Jessica & Ben – Dion for Brides

Jessica & Ben

Dress: Lunella by Willowby Watters, Dion for Brides Photographer: Peter Troode

Celebrant - Nikki McCarthy (South West Weddings with Nikki)

Hairdresser - Karli (Streaks Ahead)

Makeup - Hayley Johnson (Sitting Pretty)

Venue: Premalaya

We got married in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic on 21st March. Probably one of the last weddings that was allowed to go ahead. It certainly had its fair share of challenges in the lead up. The biggest being that some very special guests were unable to attend due to travel restrictions. The week before there was many tears shed as we learnt of Auntys, close friends and some of our siblings were not going to make it. But on the day, we woke up and forgot about all the things that went wrong and focused on marrying each other.

We were lucky to only have 40 guests which complied with the new social distancing regulations that came in to effect the day before. Our ceremony took place at Castle Rock Beach in Dunsborough where we wanted a super fun and relaxed environment and made sure all our guests had a champagne or a beer before things got underway. I was escorted down the aisle by my 4 boys. Riley 16, Noah 10, Archer 8 and Mac 1 to our favourite song by City and Colour "The Girl". The minute Ben saw me his eyes filled with tears. We wrote our own vows and there was plenty of laughs. Our ceremony made even more special as one of our best friends Nikki, was also our super talented celebrant.

We had a short 30 minutes of photos on the beach with our awesome photographer MY DAD!

Our reception followed with a 4pm start at Premalaya in Yallingup where we hired the whole venue and our guests stayed there with us. We kept the super relaxed vibe going here with a grazing table, more champagne and a keg from Ben's work "Wild Hop Brewery". Peace Pizza provided the goods with yummy woodfire pizzas and my sister in law made our cake. It was an incredible spot. We had our first dance under the lights and the stars on the deck where we then danced with our guests until the wee hours of the morning.

The whole day was PERFECT!!!! Couldn't wipe the smile of any of our faces. Honestly my dress is still getting compliments. It was everything I imagined and more. Also how awesome was Ben's leopard print blazer from Jack London!!!