We’ve had an amazing year here at Sass Studios, sharing laughter love and tears with an incredible bunch of people that have changed our view of the world for the better.
Here’s to friends, new and old.
Here’s to family, the ones we love and the ones we tolerate : )
Most importantly here’s to Love – the stuff we all need in big doses.
Take a glimpse at the beautiful people who invited us to capture theirs….. Cheers!
Untitled from sass studios on Vimeo.
How did you meet? We were both living in London and a mutual friend of ours organised a trip to the Oktoberfest in Munich. We met on that holiday but didn’t start seeing each other straight away. We saw each other again a few months later at a party, at the same mutual friends house. We started dating but I had already organised a Visa to live in Ireland. Brett’s UK visa was finishing and he was planning to go back to Australia, so we were going to try a long distance relationship. I had to go back to New Zealand for 2 months before my Irish Visa started and Brett was traveling around Europe. I missed him too much and decided I couldn’t be without him so I went and met up with him in Europe, traveled around Europe for a bit and came to live with him in Australia…. Best decision I ever made!!
Describe the proposal? Brett proposed on New Years Eve when we were on holidays in Queen Charlotte Sounds in New Zealand. We’re both a bit awkward and weren’t very good at ‘announcing’ our engagement, we just though “oh people will find out”. We did tell our parents and family straight away though. Our friends always give us a bit for having the most secret engagement. I think most of them found out about 2 months later… oops.
How did you decide on a place to celebrate your wedding day? We looked at heaps of venues and weren’t really excited about any of them. We really wanted somewhere where we could have everything all in the same place – the ceremony, reception and accommodation all in one, just so everyone could just chill out in one place and not have worry about transport. Then we came across Paradise Palms in Kewarra Beach and it had everything we wanted. We had all my family and friends coming over from New Zealand and Bretts family and our friends coming up from Townsville so it was really important to us that they all had a great time as well.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress:
I must admit I did try on quite a few dresses (in many different cities) but I ended up finding a dress when I was on holiday in New Zealand visiting my family, which worked out really great cos my Mum got to be there and help me choose my wedding dress, which was really special in it’s self. I just wanted something simple and classic without too much bling… which believe or not was hard to find.
Describe your wedding flowers:
The flowers for our wedding were really bright, fun and colourful. Nice garden look bouquet with orange parrot tulips, David Austin roses and irish bells. They also helped inspire the design for our wedding invitations, menus and stubby coolers etc.
Describe your wedding cake:
Our wedding cake had layers of chocolate and carrot cake, our favs. The only decision we had when choosing the cake was if we would have normal or cream cheese icing. I wanted the normal and Brett wanted cream cheese. I won, so the guy who made our cake felt sorry for Brett and I think out of some kind of male solidarity he made Brett a separate carrot cake with a cream cheese icing which was so lovely of him to do. After all that I forgot to eat any cake on the wedding day, luckily there was lots left over – yum!
Any other favourite bits and pieces?
My Maid of Honour, Maria wrote an awesome poem for her speech at the reception, which I think everyone enjoyed… it got heaps of laughs anyway. Our guest book is pretty special too. We had a Polaroid camera and our friend Jo went and took photos of the guests and everyone wrote something next to their photos. All they comments that everyone wrote were so great, it’s like a big book of warm fuzzies and love!
What was the biggest challenge you faced while planning your big day? Trying to organise the wedding from Townsville was a bit tricky. We had to make a few trips up to Cairns to meet with suppliers.
What was the most memorable moment about your wedding day? Probably the most memorable part of the day was when we were saying our vows. The celebrant was reciting the vows with Brett, he was a bit nervous and jumped in a bit too eagerly with his “I Do”, but this made everyone laugh and broke the ice so he relaxed a bit after that. At least I know he was keen to marry me, ha ha.
Did you write your own vows? No, our celebrant has some really lovely simple verses that really summed up how we felt in a nutshell.
Where did you go for your honeymoon? We haven’t been on our honeymoon yet. We’ve booked to go to Singapore and Thailand… can’t wait!!
What’s next for you guys? Wel,l after going to Singapore and Thailand on our honeymoon we’re looking forward to having babies and just hanging out together, having fun and being in love.
Dream team included, Celebrant Eloise Barker-Re – Flowers - Blush Floral Cake Cairns Wedding Cakes Make up – Shae Howlett + their Fabuloso ceremony and Reception @ Paradise Palms
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Our grooms always look the part, adorned with new smelling purchases, putting their best foot forward… but as far as the actual nuts and bolts of the wedding day goes, let’s face it, the girls do all the work.
No pressure or anything boys, it must be hard you know…showing up, hanging out with the besties, having people fluff about like you’re royalty, eating and drinking like a king, partying till dawn and taking home the hottest chick in the room…tough
Meet Evan.
He surprised Karen with not one but two helicopters that showed up and whisked them away to a deserted coral cay in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef for champas and sunset.
Cool. Very cool.
He kept this secret from her for months…..not easy.
So attention all man props. It’s time to step up! I don’t mean that everyone needs to have shiny yellow helicopters at their wedding, but do something, something unusual, something she’s not expecting.. Dare you.
Standby for more pics from their unique Palm Cove wedding, including their super dooper dream team x x x
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Great shots as usual guys!! I agree that the grooms need to start putting some though in, as men we have it way too easy:)
Absolutely incredible images and they look like a fabulous couple to work with!
E
XX
Cyclone Yasi hit Misson Beach a couple of months before Candy and Matt’s wedding. We went down for a look around and it was all a very sad state of affairs. The hillsides were stripped bare and the beaches were like an environmental grave yard… everyone we spoke to was battling it in their own way. A double whammy after Larry a few years back…..
What we didn’t count on was the amount of life Candy and Matt would breath into the area with their supercharged wedding day!
I’m not sure if it was the families beach shack or the chapel by the sea, the bedazzling Louboutins. The amazing Italian desserts that we keep stumbling across. The princess dress, Teddy the fur child’s tux, the first dance choreographed to the finale of Dirty Dancing or the fact that the dance floor never emptied. Every minute of the day was an event of some kind and I’m pretty sure that’s how they planned it.
Read through Candy’s blog chat, for her take on the whole event : )
How did you meet?
We met in High School and actually couldn’t stand each other but were forced to associate because of close mutual friends. At the end of High School Matt went to Brisbane to study and I did my Uni in Townsville but we reluctantly kept in touch. In our last year of study Matt moved to Townsville to do 6 months practical work and we met up for dinner. Some very unexpected sparks flew and we have been inseparable ever since. Needless to say those high school mutual friends were the most surprised when they heard we were an item!
Describe the proposal?
Perfect : ) Matt whisked me away for a surprise weekend. My first surprise spot was Paronella Park where we did the ‘Dusk Falls’ tour and the Park is lit up like a fairyland. Something I had always wanted to do. Then we continued on to Mt Quincan Crater Retreat which are beautiful luxury treehouses on the tablelands. My eyes were covered and when I opened them there was candles, roses, the fire blazing, champagne and dinner and dessert from my favourite restaurant in Yungaburra waiting in our room. After dinner Matt told me he had one more surprise and you can guess what that was: ) We spent the weekend up at the treehouses with in room massages and some cherished time together before coming back down to the congratulations waiting at home.
How did you decide on a place to celebrate your wedding day?
From the moment Matt proposed I said “you know we are getting married at Kurrimine Beach right?” and of course he did. I had grown up at Kurrimine Beach and Matt and I had used Kurrimine Beach as our getaway when I was living with my parents and he was living with his Grandmother when we were saving for a place of our own so it was very special to us. I got ready at my great grandparents house where my parents actually got married and our ceremony was at the beautiful Tradewinds Chapel. We arranged a bus to take our guests to murdering point winery while we had photos and then back to Mission Beach Resort for our reception.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress:
My wedding dress ended up being the first one I tried on as you so often hear! I had always wanted a big princess dress but I kept an open mind and tried on other styles, however I always came back to that first dress with all its layers of fluffy tulle and fantastic detailed lace. My dress was from Bridal Palace in Townsville and Jo was amazing in helping me with my every question and need in the hunt for my ‘marshmallow’.
Describe your wedding flowers:
The whole wedding had a very vintage romantic theme and so flowers were very important to the day. I had a lot of Hyacinth, David Austin Roses, Freesias and a touch of Hydrangea and my bouquet smelled amazing! The bouquets were styled by the amazing Jenny Rick from Mission Beach who did a fantastic job.
Describe your wedding cake: It was 3 tiers of fudgy chocolate mud and choc mint mud by ‘Cake by Shona’ and it was absolutely delicious! In between the tiers was wreaths of fresh flowers and a pink fondant letters on the top that spelled out LOVE. Shona also made our favourite desserts for the dessert buffet which included rose and raspberry macarons, Turkish delight and cherry ripe cake pop as well as the traditional Italian sweets of storch and Torrone.
Any other favourite bits and pieces?
My little brother who was one of our groomsmen wrote a song especially for me to walk down the aisle to which I had never heard before the day. It was such a beautiful song and the best wedding present we could have had.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while planning your big day? Finding vendors for a wedding at Kurrimine and Mission Beach when we lived in Townsville! Having a destination wedding added a lot of extra considerations to the day and meant choosing vendors on their samples or strangers reviews rather than word of mouth like we would in Townsville.
What was the most memorable moment about your wedding day? Matt says his most memorable moment was seeing me walking down the aisle in my ‘out dress’. For me it was when we said our vows and slid on our wedding bands and when we did our bridal waltz which was a choreographed dance to time of my life inspired by Dirty Dancing. It was so much fun!
Did you write your own vows?
No. Matt and I have always wanted a traditional wedding ceremony and nothing would have suited us better than the simple but strong and honest vows…I may have to remind him now and and then about the for better and for worse part : )
Where did you go for your honeymoon? We spent a week in the Maldives soaking up the sun in our villa on stilts over the sea and had our first amazing scuba diving experience, we then moved on to Koh Samui in Thailand for a week and had our fair share of massages and cocktails on the beach.
What’s next for you guys? More holidays, parties with friends, having fun with our doggies and lots of love…but the babies can wait for a good few years so our parents will have to keep being patient until we are all travelled out : )
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Great photos! It looks like they had a wonderful day. It’s fantastic to see such joy and celebration, even with the effects of Yasi still so evident. Organising a destination wedding can definitely be a challenge. We supply wedding hire packages for ceremonies and receptions – often for interstate or overseas guests – and we certainly understand the value in sourcing good reliable vendors for such an important occasion.
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Michelle Persal - Hi :0) Matthew Evans mentioned that we should contact you. My partner and I are getting married at The Hilton Cairns on Saturday 25th Augst and I was hoping you could send through some prices. Thanks