Yamba Real Wedding – Surgery and a Spring Wedding

Andrew and Jacinta; from the Tenterfield and Grafton region in Northern NSW, met several years prior to becoming an official couple. Their previous partners were cousins, so they were introduced and saw each other at various family functions. When they both became single, they started talking and enjoying the company of each other more and more as their love blossomed into something incredibly special.

How did he/she propose?
On the 25th of October 2014 we held a 1st birthday party for our daughter. We invited all our family and friends to help celebrate her special day.
We organised the cake for my daughter and she blew out her candle. My partner then made a speech thanking everyone for coming and proceeded to talk about our time together and how grateful he was for the kids and myself. In front of all our family and friends he then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I was in total shock and he had to remind me to give him an answer because I was just totally speechless. It was a really beautiful moment, that some of our nearest and dearest got to witness. He was obviously pretty certain on my feelings and love for him as well, to have such confidence to do it in that setting.

Why did you choose Angourie?
Angourie was always a place that I had driven past but never actually stopped in. When the wedding planning started, the idea of everything being done in the one location really appealed to me. My husband has family from Casino and my family was based in Grafton so it felt like a nice middle point. We had done some searching on the internet and rang to make an appointment with Jess. Jess gave us a tour of the resort and a run down of the wedding packages. As we walked around the resort it was just so beautifully relaxing. The bridge over the pond to the reception room was just beautiful and the walk over just made it have that special feeling. We just knew from that first viewing that we were in love with the idea of this being our wedding location. We opted to have our ceremony by the pool, which meant no travelling between the ceremony and the reception for our guests. As we were having a budget wedding, being all in the one location meant we saved on car hire to get around. Even though we had plans to have a budget wedding the backdrop of Angourie Resort still gave our wedding such a beautiful elegant feel.

Describe your day and how you both felt?
Leading up to our special day we had a set back, three weeks out my soon-to-be husband broke his leg badly at his bucks party and was needing surgery. Due to swelling the surgery had to be put back and his operation was one week and one day out from our wedding. Andrews’ leg had to be in plaster for our wedding which sadly meant crutches. We were asked by several people about cancelling the wedding. Cancelling was just not an option. I was marrying this man and taking vows to be by his side through sickness and in health and I wasn’t going to let a broken leg stand in our way. If anything we felt it showed to us and all our guests that we will be by each others side through any hiccups. Our day was just beautiful and nerves were definitely there but so much excitement that we had gotten here despite the setback. My mother, my sister, mother-in-law and myself decorated the reception room ourselves and it was just such an achievement in itself to sit in a such a beautiful room we had decorated together. The visions were finally a reality. We both felt proud at the reception, proud of ourselves and what our life together had been so far and excited for the future and what that entailed as husband and wife.

What was the stand-out moment?
Our improvised first dance would have to be something fun from our day. I’m sure it’s not everyday a first dance is done with a wheelchair with some classic moves of the shopping trolley or mowing the grass. I think we improvised pretty well with some entertainment along the way. For the last part of our first dance my son took over and had a dance with me which was special. We also had some fun moments on the tennis court with our photographer. Due to Andrews’ leg it was a little hard to go to the beach or headland for photos so we just improvised around the resort. There is a photo of Andrew in his wheelchair looking like he is trying to get away with our bridal party all with rackets in hand looking like we are chasing him.

Ceremony Location: Poolside Pergola, Angourie Resort / Reception Venue: Angourie Resort, Bar & Bangalow Room / Photo Location: Angourie Resort  / Celebrant: Christine Preston / Photographer: Bye Bye Blackbird / Hair & Makeup: Laura Fernando (Hair) & Rebecca Brien (Makeup)  / Grooms’ Suit: Cartane purchased at George Gooleys Casino / Brides Dress: Purchased online / Flowers: Timeless Wooden Roses