With Celebrant Jamie Eastgate of Brisbane City Celebrants

A love and light filled Brisbane wedding

We worked together during our university days at the local cinema.  I was intrigued by his unusual surname and wondered if he was related to a girl I went to high school with who had the same last name. It turned out it was his sister! From there, we started talking, and hanging out and the rest is history!

Andy says he knew he loved me when he heard me blowing my nose under the shower water and admired how I always finished everything on my dinner plate (how unromantic is that?)

I knew I loved him when he bought a brand new bed and linen 3 weeks after we met, after I threatened to never stay at his house again after witnessing the state of his old mattress and manky doona!

Our Celebrant Jamie actually shared these corkers during our ceremony much to the amusement of our guests.

On a more sentimental note, we actually both said “the L word” on New Year’s Eve 2006. Ironically we’d both spoken to our friends about divulging how we felt about each other prior to this (without the other knowing) and after we were winding down after a fun night out celebrating, the conversation started and out it came…..

When it came to the proposal, Andy had actually designed and purchased the ring almost 12 months before he proposed.

One night I went to the hairdresser after work and Andy asked me to stop and get some Thai takeaway on the way home. When I got home, I noticed that there weren’t any lights on in the house, but the front door was open. When I got inside, I was amazed to see there was a trail of fairy lights along the floor, that led me out to our back deck.

Here I found Andy waiting for me looking very nervous, he’d decorated our whole deck in candles and lights, the candles spelt ‘MARRY ME’.

He’d pre-prepared a little speech outlining the reasons why I should marry him, why he’d be a good husband and hilariously, the reasons why he’d understand if I said no (e.g. his ear hair).  Then he called our pug Baxter over who had the ring on his collar and proposed.  I laughed nervously the whole time but of course I said YES!!!

When planning our wedding, the important elements to us were that it was spacious, standing affair, preferably outdoors or with a view and live music.  The rest just came together and evolved in to an elegant modern vintage style with bursts of brightly coloured florals.

We hired the 2 lawns at Lower River Terrace in Kangaroo Point, one for the wedding ceremony, the other for cocktail hour drinks, nibbles and lawn games.

Jamie Eastgate from Brisbane City Celebrants performed our ceremony and he was awesome! So helpful both before and on the day. Our 2 dogs Baxter and Ollie joined us for the ceremony and wore suits that perfectly matched Andy’s!

We also had an amazing long table and arbour set up with the most exquisite hanging florals and décor created by Brisbane Wedding Decorators. What I had in my mind and what they created were worlds apart, for all the right reasons.

Brisbane Wedding Decorators made an ‘idea’ into the most beautiful reality – I was so gobsmacked when I saw the tables, chairs, arch and floral work, I couldn’t recommend them more highly! We were so lucky to have their help on our special day.

We celebrated our reception with ‘fork and walk’ style catering at Riverlife beneath a marquee on the Brisbane river.

Following cocktail hour, the tolix style bar tables and stools we hired through Brisbane Wedding Decorators for the post ceremony nibbles and drinks, were relocated to the reception area and decorated with small vases of pink and white blooms. The whole look was candle lit without being too soft.  We loved it.

Instead of having a cake, my mum cooked up a storm of her well known favourites (e.g. magic slice, caramel slice) and my best friend Kim made her world famous choc chip cookies for dessert.

 We also surprised our guests with Ruby the Red Ice Cream Van who made her arrival at about 9pm.  Our guests loved being able to go and get an ‘old school’ ice-cream on the night.

We have so many memorable moments from our day!

• I loved seeing my Dad’s face when he saw me all dressed for the first time;
• Getting goosebumps when we were announced by our Celebrant Jamie Eastgate as husband and wife;
• Seeing Brisbane Wedding Decorators beautiful long table set up in the park;
• Dancing with my dad (it was quite the scene and involved all sorts of shoulder shimmying!);
• Standing at the back of the deck watching all our guests jumping around dancing to the band;
• and the amazing gondola my parents hired to pick us up at the end of the night and take us for a beautiful ride down the river and to our accommodation at Stamford Plaza.  We had about an hour, just the two of us on the gondola, watching the city go by – it was our first chance to really ‘catch up’ with one another about the day.

My advice for brides and grooms to be is to spend the time getting your run sheet for the day accurate and detailed.

Give copies to a few trusted friends and your MC.  This helped our day run smoothly as the order of events/ timing was knowledge shared and everyone helped keep things going along.  Include contact details for key people – it made the world of difference. Oh and eat! Eat breakfast and lunch, and snack where you can.  All the adrenaline makes you hungry!

Finally, from the bride’s perspective – pack yourself a pair of those little fold up ballet flats….!

Penny and Andy’s dream team of wedding vendors

Celebrant Jamie Eastgate of Brisbane City Celebrants

Photography Marcus Bell of Studio Impressions

Cocktail hour floral arbour by Brisbane Wedding Decorators

Brides Dress Karen Willis Holmes

Men’s suits George and King

Ice Cream van Ruby the red ice cream van

Wedding Transport The Mini Owners Club

Entertainment Baker Boys Band www.bakerboysband.com.au/

Dogs Suits by Fluppies

If you enjoyed hearing about this love and light filled Brisbane wedding and are looking for a Celebrant for your Brisbane wedding, Jamie would love to hear from you. Contact Brisbane City Celebrants for more information and to confirm availability for your special day.