josh argues she was going for his butt) and felt something in his back pocket. From there, everything was a blur. Kaila’s walking speed doubled as she made her own attempt to ‘act normal’, with her mind racing a million miles an hour. When we arrived back at the tent, Josh couldn’t wait a moment longer, telling Kaila, ‘I have a question for you’, to which she replied ‘I think I know what it is’. Both in tears at this stage, we, of course, know that the answer to this question was… YES!

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

Before we started planning, we both agreed that every detail about our day needed to mean something to us, and it needed to reflect our personalities. As Kaila is an Interior Designer, it was quite effortless for her to start pulling together colours, patterns and the overall look and feel. Once all the main vendors were booked in, we honestly just had a bit of fun with it all and constantly bounced ideas off each other.

One being, how do we enter the reception? The idea came to us on our way home from a date night, laughing and singing along to Sandstorm in the car. We started to reminisce about our mate’s recent 30th birthday, where we all had glow sticks and danced until the wee hours of the morning to similar songs of the early 2000s. So yes, we entered through a curtain to Sandstorm and all our guests dancing and swinging their glow sticks in the air. Even Kaila’s 82-year-old Zia was jumping on the booth seat with excitement.

Selecting the venue was an easy decision for us. Having met at the bar next door to Heritage [4 years earlier] and subsequently spending several Friday evenings in the area for after-work drinks, it just made sense. We are also partial to a wine [or two], and Heritage had the perfect wine selection and menu, so all we needed to do was show up. At the end of the day, for us, the focus wasn’t on how many flowers we had or how extravagant the decorations were but to celebrate our love with our closest family and friends in our own special way.

What was one element you were happy to splurge on?

Without a doubt, our incredible Videographer, Elena, from Story Story! Having photos of the day is amazing and something we will cherish forever, BUT having a short film that captures all the little moments across the day [that you missed or forget] is priceless. We have genuinely watched it back at least 100 times and will never grow tired of it. We also got Elena to film our entire ceremony and all the speeches. It’s crazy how you can forget what you or others said on the day. We are grateful that we can watch it all back and re-live the entire day again and again!

Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?

After our own speech, Kaila thought we could do the classic cheers thing – where you link your arms around each other and drink. Well, we did… but Josh didn’t time it quite right and red wine tipped onto the collar of his stunning custom sparkly beige suit jacket. Oooops! It’s safe to say the stain came out with a little help from the Heritage team and some soda water. Josh was not impressed with Kaila at the time, but not long after, Josh’s jacket came off anyway as we both tore up the dance floor. Having fun and dancing was a priority for us both, so the feeling didn’t last very long for Josh or Kaila [whose dress ended up mopping the red wine and champagne off the floor].

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

For Kaila, this was going to be a difficult task. She wanted her dress to be different from the “typical wedding dress”, a style that she could dance and eat freely in and potentially something she could shorten and wear again. But after months of looking online and visiting local wedding boutiques, it was hopeless. Then she met with local designer Maevana, and they talked through ideas, colours and fabrics for hours. In her small atelier in North Fremantle, the design was born, and the fun began.

Now that the dress was finalised, it was a question of what accessories could tie it all together. Kaila originally wanted a gold dress but swapped that idea for gold shoes. She also wanted some sort of colour and, after a lot of research, came across a fabric that would be perfect for her veil. The fabric spoke to Kaila’s Italian heritage and bold personality. The veil ended up being the inspiration for the bridal party and floral colour palette.

Josh’s final outfit came from Kaila jokingly saying he needed to ‘level up’ his attire for the occasion to look as exceptional as her. This meant that any old suit wasn’t going to cut the mustard; he was going to need something special, something unique. Cue Josh visiting every tailor in Perth on a quest for the perfect jacket – after several weeks of searching, he landed on a beautiful fabric from Germanicos, after that, the rest of the puzzle pieces fell into place.