Have you seen that look in the blockbuster movie wedding… the killer smile from the bride reserved solely for the groom. The groom gently squeezes her hand and returns that look for reassurance at the altar. You get that feeling that it would be a tragedy for them to be apart… THAT WAS THIS WEDDING! I was there, I saw it unfold. Except there was no altar. It didn’t matter. It was perfect. The wedding was at Bells of Kilcare.
I’m going to let Leanne and Sean share the details of their day in words, I’ll share what I saw in pictures.
We met on the Central Coast during an evening out. We were introduced by a mutual friend. We went on our first date shortly after, however, I moved to Sydney soon after and it wasn’t until 8 years later after running into one another that we went on our second date. The rest is history!!
Sean proposed on Christmas Eve 2011. It’s my favourite time of year and given it was our first Christmas away from home (we moved to London in April 2011) Sean thought he would do something extra special!! I arrived home in the early evening to find Sean had prepared a candlelit dinner. Before I knew it, Sean was on one knee and asked me to become his Wife!!
Our Wedding ceremony and reception were held at Bells at Killcare on the Central Coast. Given we met on the Central Coast we felt it was quite fitting to hold our wedding in the area. Bells is a beautiful venue with perfectly manicured gardens and superb food. We knew our guests would enjoy the surrounds and it allowed us to have our ceremony and reception at the one location. The venue is also located close to our Grandparents who we wanted to ensure would be able to enjoy the day with us!
We wanted our wedding to reflect sophisticated elegance. To that end, we decided on two long tables for the reception dinner and sourced candelabra’s from the 1930’s (an exercise that spanned 9 months and involved numerous visits to Notting Hill Markets in London) that lined the tables and created an elegant candlelight setting. We also placed beautiful soft floral arrangements between each candelabra as the finishing touch.
I bought my wedding dress in London from the well known British designer, Jenny Packham. Her bridal collection is both exquisite and timeless. Her designs offer something extra special for the non-traditional bride! I chose the ‘Esme’ bridal gown. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the dress for me!
I bought my shoes from ‘Harriet Wilde’, a British independent footwear label established by designer Ruth Shaw in 2008. Ruth has a passion for stylish footwear design. Her designs are elegant and importantly comfortable!
My sister, Justine, did my hair for me on the day which was really special. She is a fantastic hairdresser based in Sydney. She knows me well and gave me the freedom to choose a hairstyle that reflected me and also allowed for the back of my dress to be uninterrupted.
My make-up artist was Karen Dyer, located on the Central Coast. Karen is an exceptional make-up artist. Upon meeting Karen, I knew I was in safe hands. Karen has a wealth of experience and is passionate about make-up. I wanted to achieve a natural look for my wedding day and Karen did this beautifully! She is an absolute delight and I highly recommend her services!
Spencer Hart in London was where Sean found his suit and he says it is the most comfortable suit he’s ever worn and it was exactly what he wanted for the wedding.
Our wedding flowers were exquisite and surpassed all of our expectations. We were fortunate enough to have Gai Hyde provide our wedding flowers. Gai went above and beyond to create simply stunning floral arrangements for our special day, including creating a magnificent masterpiece for our wedding cake (that was made with love by Sean’s Mum, Jayne). Gai was beyond accommodating during the lead up to, and on our wedding day. We cannot emphasise enough just how fabulous she is!
Andrew, our photographer was a delight on our wedding day. He is a true professional and made Sean and myself (and even our wedding guests) feel at ease. Andrew captured beautiful images of us that we will cherish forever.
We have attended numerous weddings that have been photographed by Impact Images and the results have been amazing! Most recently, Sean was best man at his best friend, Nigel’s (and his wife Sally’s) wedding that was shot by Andrew. Sean, being a cameraman himself, has a particular eye for creative photography and was impressed by Andrew’s style and the images he captured. When it came to planning our own wedding, Sean knew Andrew was the man for the job!
We both have so many memorable moments from the day -I have a few, two of which are the expression on my Dad’s face when he first saw me in my wedding dress and the moment I saw Sean as I started walking down the aisle. I couldn’t wait to meet him at the other end!!
Sean says seeing me in my wedding dress, me having trouble getting Sean’s wedding ring on, Nigel’s awesome speech, and seeing everybody enjoying the picture frames on the patio.
We intend to honeymoon early next year. We’re thinking the Maldives would be the perfect ending to a truly magical day!
For advice to future brides, I’d say; try to avoid becoming all consumed with the preparation for your big day. Although it’s an important day, it’s only one day out of the rest of your lives together as Husband and Wife! Do, however, make sure you take time to enjoy the day and savour the moment!
Would I change anything about our day if I could do it over again? Absolutely not! We were blessed with fabulous weather, the vendors and suppliers were all terrific and we were surrounded by our wonderful family and friends!
Thanks again for everything!
Chat soon,
Leanne & Sean.
Andrew here again – not long after this amazing wedding, I received this wonderful message from a very good looking father of the bride that I’m proud to share:
Hi Andrew
It’s Paul Thomas, Leanne’s father.
I just had to write to let you know how impressed I am with your photographic work. The photos you took of Leanne and Sean’s wedding are outstanding. Thank you for creating such wonderful memories for my family.
We had a truly fantastic day and you have given us images we will treasure forever.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Regards
Paul
PS. Was the father of the bride handsome?
Here’s Leanne’s Dad Paul… He’s the good looking one 😉
Here are some more photos from this wonderful wedding and if you’d like to see a copy (video) of Sean and Leanne’s wedding album on the blog, click here – wedding album.
Great images Andrew. My fav is 007.jpg, aptly named.
Thanks Warren! This was a fantastic wedding to photograph… I like your favourite but it’s a toss up between that and the one before for me.
Great pick up with the image name too… I totally meant that 😉
Beautiful work Andrew what a great location too
Hey Paul, thanks for the rap – Bells sure is a great wedding location and there’s nothing else really like it in the area. Awesome food too! 🙂
Nice pics and I love the hanging frames, novel idea. How do you get such good clear and bright shots of the evening dancing, doesn’t look like you use a flash? Love your podcast too btw, great for the car journey to work.
Hi Adrian – the hanging frames were cool, the guests loved them and this was the first time I’d seen them.
In regard to the dancing photos, I do a few things, pretty high ISO – 1250 or higher and not afraid to go over 5000ISO depending on the brightness of the room. Slow shutter speeds (hence the blur in some photos) which I think adds to theses style of images, down to a quarter or half a second and some bounce flash off a wall or ceiling (preferably the walls for a more modelled look to the light.
With the slow shutter speeds, I’ll often pan the camera to add more blur deliberately while the flash firing will freeze the one moment.
Great to know you’re enjoying the podcasts!