Garden party

Story BRIDGET CULL  Images PICTUREMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

A relaxed garden wedding didn’t stop this couple from having a few hiccups on the day but they simply laughed them off and got on with having fun.

Joanne and Trenton Shipley met at a bar and got engaged during a romantic night at Sheraton On The Park. Trenton ordered lobster and champagne, had Joanne put on a romantic song and got down on one knee to propose traditionally.
 Joanne says their wedding was surprisingly easy to plan and advises other brides to choose suppliers close to where they live, so it’s easy to drop in and see how it’s going.

The bride
Joanne bought the first dress she tried on because she loved it. She bought the dress, headpiece and earrings from Clarissa Grace, and wore a garter made by her mother and a clutch borrowed from a friend.

As for the men
Trenton wore a Hugo Boss dinner suit and the best man wore a dinner suit he already owned.

Bridesmaids
Joanne and her bridesmaids did a lot of shopping before finally finding Basque cocktail dresses at Westfield Bondi Junction. The bridesmaids chose their shoes and were given earrings by the couple.

Flowers
The couple’s local florist POHO supplied the wedding flowers, using white and pink lisianthus for the bride, groom and best man, and making small posies of tea-coloured roses for the bridesmaids. All the couple’s female relations were given corsages.

Ceremony
Trenton and Joanne decided to have a garden wedding and were married outside Pruniers restaurant, in Chiswick Gardens, Woollahra. Joanne says it rained solidly the week before the wedding but luckily it stopped for their big day.
 The song she walked down the aisle to was played on repeat and didn’t stop until the celebrant asked it to be turned off.

Let the party begin!
Just under 50 people celebrated the couple’s wedding at Pruniers restaurant. One long rectangular table was set up and decorated with candles and rose petals. Dinner included pumpkin risotto and chicken or beef with vegetables. The wedding cake was served as dessert and the couple made a playlist of 1980s, ’90s and contemporary music for the night.
 Their bridal waltz to L.O.V.E by Nat King Cole was a little fraught, as Trenton – a professional ballroom and Latin dance instructor featured in television series of Dancing With The Stars – spun his wife into a turn that she couldn’t control. She was fine though and they continued enjoying their romantic, intimate reception.

The cake
The two-tiered wedding cake had a layer of white chocolate mud and a layer of the bride’s favourite flavour, banana. It was decorated with white and pink lisianthus.

On camera
The couple asked Pictureman Photography to take natural-looking photos with an artistic edge and simply had shots taken at their ceremony and reception venue, since it has beautiful gardens. “It was very important to us that our guests just made their way to one venue and stayed there so they could feel relaxed and enjoy themselves,” Joanne explains.

Honeymoon
Joanne and Trenton explored parts of Europe on their honeymoon, starting off with a World War One battlefield tour in Belgium, flying to Paris and driving south into Spain.