Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…
Eli is a plumber, and I am a part time floral assistant, full time teaching student. We both were born & raised in Perth – only a couple of suburbs away from each other for most of our lives! We love people, spending time in the ocean, camping around the South West of WA, getting too competitive during family board game nights, indulging in Italian food, and we love a good dance floor.
How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?
The first time we met, we were both grabbing dinner at Varsity with mutual friends. Safe to say, Eli was pretty smitten from the start. I thought he was cute but I wasn’t too keen on the 3.5 year age gap – Eli being 19 at the time & I had just turned 23… Eli wooed away, we started talking every day, spending all our free time together, and I got over the age difference pretty quickly!
When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?
I think we both realised pretty early on that we wanted to choose each other for the rest of our lives. I remember vividly on our one year anniversary, all dressed up & starry eyed, was the first time we really spoke about the future, how our lives fit together, getting married, having kids and feeling like this is it.
Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…
There was! Eli proposed on our 3 year anniversary. We had dinner reservations and on the way he wanted to swing past the spot where we had our first DTR (define the relationship) and he had asked me “officially” to be his girlfriend three years earlier. When we got there, there was a little picnic set up, he got down on one knee and asked me to pretty please be his wife (actually, he accidentally got down on both knees first, before realising that didn’t feel right hahaha). We laughed, and cried and celebrated the special moment with some pink Moscato (Eli couldn’t find champagne in his rush on the day haha) and watched the most beautiful sunset over the prettiest landscape you could imagine.
Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding…
We just wanted it to be fun. We are both pretty laid back & relaxed, so first and foremost, we wanted everyone to feel chill & ready for a good time. We wanted our wedding to be as bright & colourful as possible, this shining through in our stunning florals. We also had a bit of Italian inspiration for the day (Kaitlyn’s cultural heritage), this inspired our food choices, our citrusy touches to our styling, as well as the overall vibe of our reception venue.
Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?
My wedding dress was super chic & simple, and actually picked out by my mum! I wouldn’t have picked it out off the rack to try myself, but it was her choice – I tried it on & couldn’t get it out of my head! Eli’s suit was a dark chocolate brown, which was really tricky to find, but we knew from day 1 that we wanted him & the groomsmen to be wearing that colour. We also had colourful sunglasses for all of our bridal party. These were just a fun little last minute thing, but they became a massive part of the day – they feature in a lot of our bridal portraits, and I think they were passed around to almost every single guest at some point on the dancefloor. It made our photos that much more fun!
What was one element you were happy to splurge on?
Our florals – we kept a lot of our other styling and colour choices simples so that our beautiful florists could let their creative juices flow in the most colourful way and bring our entire wedding to life. We opted for all fresh flowers, an abundance of them, and we couldn’t have been happier.
Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?
Our wedding cake! It was served whilst the dance floor was in full swing, so we missed out on having any – as did most of our friends & family who were too busy grooving to grab a piece. But at the end of the night, it had all been eaten! One of our guests must have had an absolute feast!
Ceremony location: Moana Hall | Reception location: Trade Winds Hotel | Videographer: Michael Cruise | Photographer: Samantha Simone | Celebrant: Steve Cawthron | Entertainment: Love Sick | Styling: The bride | Planner: The bride | Hire: Reeces Hire | Flora: Studio Blume | Catering + Beverages: Trade Winds Hotel | Cake: Sweet On Cupcakes | Stationery: Designed by The S Studio, printed by Peterkin Paper | Ceremony Entertainment: Brenton Asher | Brides Attire: Kyha Studios purchased from Through the White Door | Grooms Attire: Cambridge Co | Ring/s: The Diamond Club | Brides Shoes: Sol Sana | Grooms Shoes: Calibre | Jewellery: Flash Jewellery | Sunglasses: Shein | Makeup: Holly Castillo | Hair: Emha | Fragrance: Aerin | Bridesmaids Attire: Shona Joy | Bridesmaids Shoes: Billini | Groomsmen: Calvin Klein
