Real Wedding; Song and Mike @ Seacliff House

About You Two;

Now, How did you two meet?

We met as housemates, via Gumtree! I was living in a sharehouse with two other girls in Redfern, Sydney and we needed a fourth housemate – after some searching, we found our perfect match in Mike. Almost 9 years on, and we’re housemates for life.

Who popped the Question and how did it happen?

Mike proposed at Wineglass Bay in Tasmania, on my birthday! We’d spent the morning walking through the bush, going for a swim at the beach, and while I was exploring the rockpools, I turned around to a proposal!

Why did you choose your venue and how was the venue choosing process?

We chose Seacliff House because the South Coast of NSW holds a special place in our hearts. I grew up in Wollongong, with my grandparents living in Sussex Inlet, and Mike’s family have spent a lot of time at Hyams Beach in Jervis Bay. We wanted to be able to enjoy and see the ocean during our wedding week, and wanted to be able to have our wedding party stay with us in the lead-up, so the whole thing could feel like a super-chilled holiday that happened to have a wedding in between!

We only looked at Seacliff and one other venue to know that Seacliff was the one – the accommodation is beautiful, the outdoor space and barn for the ceremony and reception are like a blank canvas to play with, and you can see and feel the ocean from where you are on the hills. It just ticked all the boxes.

Quick Fire Questions;

How many wedding guests did you have?

We ended up having 60 guests, cut down from the 120 pre-COVID postponement.

Sit down of Cocktail Style?

Sitdown, shared banquet

What month?

March 2021

Planning The Wedding;

Was planning the wedding stressful or did you enjoy the journey?

We loved the planning process – we loved selecting and getting to know our vendors and working with them all to understand how our day was going to look, feel and come together. The only part that we found stressful was, like all couples who had scheduled a wedding in 2020, postponing and trying to slightly reimagine our day. Having said that, once it finally came around in 2021, we ended up having the perfect day.

How involved were you both in the wedding planning, did one of you take more of the lead on certain aspects than others or were you both equally involved?

We were both really involved in the planning for the day – it was a really fun process talking about what we liked, and what we thought our friends and family would enjoy – afterall, we’re both getting married, so we both want to make sure everything is exactly how we imagined it would be!

What was the top couple of non-negotiables or important must-have’s at the wedding for you both?

Delicious food (Garnish obviously had that covered!), good people (all the vendors we chose were just amazing and lovely people), excellent dancefloor music (The Baker Boys Band were all over that!). The other thing that we were crossing our fingers and toes for, was for both of our brothers from London to join us – they were a must-have.

Tell us about your dress and that dress-finding process?

I saw the Margareta from Karen Willis Holmes and I thought ‘I hope that’s the one!’ – I went to a few different fittings with my MOH to figure out how it all worked, but I saved Karen Willis Holmes for last. The Margareta was the last dress I tried, and I had my lovely mum and Mike’s mum with me on the day. After hoping that it would love me as much as I loved it, it was the ONE!!

What sort of theme, vibe or style did you go for?

We wanted the wedding day, and the days surrounding it to just feel like a fun, family holiday – so we went for a fairly natural vibe, with lots of white and timber furniture to match the incredible Henry Clive Caravan Bar. We also had the incomparable Clare from Gypsy Carmen who went above and beyond to make the ceremony and reception space an absolute dream of natives, white, caramel and green florals.

On the Day;

How did you both feel wedding morning?

We were feeling great! We had gone to bed after a drizzly, foggy day and woke up to the sun shining through the Farmhouse windows and not a cloud in the sky. We started off the day with a dip in the ocean with our wedding party – it set us up for the most ridiculously perfect wedding day in the history of weddings!

What was the best part or moment of your day?

How do you pick just one?! Everything was amazing!!! A really special part of the whole week really, was having both of our brothers with us from London – both of whom went through the 2 weeks of quarantine to be with us.

The swim in the morning before we came back to get ready was also the perfect start to the perfect day.

The vows and speeches were incredible and filled with love.

But there was one moment on the dancefloor, when the whole wedding was singing ‘You’re the Voice’ together, which was pretty special.

Anything you would change about your wedding or anything that didnt go to plan?

Absolutely not – even though we had to wait an extra 11 months to have it, there is nothing that we’d change about our day.

Are there any rituals, sentiments or traditions you incorporated into the day?

I asked my parents if they could bring the white iron table and chairs that belonged to my grandparents to use as a signing table. It wasn’t something that was outwardly obvious, but it was nice to have something that represented them there.

After the Wedding;

Describe newlywed life in a couple of words?

The same, plus rings. haha

Best investment or money well spent on the wedding that you made?

Having Jade and the team with us on the day was definitely money well-spent. If something went wrong, we had absolutely no idea about it. It was just nice to know that after all the planning and the waiting, there was someone there to make sure that it all went off without a hitch.

I think our selection of vendors in general was well worth the investment we made – they stuck with us through the postponement, and did everything they could to make sure that our wedding day was one that will be remembered forever.