Months leading up to Shannon and James's special day saw loads and loads of rain. With a majoring flooding event occurring in February just a few months from their wedding day, things were looking grey. However, with a month of clear skies and dry weather before their wedding day things started looking positive. With some last minute changes to the ceremony location due to soggy grounds, it was all smiles for the newly wedded couple as their Plan B ceremony location turned out to be much more magical than they could have ever imagined.
Learn all about their special day first hand from the bride herself. Held in Autumn this year at the pristine wedding venue known as the Yamba Wedding Retreat on the river at Micalo Island, Yamba.
PRE WEDDING
Myself, my 4 bridesmaids & my mum spent the morning being looked after by Kaylene & Casey at the Zig Zag Hair salon in the main street of Yamba. While the groom got ready with his groomsmen at our riverside home, with a few beverages! We then headed to the Yamba Wedding Retreat, where we spent some time before the ceremony in the bridal suite at the venue, to put on our dresses, add finishing touches and get some preparation photos.
CEREMONY
We had 120 guests for our wedding and the ceremony was held at the riverside dock at the Yamba Wedding Retreat. This location was a last minute wet whether decision (or wet muddy ground decision) but turned out better than our original plans. We were the first couple to be married on the dock we were told :)
The ceremony area was set up and styled by Sarah and her team from Ivy Lane & Co. We used white tiffany chairs for our guests to sit on and two large white peacock chairs for myself and James to use whilst signing the official marriage documents.
The ceremony was accompanied by a string quartet playing whilst the guest waited for us to arrive. The ceremony was officiated by Yamba Wedding Celebrant Christine Preston who we adore. After the ceremony concluded we had the lovely Ruth and Sib from Gather cafe provide canapés and grazing platters for our guests to enjoy during the cocktail hour. out on the grass.
WEDDING PARTY PHOTOS
All of our bridal party photos were taken at locations around the Yamba Wedding Retreat venue. This included on the driveway, in amongst the trees found around the grounds, and on the pontoon that we held our ceremony on.
RECEPTION
We chose to have a sit down reception in the Moondance saloon, which was set up and styled again by Sarah and her team from Ivy Lane & Co. All of the reception furniture, cutlery and glassware was provided by Hampton Event Hire and the lighting setup within the saloon was done by the local team from Fig Tree Lane Event Hire who also provided the cocktail furniture out on the grass. The floral centre pieces were arranged and supplied by Mel from Wildflower Wanderings.
JANDA Events accompanied dinner with acoustic music, then provided DJ tunes for the dance party after all the formalities were completed. Once the night was over, Wards buses provided transport for our guests to get back into town safely.
At the end of the night we (James and myself) stayed with the bridal party at Island Getaway - Ray White Yamba holiday home which is a beautiful large home on the river at Palmers Island.
SHANNON AND JAMES'S TEAM
PHOTOGRAPHER // Celia Towell Photography
VENUE // Yamba Wedding Retreat
CELEBRANT // Christine Preston
STYLING & SETUP // Ivy Lane & Co
HAIR & MAKEUP // Zig Zag Hair
FLOWERS // Wildflower Wanderings.
MUSIC // JANDA Events & Jacaranda String Quartet Grafton
RECEPTION FURNITURE, GLASSWARE & CUTLERY // Hampton Event Hire
LIGHTING & COCKTAIL FURNITURE // Fig Tree Lane Event Hire
TRANSPORT // Wards Buses
CATERING // Gather and Flinders Rose
DRESS // Grace Loves Lace
TUX // Hugo Boss
VIDEOGRAPHER // NSI Productions
ACCOMMODATION // Island Getaway (Ray White Yamba holiday home)