Elysse and Adrian // Villa Botanica

Whitsunday Wedding Suppliers

Ceremony Venue: Villa Botanica
Reception Venue: Villa Botanica
Photographer: Timeless Images by Vanessa
Celebrant: Kieran McCarthy
Wedding Planner: Tanya Watts
Decorator: The Event Company
Florist: The Flower Hut
Hair: Fringe Hair Salons
Makeup: Airlie Beach Make Up & Beauty
Caterer: Villa Botanica
Cake Maker: Baked Creations
Accommodation: Villa Botanica
Child Minding: Villa Botanica
Transport: Villa Botanica
Dress: Inbal Dror
Suits: M.J. Bale
Tours: Cruise Whitsundays
Dining: Northerlies and Sorrento’s Restaurant and Bar

Your Love Story

Our love story started out in the sheets department… literally. I was studying for uni and needed a summer job when I landed a role at Myer part time It was my first day there and I was introduced to the most handsome, tall, loving, caring man in the world. He ended up being my husband. Through lots of banter, and lots of towel folding I was able to meet my best friend in the world and we were able to grow and follow our dreams together. It was the best summer job ever!

The Proposal

After five years of dating, Adrian knew it was time to drop knee… or should I say after several random images of rings sent to his phone he got the hint it was time.

I was going out for my birthday dinner that night and Adrian told me he would pick me up from work and take me down to the beach to celebrate and go to a restaurant. As we walked to the beach I could see several people there holding up signs… I thought “Oh no! not a protest!”.

Long behold as we walked closer I could read the sign and it read Happy Birthday Elysse. I was in shock that he had gone to so much trouble for my birthday… it was amazing.

As we walked closer to the signs Adrian had signalled everyone and all of the letters had been flipped around to read Will You Marry Me? I could barely contain my excitement. By the time I looked at Adrian he was on his knee in front of all my friends and family asking me to marry him and spend the rest of our lives together.

It was the most romantic proposal I could have ever asked for.

I jumped up, hugged and kissed him and yelled YESSSSSS!!!!!!

Honeymoon Heaven

We went to Bali as our Mini Moon and stayed in Nusa Dua at The Mulia Resort. it was 10/10. Very relaxing, high quality food and plenty of drinks. Best brunch we have ever had. We are going to Europe for 6 weeks as our main honeymoon.

Hens and Bucks 

I had a sequin themed hens party and we went to Pier One in Sydney and over looked the Harbour Bridge, with a beautiful drinks and food package.

We had a big party bus come and collect us all where we drank, played games and danced into the city. We went to a 50 shades of grey strip show in kings cross where we were all brought up on stage to perform. It was hilarious.

We then danced the night away in the Sydney City… and finished off at the The Casino. What a night!

Splurge Vs Save

We splurged hard on our fireworks and they were the highlight of our wedding! We also splurged on our styling as that was such an important factor to me. Lights make everything amazing and I was determined to have a canopy of fairy lights surrounding the sea deck.

The entire wedding was a splurge. We had 15 months of hard saving to do and we were determined. We wanted the perfect wedding.

We didn’t save money per-say, what we did save was time and a lot of stress. Villa Botanica is an all inclusive venue and provides you with a Wedding Coordinator. That was the best partof our wedding. It was STRESS FREE.

I was in contact with Tanya every month, we went through every detail of the wedding. Tanya knew all the vendors so I did not have to go searching. Life was made easy and I couldn’t recommend that any more.

Whitsunday Wedding Venue

We chose a destination wedding as one of our favourite things to do together is travel. It was very important to us that we have a connection to the place we were going to get married.

My sister had actually come across Villa Botanica and it was breathtaking… and it was in Airlie Beach. Even better. Adrian’s dad is from Airlie Beach and each year we come to visit and fall more and more in love with Airlie. It was the perfect vibe for a destination wedding and the perfect distance for all of our guests.

We chose our wedding venue because it was completely private and we knew the day would be all about us. Our venue felt like we were in an Oasis with its Balinese setting and breathtaking gardens.

Our Guests could walk around the estate and were not forced to be standing in a room. There was space, there was so much to see, so much view and of course so many photo opportunities. It didn’t require loads of extra flowers or decorations to fill the space… it was absolutely gorgeous on its own.

I knew I had always wanted our wedding to feel like a weeks worth of celebrations and we really wanted to take our time in getting to speak to all of our guests so this was the perfect opportunity.

We stayed in the Whitsundays for one week. In particular at Airlie Beach. Whilst we were there it was jam packed with things to do.

We had arranged a shuttle bus to pick up all our guests from the centre of town and take us to Northerlies Bar and Grill where they have recently opened up a smokehouse. The bar is located right on the beach and has plenty of games to play there from beach volleyball to chess and Jenga… You name it.

It also has the most amazing cocktails ever.

We loaded up on food and drinks and had the best afternoon in the sun.

One of our favourite things about Airlie is the Lagoon Pool and the Beach walk that leads you to the lagoon. We all woke up early, put our swimmers on and headed down the track to the lagoon. We set up shop for the day and my friends and i were able to set up a picnic.

One of the best things there is that its very kid friendly which was very accommodating for our guests.

We walked down to Sorrento’s that afternoon where we had booked out an area for all of our guests. It was 2 for 1 pizzas and Happy Hour. Sorrento’s is such a relaxed vibe, right on the harbour and a perfect place for sunset photos.

Our guests were thrilled. We were all lucky enough to set sail and head to the Great Barrier Reef for a snorkelling day. That was a wonderful adventure and there was so much gorgeous sea life to view.

We did a big jet ski tour all the way around three islands and were lucky enough to be surrounded by humpback wales.

It was truly a magical experience.

Wedding Day Vision

The theme of the wedding was white and gold with touches of peach throughout. It was a classic look. I was wearing my favourite Israeli designer Inbal Dror, with a low neck line, a big train and plenty of bling. I was going to have my celebrity moment!

I chose to wear a classic drop pearl earring with the dress, and accessorize with a pearl headband in my hair too. My amazing husband had slipped a surprise Chanel bracelet into my bridal bag and that was a gorgeous pearl bracelet with a big Chanel symbol draped down. The look was perfect. It was classic and elegant.

Sit Down or Cocktail?

We had 80 guests at our wedding and did a sit down wedding. We wanted the wedding to be more formal with a sit down. We have also found that with sit down weddings the guests know what is going on and are able to enjoy themselves while they eat and listen to speeches rather then not knowing what to do with themselves at a cocktail.

We chose round tables for our sit down as its more social then long tables and we chose for the seating to be on a sea deck so our guests could enjoy the most amazing views of Airlie Beach.

It was a full moon when guests arrived and they were surrounded by a canopy on fairy lights.

It was stunning.

Supplier Shout Outs

We were lucky enough to have our suppliers set for us through Villa Botanica. We were given a list of names for photographers, celebrants, cake makers and Villa Botanica set up meetings with all the vendors we had selected.

It was easy and effective.

Bride’s Wisdom

Brides please get yourself a wedding coordinator!

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