Real wedding - Donna & Sean, Mornington VIC

February 23, 2016 In Real Weddings By Jo Betz

Real wedding – Donna & Sean, Mornington VIC

The recently refurbished Royal Hotel was the perfect canvas for Donna and Sean’s rustic-inspired wedding.

Their stunningly-styled day oozed elegance and charm – Donna an absolute vision in a her two-toned lace gown, accompanied by a harem of bridesmaids in gorgeous white.

The long-time lovers breezed through the planning of their special day and the smiles didn’t leave their faces as they made their promise to one another.

Laura Prego – Perla Photography has captured Donna and Sean’s magical Mornington day in all it’s glory.

IN DONNA’S WORDS…

The meeting.

Sean and I met when we were 15 and 17, but we didn’t get together until we were 18 and 20. Both out at a local nightclub, we ran into one another and after Sean quickly established that I was single, he made the move! We have been together ever since.

The one.

I think this happened after our 15 months of overseas travel, living in each other’s pockets day in and day out. If you can survive that you can survive anything! We obviously were made for each other.

The proposal.

Sean popped the question on a walk and picnic down at Point Nepean National Park in Portsea. After a long walk with our seven-month-old son, we finally found a teeny tiny patch of grass for a picnic. After lunch, Sean started rumbling around in the pram basket, then he picked up our son Hux, put him on his knee and then on bent knee asked me to marry him! When he opened the ring box I saw the most gorgeous ring (I had had my eye on it at a beautiful jeweller in South East Gippsland, but never thought I would get it!). It was such a surprise and so beautiful – I honestly had no idea. Then we celebrated with the beers we took for our picnic!

Planning process.

We were engaged in March and decided to plan the wedding and get married as soon as possible. We’d been together for twelve years – we didn’t need to draw it out any longer! We set the date for the 27th of November and this gave us seven months to get it planned and just perfect. I worked in the events industry for a quite a few years prior to having my son, so I was pretty excited to be planning my own big event! It was quite an easy process really, everything just fell into place. The hardest part was the final few weeks nutting out the little stuff – decorations, seating plans etc.

Style inspiration.

I wanted to go a little bit rustic but with an elegant twist. I had a Pinterest board and I would find ideas and it just went from there. Our reception venue (Royal Hotel, Mornington) is a beautiful old hotel which has recently been refurbished. The venue is stunning, very elegant/classic and all black and white – so it was a beautiful blank canvas we could add anything to. The rustic look worked really well in the venue due to it’s age – the Hotel was built in the mid 1800’s.

The dress.

My first stop shopping was High Street, Armadale, but there was nothing I was in love (with unless it was a gazillion dollars). I had to start looking elsewhere. The dress I wore I bought online after my sister in-law happened to see it on Instagram and suggested it to me. It was a ball gown, not a wedding dress, but it was just perfect and the last size they had and fit me like a glove – it was meant to be! I’m so happy I chose it, the amount of comments I received on it has been insane and it wasn’t expensive at all!

Favourite moment.

Coming down the path to the beach, seeing all our guests there for us and everyone smiling back at me. Then seeing Sean down the end of the aisle with the groomsmen looking just AMAZING and so incredibly handsome, holding our son.

Traditions.

I did do the ‘something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue’.

Old – my bangle that was my great-great Aunt’s. My mum was given it to wear on her wedding day, and she gave it to me to wear on mine.

Borrowed – my earrings were my best friend’s earrings she actually wore on her wedding day.

New – dress and veil.

Blue – my garter which was my grandmother’s that she wore on her wedding day. My sister in-law also wore it when she married my brother.

Meaning of marriage.

Marriage to Sean and I, is an extension of our relationship and means that we all can have the same surname! We have been together for twelve years so it wasn’t really changing anything major for us. We’ve grown up together, traveled the world, brought our first home and had our son. It was really a formality that we knew would happen one day and a great excuse for a big PARTY!

Wedding soundtrack.

Aisle – Romeo & Juliet by Lisa Mitchell (Triple J Like a Version)

Reception – Can’t Do Without You by Caribou

First Dance – Love by Nat King Cole

Funny stories/near disasters.

The night before the wedding Sean’s cap on his front tooth snapped off eating pizza with his groomsmen! He was left with 1/4 of a tooth! There was a lot of phone calls made to dentists late at night to no avail, when finally someone called him back! He had it fixed first thing on the wedding morning. The thought of him turning up toothless is just too much to bear! Thank goodness it happened then, not on the day, or during the meal!

Planning surprises.

The number of guests who traveled from far and wide to be with us on our day surprised us. We had guests from London, America and Norway and plenty of interstate travelers also. It really amazed us that people made such an effort and cared so much to want to be there with us on our big day. It was lovely.

Words of wisdom.

Don’t stress yourselves over the little things, I spent HOURS making our table numbers and having them reprinted and reprinted as they weren’t quite right – no one really noticed them once the flowers were on, guests were seated and the food was set, so it didn’t really matter! Think outside the box when designing/planning your wedding – you don’t always have to buy everything brand new. People will have things you can borrow and then it gives your day even more sentimental meaning.