Riley + Wes by Alex Jack Photography - Together Journal

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

I work in the beauty industry, in Ecommerce Marketing – I love it! Wes is a corperate lawyer specialising in Mergers & Acquisition. We love spending time outdoors, in nature or by the ocean. Both things are most important to us and make us truly happy.

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

We first started dating in 2008, in high school! He messaged me on MSN to get Cold Rock ice-cream after school. Wes was two years above me in high-school, so I always thought he was very cool and that he didn’t even know I existed.. He says he always had his eye on me.

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

We were 15 and 17 years old when we become “official” only after a couple of dates, I think we said I love you within the first few weeks. Things moved quickly! We were in love the moment we started being together and have never been apart since. We are true soul mates.

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

The proposal was very special and very us. We were having a weekend away for my birthday at one of our favourite destinations on the North Coast, NSW. We got up for a 6am surf check and sunrise swim (nothing out of the ordinary for us). I got out of the water and he wrapped a towel around me, when I turned around he was on one knee! There was no one in sight and it was the most surreal and magical moment of our lives. It was at the same beach he had asked me to be his girlfriend 11 years prior.

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

We always knew we wanted to be surrounded by beautiful natural bushland, because that is what makes us happy. We wanted our wedding to be relaxed, but formal at the same time. Important elements for us to create this atmosphere were good food, live music all night and flowing drinks.

What was one element you were happy to splurge on?

This is a hard one because there were definitely a few things we splurged on in the end. The one that we always were prepared to splurge on from the outset was flowers, and we would do it all again in a heart beat. Florals were so important to both of us and was something that made us both incredibly happy on the day. Boutierre Girls created our dream florals and we still obsess over them everyday! The first thing we did when we got home was press our flowers from the wedding day, and we have them framed in the house.

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

Yes, this is something that still haunts my bridemaids as they had no idea, but it totally didn’t phase me at the time.. I ordered an Uber to my wedding with my Dad and bridemaids. Maybe I should have organised a car, but seemed practical and easy to get an Uber given it wasn’t far and we were in Sydney, so Ubers are fairly reliable.. I arrived early too!

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

Yes, there is a story with how Wes ended up wearing a white tux! He was at Farage trying on Tuxedo’s for the wedding. I was in the city not far away. He calls me to say he thinks he has found “the one” and he wanted me to come and have a look. On my way there, they had shut down the store as the NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian, was doing some shopping.. When I arrive, Gladys is casually weighing in on black verse white tux on Wes, and she suggested he should go with the white tux, so Wes did on one condition, if she would lift restrictions and allow all guests to dance (as there were restrictions around this at the time). Gladys asked us when our wedding date was and she said “I think I can make that happen”.. Wes bought the white tuxedo and everyone was dancing on our wedding night.

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