Suzy & Braydon are the epitomai of a romantic couple and the proposal on a private island is what led to their romantic wedding day set at The Valley Estate in Australia. A destination wedding that’s full of love and laughter with a picture-perfect church, a dancing groomsman and beautiful dusky pink table styling it’s sure to give you lots of inspiration for your own destination wedding. We chat to Suzy who tells us all about their love story and wedding day…
How Did You and Braydon meet?
“We both worked for Flight Centre in the stores and met at Valentine’s Day buzz night which is a monthly area get-together and achievement celebration. He gave me a little confetti love heart which I still have somewhere. At the next work event, we were at together my boss made us kiss after way too many drinks and it grew from there!”
The Proposal
“Braydon hired out a private island when we were staying at Hurawalhi in the Maldives and had “Will you marry me Suzy?” written in the sand with rose petals inside a big love heart. He walked me around to the side of the island where I could see it and got down on one knee. Obviously, I said YES! We then celebrated on our little island with champagne and swims for a few hours. When we got back to our room they had set up the bath with rose petals on our balcony and our bed was decorated with flowers to say congratulations. We then made our way to the Champagne Pavillion to watch the sunset over the water with more champagne and nibbles.”
Planning The Wedding
“We put a lot of research into the vendors before booking to find out what the general pricing was and decided where to spend more or less from there. We won a package for our photography which saved us quite a lot of money! Etsy is your friend for all bridesmaid/groomsmen gifts, mother of the bride and groom gifts and cards etc.”
The Venue
“We found everything we looked at online thanks to covid lockdowns, mostly through Instagram. We wanted something that was all in the one place so it was easy and the guests didn’t have to figure out how to get from ceremony to reception. We also wanted to include food and many drinks. We’d had a look at a few other properties that had all these as well and thought we’d check out The Valley Estate to eliminate it from the list. When we went to see the property it was not built yet and they only had one house built there and video footage of what they envisaged it would look like. They had a little mini set up of what the table settings would be like under the house and some of their features that had arrived waiting for the rest to be built like the chandeliers. From looking at the footage, the quality and detailing of the house that they had already built and the table settings we decided that was enough to book it in, so we booked it without actually seeing it! We first saw the property after it was fully built on May 21 and were absolutely shocked and taken back by the beauty of the property and how extravagant the reception hall is and we knew we’d made a perfect choice.”
The Dress
“My wedding dress appointment fell just after one of the QLD lockdowns on January 21 and they were only allowing 1 person to go with you so I decided to book the private room with champs and nibbles with a senior stylist at White Lily Couture so I could have most of my bridesmaids and mums there. I can’t begin to explain how much it is worth paying the extra for the room, nibbles, champs and the service there. I fell in love with Oberon by Pronovias as it was simple but not plain and looked good in the right places. Then I attached a big bow on the back for just a little tiny bit of drama. It ended up being too big on the day, but I made it work.”
The Details
“The cake was 3 tiers, chocolate mud cake on the bottom, caramel mud cake in the middle and white chocolate raspberry on the top tier. We had a simple white cake with a green bow around it and a cake topper that looked somewhat similar to us. Ashleigh from the Other Bridesmaid put together the bouquets, flower arches, table settings, boutonnieres and corsage for my mum. I had some white orchids, white and light/dusty pink roses and a mixture of other flowers in a similar colour palette (white/creamy with a tiny bit of light pink).”
“The table decor was supplied by the Valley Estate which was one of the reasons we chose them – they made it so easy. We had a very small amount of flowers throughout the guest tables to keep it simple and then some bigger flower arrangements on the head table. Ashleigh also supplied some long pink candles to mix with the flowers. The candleholders were already there from The Valley Estate.”
“Lyn from Cakeit4u who did our cake was also able to do laser cut names. We used these as the place cards and almost everyone took them home with them. We found the invitations that opened up with the flowers on one side and our names on the other and they seemed perfect. Braydon found the website and the design and we liked a few and narrowed it down to the white flower ones that flipped out. I loved that they were elegant yet simple which is the theme we were going for after booking the venue. The font styles were a big factor in deciding as I loved the way it was set out and how it looked, it was easy to read and a little fancy, but not so much that it was hard to read. The cost was very reasonable compared to some other websites and the editing process was so easy and hassle-free.”
“I asked to have a table in the front corner with a place set for both our dads who passed away in the year before the wedding. I also gave Braydon some cufflinks with his dad’s name on one and “Always with you” on the other as a wedding day gift. He really loved them.”
The Best Part of The Day
“The reception entrance, getting ready in the private girl’s sanctuary, finally relaxing and having a dance after the speeches.”
Words of Wisdom
“Pay the extra for the private dress consultation – it’s so worth it and fun too. If you’re on the border of 2 dress sizes and plan to lose weight don’t order the bigger size. It might be the safer option and they say they can alter it down 4 sizes but the reality is a lot of the time they can’t. You don’t need to spend $400 on wedding shoes… no one sees them. I wore slippers for my reception.”
“Enter all the competitions you can to try and win things for your big day. Think about the songs you want earlier rather than later, it’s a big job that you often don’t think about and can be stressful if you leave it to the last minute. Finally, do the things that you want to do and make you happy (like having mac and cheese for your wedding dinner) and invite the people you want there. It’s YOUR DAY!”
What Are You Most Looking Forward To About Being Married?
“His kindness, he’s very smart and teaches me new things most days, He encourages me and everyone around him to be better, we are absolute goof balls together, he makes me feel like home, and he’s bloody good looking.”
The Suppliers – Romantic Destination Wedding At The Valley Estate, Australia
Photographer Mint Photography @mintphotography
Venue The Valley Estate @thevalleyestategc / Dress Pronovias @pronovias at White Lily Couture @whitelilycouture / Shoes Novo @novoshoes / Groom shoes R.M Williams / Accessories Ayla + Oak @aylaandoak / Groom suit and accessories Institchu @institchu / R.M Williams @rmwilliams / Styling and Flowers The Other Bridesmaid @theotherbridesmaid /Hair Hair by Lacey @hairbylaceygc / Juliana Cruz @julianacruzmakeup / Cake Cakeit4u @cakeit4u /Jewellery Black and Bloom @blackandbloom_ / Wendy Ann @wendy_ann_australia / DJ – Jason Nooning / Koala Coaches @koalakoaches / Weddingstar @weddingstar / Bridesmaids Only @bridesmaidsonly / Atomic Butterfly @atomicbutterfly_photography / Kavalri @kavalri / Brilliant Earth @brilliantearth
IF YOU LOVED THIS ROMANTIC DESTINATION WEDDING PIN IT TO YOUR WEDDING BOARDS
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@mint.photography.sydney @thevalleyestate @pronovias @WhiteLilyCouture @NovoShoes @aylaandoak @InStitchu @R.M.WilliamsOfficial @theotherbridesmaid @hairbylaceygc @JulianaCruzMakeupArtist @Cakeit4U @blackandbloomx @WendyAnnAustralia @koalakoaches @Weddingstar @bridesmaidsonly @atomicbutterflyphotography @Kavalri @brilliantearth
