The guests sat down on mismatched wooden chairs under the shade of a low hanging tree.  There wasn't a dry eye as the couple's ceremony transitioned from a wedding, into a baby dedication ceremony for their gorgeous first born daughter Frances. ​

This wedding and baby dedication ceremony was certainly a day which well and truly tugged at our heart strings, and we were so over the moon our couple had the most perfect day in the sunshine. 

You really can't get any more relaxing than holding a wedding right beside Port Hacking River amongst the trees of the Royal National Park.  

We're forever sending so much love to Erin, Sam, Frankie and Lottie, and wishing this little family many more years of happiness and an eternity of anniversary celebrations to come!! 

Warmest 

Alison x

Planning & Coordination
Alison Hughes Weddings www.alisonhughesweddings.com 

Photography 
Anna Blackman Images www.annablackman.com.au

Venue
Telford, Royal National Park Sydney www.youthworkscentres.net/telford

Flowers and Floral Styling 
Flowers by Melly B www.flowersbymellyb.com.au

Décor Hire, Garden Games, Chalk Calligraphy 
Inspire Love Wedding & Event Hire www.facebook.com/inspireloveweddingandeventhire

Catering & Roast
The Pig Baron www.thepigbaron.com.au

Bar Tending 
Nomad Bartending www.nomadbartending.com.au

Gelato 
Gelato Man www.gelatoman.com.au

DJ
TJ Your Mobile DJ www.tjyourmobiledj.com/wedding-dj-hire-sydney

Hair & Make Up 
Make Up by Rebekah www.makeupbyrebekah.com.au 

I currently only make buttercream cakes, and my preferred cakes to make are wedding cakes with fresh flowers.  I do love a good drip cake, as well as the odd chocolate overload cake. 

My fave flavour is chocolate mud cake for sure, and coconut buttercream icing. 
​

I've been lucky enough to have a few so far which I'm pretty proud of.  

​Number one would be making 400 West Tigers themed cupcakes for Ashfield Leagues Club. 

​I've also ran a cupcake demonstration and interactive workshop at Boston Consulting Group in Sydney CBD. 

​I'm also so proud of all of my tiered wedding cakes - it's so exciting setting them up at the wedding venues. ​

Congratulations to Michaela & Scott on their one year anniversary!! How time flies so fast!!

And to celebrate, I wanted to officially publish Michaela's stunning blog on her wedding! A love story and words of wisdom direct from the bride herself.

Every aspect of the wedding was all about effortless LOVE, and being with those that meant the most to them.

With the venue being right on the beach, guests indulged in beautiful food whilst listening to live music, surrounded by the relaxing views of the ocean.

The styling was all about beach elegance, and whilst Michaela did some DIY styling herself (which can be tough!), she still kept calm and carried on!

We could all benefit from some of Michaela's words of wisdom and tips for planning brides!
​
Alison xx​

My  husband  Scott  and  I  first  crossed  paths in 2006, but  were  properly  introduced  by  mutual  friends  at  a  New  Years  Eve  party 5 years later. 

As  our  "official" new years eve meeting had  taken  place  on  a  basketball  court,  Scott​ proposed in such a sentimental way.  He proudly  made  a  big  sign  in  the shape  of  a  basketball  that  said  in  lit  festoon  light  globes  ​"Will  you  marry  me?"​  He  tied  it  to  a  tree  on  a  cliff  top  overlooking  the  ocean  at   Shellharbour NSW  where  he  surprised  me  with  an  engagement  ring  by  the  incredibly  talented  jeweller  Matthew  Ely www.matthewely.com.au.
​
Choosing  the  wedding  venue  was  a  no  brainer  for  us.    Scott​s  Head, a stunning coastal village up  the  Northern  Coast,  was  the  beach  where  my  Mum  and  Dad  met  as  teenagers.  It's  a  beaut​iful  place  that  Scott  and  I  had  both  been  visiting on  weekends  away  from  Sydney  since  we  met.    We  both  love  the  ocean  and  spend  all  of  our  spare  time at the beach,  so  it  just  fit  us  perfectly.   

Finding  the  perfect  photographer  was  important  to  us,  so  we  did  the  most  research  on  our  photographer.      We  love  photography,  but  don't particularly  love  having  our  photos  taken.    If  Scott  had  his  way​, our  wedding  would  have  been  photography  free.    We  found  Ben  Wyeth www.benwyeth.com.au and  immediately  fell in love with  his  style.    He  had  shot  a  lot  of  coastal weddings,  and had so many beautiful candid moments captured in his portfolio.

I  proposed  to  my  bridesmaids  by  having  the  girls  over  for  a  High  Tea  at  my  house.    Although, I'm terrible  at  secrets  and  really,  they  all  knew  why  they  were  there! 

We  had  7  bridesmaids  and  4  groomsmen.  It  was  important  to  us  to​ have  our  closest  friends  standing  next  to  us  on  the  day and  we  weren​'t fussed  on  having  exactly  even  numbers. 

With  so  many  of  bridesmaids,  we  didn​'t  want  them  all  in  the  same  style  of  dress.  We  loved  the  look  of complete  mis-matched  bridesmaids.  

About  an  hour  after  choosing  my  Pronovias, Perfect  Day  Bridal  www.perfectdaybridal.com.au wedding dress,   my  Maid  of  Honour  and  I  went  shopping  and  found  the  beautiful  bridesmaid dresses  by  Shona  Joy www.shonajoy.com.au. 

All  of  the  dresses  were  in  a  stunning  Oyster  colour  and  we  were  able  to  choose  4  different  styles  which  was  perfect  for  our  beach  wedding. 
​
Scott  wanted  to  incorporate  his  Scottish  heritage  into  his  outfit,​ but  wasn​'t  completely  sold  on  the  idea  of  wearing  a  kilt, so he  opted  for  a  subtle  tartan  suit.  Trying  to  find  a  tartan  suit  in  the  boutiques  at  that  time  was  near  impossible  (of  course  they  are  everywhere  now!),  so  we  decided  to  have  it  tailor  made  to  measure,  and  found  Institchu  tailors  www.institchu.com​ who  were  reasonably  priced  and  very  helpful.

​Choosing the  groomsmen  attire  was  harder  as  we  never  really  liked  the  casual beach  wedding look.    It  couldn't  be  too  formal,  but  we  definitely  didn't  want  the  shorts,  thongs,  untucked  shirt  look  either.  We  opted  to have  the  boys  wear  the  same  tartan  pants  as  Scott's  suit with  a  tailored  white  shirt  and  grey  suspenders. 

The  weather  for  our  outdoor  wedding  day  was  very  unpredictable​.  Overall,  we  were  very  relaxed  about  the  day​, especially  as  we  had  an indoor  ceremony  back  up  plan  in  case  of  wet  weather. We  had  planned  and  created  the  day  that  we  both  dreamt  of,  but  at​ the  end  of  the day,  all  we  really  wanted  was  to  marry  each other,  whether  that be inside  with  rain,  or  outside  with  perfect  weather.    Lucky  for​ us  we  had  perfect  weather  and  had  our  planned  beach  wedding.   

Alison  Hughes  Weddings  www.alisonhughesweddings.com​ was  our  planner and floral  décor  stylist.   I had a  vision  of  how  the décor and floral styling  would look  when  put  together,  but  the  execution  and  attention  to  the  finer​ details  by  Alison  Hughes  Weddings  was  perfection!  
 
Alison  recommended  Kimberley  from  the  Marmalade  Sky www.themarmaladesky.com.au​ for  our  bridal  party  flowers,  who  was​ fabulous!   

From  the  very  first  meeting,  both  Alison  and  Kimberley  really  understood  the  style  we  wanted  to  achieve  and it's clear they are truly​ passionate about  what they do!

Our wedding completely  decked  out  with  Australian  native  flowers.    I  love  proteas,  so  the  main  flowers  used  throughout  were  of  course  various  kinds  of  proteas,  such  as  king  proteas  and  repens  proteas.    All  the  foliage  was  mainly  silver  dollar  gum,  leucadendron  and 
thryptomene. 

Kim  Piper www.kimpipercelebrant.com​ was  our  celebrant.    We  loved  how  she  made  the  ceremony  really  personal  and  tailored  it  to  our individual  personalities​. She  was  the  celebrant  for  my  cousin's  wedding, and  we  were  so  impressed,  we  knew  she​'d  be  the  perfect celebrant  for  our  day.   

The  most  beautiful  moment  of  the  day  was  standing  on  the  beach during our ceremony sharing our vows.  Even though there were 130 people  there  watching  us,  it  felt  like  it  was  just  us. ​

We  really  loved sourcing  and  creating  the  styling  for  the  reception  décor.    We  knew  we  wanted  quite  minimal/effortless  styling  for  our  reception  with  lots  of  greenery,  crystal  cut  glassware,  gold  and  timber  accents  and  soft  neutral  tones.    

The  tables  were  styled  with  timber  name  plates,  minimalist  menus  and  table  numbers  with  gold  accents,  crystal  cut  glassware  and​ white candles.  

We  positioned  the  bridal  table  in  the  middle  of  the  room  with  guest  ​tables  around  us,  as  Scott  and  I  never  really  liked  the  idea  of  being  front  and  centre  on  a  table  for  all  to  look  at.    Plus  we  thought  it  was  nice  to  include  the  partners  of  the  bridal  party.    They  were​ all  such  close friends  it  was  just  like  a  big  family  dinner.      

Tips  to  brides  and  grooms  out  there  planning  their  wedding  would be... to have fun with it! Pinterest and Instagram are your friends,  but stay true to your original vision and don't  get side tracked or carried  away  with  unnecessary  items/services/completely new ideas.  There  is  so  much  out  there  and  it  is  really  easy  to lose  sight  of  your  initial  vision  for  the  day.    
 
If  you  can,  enlist  the  help  of  a  wedding  planner  like  Alison  Hughes  Weddings​.  It  was  such  a  huge  help  to  be  able  to  bounce  ideas  off a trusted experienced professional.  The endless list  of  industry  contacts,  the budget  spreadsheets  and  checklists  she  provided  me  with  were  also  helpful.      
Finally,  Ben  Wyeth  our  photographer  was  so  easy  going  and  captured  the day  and  night  perfectly.  Looking  back  on  the  photos  from  the  day through  his  lense  is  just  like  reliving  the  day.  

Michaela xx

​This cheeky top 5 is all about your bride tribe! 

Just loving these fun trends brides are trying in 2018 - pushing creativity and traditions, for something completely unique and different! 

Warmest
​Alison xx

Always a sure winner to have your gals in the same dress material, but different cut! 

Photo credit - Dean Snushall Photo 

Ooh!  Loving this whole concept, scrapping the bridesmaid dress for a flirty jumpsuit! 

​Photo credit - Trent Bailey Studio 

Yes black can be worn at weddings!  Push those boundaries despite what others say - this is all class! 

​Photo credit - Frank & Peggy

Who wants uncomfy heels when you can rock sneakers with a lace dress - genius! 

​Photo credit - Mitch Pohl

My fave boho look is mismatching maid dresses! 

​They choose their fave style and print - you have peace of mind they feel nothing less than amazing! 

​Photo credit - Joey Willis