Real Wedding; Casey-Lee and Davey @ The Cove

About You Two;

Now, How did you two meet?

We met at Sydney Airport back in 2017. I was on a girls trip with 4 girlfriends. Davey was on his way back from China chaperoning 40 children, where he had been on a soccer trip. They were there for a stopover but had a 9 hour delay. We ended up being on the same flight back to Melbourne together.

Who popped the Question and how did it happen?

Davey! It was the morning of my 28th birthday and we were building our first home at the time. We thought it would be cute to get a takeaway breakie from our favourite cafe and eat it in our future lounge room. It was just walls at that point, so we laid out a picnic rug and he gave me my birthday gifts. At the end he said “I have one more…” Then he got down on one knee! I had NO idea this was coming. My nails were chipped as hell haha. Utter shock.

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

We wanted a beach wedding. Not near or overlooking the beach, with our feet in the sand. We always imagined it would be somewhere in between Europe and Australia, as Davey’s family is from Netherlands. However a lot of his family hadn’t been to Aus and were keen to make the trip. Lucky us! When we found The Cove there was just no looking back. Nothing in Aus compared!! It meant our wedding was much bigger (and more expensive) that we had originally intended. But with a guestlist coming from overseas and interstate, we had to make it special. Even for our Aussie guests, the location was truly special.

Quick Fire Questions;

How many wedding guests did you have?

68, including kids

..not including kangaroos, who made themselves very at home eating our food and snacks haha

Sit down or Cocktail Style?

We had both! A sit down lunch with incredible shared platters for lunch, then woodfire pizzas cocktail style for dinner.

What month?

December

Planning The Wedding;

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

At the start it was super fun. We had so many ideas and two years to plan!

The first and fondest memory we have of the planning journey, was when were getting Friday night drinks at a local bar. The MOST incredible voice was singing live at the venue and we were absolutely enthralled. When his set finished, we introduced ourselves and asked him to play at our wedding .. with no date, venue or idea what our wedding would be yet!

Davey’s Mum Danielle became sick not long after we locked in our venue and of course our priorities shifted. It was really difficult to plan for and look forward to. We contemplated cancelling a few times as her destiny was unknown and of course we wanted her there.. Do we do it in The Netherlands? Do we move it sooner? Every time these questions came up, Danielle told us that we must go ahead with it as planned – and she would be there one way or another.

Her condition deteriorated and she passed away just 3 months before the wedding. This was absolutely heartbreaking to the entire family. She was the heart and soul of the family. It was and still is hard to imagine a world where she’s not here.

It was difficult to shift back into the wedding mentality, it was the last thing we felt like doing to be honest. But we had a lot to do in not a lot of time, so it was time to pull our socks up. Our vendors were very kind and gave us some grace with deadlines.

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?

Once Danielle became sick, naturally I took the lead. Davey had to put his time, love and energy into his Mum. He was still involved in the key decisions.

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

Music was super important to us! We ended up bringing an incredible acoustic musician @glen.wee and insane DJ @micallefevents with us from Melbourne. This way we could guarantee the vibe and energy we wanted, and we felt connected to both of them. Both of them stayed the weekend and most memorably Glen sang our aisle song, and Daniel DJ’d our first dance.

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

This was interesting!! There are so many beautiful dresses out there but I struggled to find one that felt like me. I made no progress in the dress department for about a year eek!

It was when I was in Netherlands visiting Davey’s family for Christmas that I started browsing the internet as they had different designers / dresses, and this was where I found Newhite. If it weren’t for that trip I don’t know when/if I would have found it as they weren’t yet in Australia!

From here I messaged the brand and they let me know they had some upcoming stockists in Sydney, AUS. I am from Melbourne so my plan was to fly interstate but thankfully they ended up sending the dress to a stockist in my state. This was only 6 months out from the wedding so it was cutting it fine in dress timelines, however I knew it was the one as soon as I tried it.

I then ordered it and the dress was delivered a month out from the wedding … however it was too tight!! Being a US based brand there was a mix up with the sizing – but the stockist (Twelve South Bridal) and designer (Newhite) were INCREDIBLE and somehow re-made the dress for me in time. I collected it days before we left for our wedding, with no time for alterations other than the length.

Luckily it was pretty much perfect.

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

We love minimal, neutral Scandinavian style so this was the biggest influence for the venue styling. White florals only and lots of candles!!

The dresscode for the wedding was neutral/coastal formal – which was such a vibe on the day and looking back at photos!!

My personal style is this classic/neutral/minimal vibe .. with a hint of coastal cowgirl .. So for the ceremony I wore my dress and sleeves with no shoes, as we were on the beach. For the cocktail hour I accessorised my wedding dress with some incredible suede Paris Texas cowboy boots and a hat from Old Habits Die Hard, which was a vibe! By dinner I had removed the sleeves and had just the slip dress with sneakers which was super comfortable and meant we could dance the night away.

On the Day;

How did you both feel wedding morning?

We woke up together which was really special and we were just so excited! We had a Welcome Night the night before and were on such a high having all of our people in the one place.

What was the best part or moment of your day?

We had a really special moment.. When we were exchanging our rings that had been melted down from Danielle’s jewellery, two dolphins came out of the water right next to us!! Exactly how Danielle would let us know she was there and with us on the day. It was unbelievable and we were all in tears.

Anything you would change about your wedding or anything that didn’t go to plan?

We missed some key photos with friends and family. However it was important for us to be in the moment which we truly were.

Also being interstate, and with everything going on in life, I didn’t get to do hair and makeup trials prior. Which could have gone so wrong haha. I would recommend this to make sure you and your team know what you do and don’t like. You want to make sure you feel the best you have ever felt in your life.

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

We did a ‘warming of the rings’. Our celebrant Sarah took our rings to the back and throughout the ceremony our guests passed them around, each taking a moment to hold and give love to our rings – before they ended up back with us for the vowels and the dolphin moment.

After the Wedding;

Describe newlywed life in a couple of words?

It was a little chaotic to begin with! We got married just a week before Christmas and had a lot of family that stayed on after the wedding – which was super special. We have only really got chance recently to be together, just us, and married life with this man is absolute BLISS.

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

Genuinely our WEC coordinator Jade.

There is so much happening and of course some things don’t go to plan.. For example, our beach ceremony was proving a little tricky with an unexpected high tide! But she pivoted what she had to to make sure we had a our dream beach wedding. Having Jade there to make sure everything ran smoothly and stress free made all the difference and meant we could be completely in the moment.

Other than that, good music and good food/drinks bring so many vibes to the day!!

Budget-over, under or what you estimated?

Wayyyyyyyyyy over haha. But worth every penny.

We always thought we would do something low key but being destination, for multiple days, with interstate and international guests .. we needed to make it amazing. It was also the first time that our families met and is probably the only time in our life where all of our favourite people will be in the one place. A weekend we will never forget.

Credits:

Coordination/Set Up; The Wedding and Event Creators
Celebrant; Marry Me Sarah B
Venue; The Cove
Florist; N/A
Stylist; Lily Ever After
Photographer and Videographer; Chevell Photography
Catering; Bumpy Road and Wandering Wood Fire Oven
Entertainment; Glen Wee Music
DJ; Micallef Events
Hair; Chelsea Taylor Hair