Samantha & Marty’s Contemporary Coastal Wedding

Together for seven years before a holiday proposal with a custom designed ring, this food and travel loving couple gathered their friends and family from around the country for a contemporary coastal wedding. With their focus on the guest experience, Samantha and Marty planned a warm and welcoming celebration featuring a natural garden ceremony, relaxed cocktail lounge and marquee reception with panoramic ocean views. Not to mention their two beautiful dogs who dressed to impress!

Wedding Weekend

“We planned a whole weekend including dinner with our immediate family and bridal party the night before. We were so excited about the next day and it was amazing to have our closest friends and family with us to connect and chat about the day to come.

We organised a breakfast for all our guests the morning after to recap on the night as most were from interstate. It was a great opportunity for us to see photos they had taken and hear about the things they loved from the day before. As the wedding seemed to go so fast it also meant we could spend more time with the guests we didn’t get to talk to as much as we’d wanted.”

The Guest Experience

“The experience that our guests would have on our wedding day was most important to us. We’d been to many weddings before and tried to elicit the things we loved about each and the things we thought weren’t as suitable to us.

At other weddings we’d really preferred when bands were the source of entertainment, so this was something we were set on. We wanted to make sure there was more than enough food and decided to have an open bar so everybody could choose to drink whatever they preferred. We also wanted to make sure our guests didn’t feel forgotten while we had photos taken, so we provided lawn games and tried to keep the interval as short as possible.”

Pets of Honour

“We had our two Labradors there on the day as they are very much like children to us! We had a company pick the dogs up from our home the morning of our wedding, walk them and dress them in their outfits on the day, then bring them to the ceremony as guests. The assistants then let them mingle with the guests during canapes and accompanied us down to the beach for some photos.”

Personal Touches

“Instead of traditional table numbers we decided to have street signs made to represent locations that were meaningful to the different stages of our lives. We tried to seat our friends and family on the streets appropriate to where we had known them from. We had the bridal table reflect our future path by the surname we’d share – ‘Halliday Street’.”

Reception Styling

“I really wanted our wedding to be luxurious but relaxed as it was by the beach. Native proteas, greenery, coconuts and candles ran the entire length of our long tables. Our aim was to give a communal and inviting feel, and to hero the view from the marquee during the daylight hours.”

Best Advice

1. We remember our wedding as the best weekend ever – not simply a day. Our guests loved being part of the extra events and I’d highly recommend including them in all that you can.

2. Find as many pictures as you can that accurately represent the style you want reflected on the day. It makes the job so much easier for you and the stylist, that way everything will look exactly as you want it to.

3. To pass on the most important advice we received from others – make time for each other during the day. It’s easy to get to the end of the night and have been so busy with friends and family, you forget about you two as a couple. For us, five minutes here and there on our own was priceless.

4. Pay attention to the little things on the day that will help you to remember it accurately. How the weather was, the beauty in all the styling you’ll work so hard to plan, the look on people’s faces and the first time you see each other during the ceremony.

The Team

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