• Real Weddings

About four years ago this beautiful bride, Jocelyn, broke her neck and shortly thereafter Michael proposed and then they spent four years dreaming up this gorgeous day. Their wedding is so completely beautiful in so many ways.
Their day was inspired by their art deco era house where modern and vintage mixed so wonderfully. See more loveliness in the full gallery here, magnificently photographed by I Heart Weddings. Keep scrolling to read more from Jocelyn about how she made her wedding wheelchair friendly and even more beautiful.

My husband and I got engaged a few months after I had broken my neck in a sudden accident. In fact, I was still in the hospital. We had always talked about it, but it still came as a wonderful surprise on my 30th birthday dinner when he proposed. It was such a beautiful ray of light in what was the most tragic time of my life. After a long engagement and a lot of rehabilitation for me, we were both very ready to get married four years later. We had just purchased a beautiful Art Deco era home in Perth, Western Australia and we knew immediately that was where we wanted to have our wedding. The era of our home really set the tone of our wedding.

There were some obvious barriers to overcome by being a bride in a wheelchair, not to mention catering for other guests in wheelchairs. We had to landscape our front yard to accommodate ramps and access. I was also determined not to have my ceremony in the wheelchair either.

So I was able to source a local vendor, Her Handpicked Harvest, who sourced true vintage furniture for the day as well as a velvet love seat which I sat on throughout the ceremony. There were other unique problems like trying to prevent my wedding dress from getting caught in my wheel – needless to say I ended up with a sizable tear in my dress, but I was half expecting that! The day itself was a typical Australian scorching hot day. Thanks goodness for the hand held fans! Guests dressed up in the spirit of the vintage theme… and made for a wonderful atmosphere. There was a lot of love, laughs, and tears. It was everything we had hoped for.

The first vendor I booked was my friend Natalija of I Heart Weddings to capture the photographs of our wedding. Irrespective of our friendship, she's one of the most talented wedding photographers I've ever encountered...believe me, I've read a lot of wedding blogs! From there we chose our caterers Red Hot Spatula who specialize in modern Asian tapas. We had decided to do a cocktail style reception as it was more casual and sociable, also as we were trying to squeeze 200 people into a relatively small space in our front yard.

Beside my wedding video and photographs, I'd have to say the cake and wedding signs were my favorite details. Our cake was 3 different layers of chocolate/cookies and cream, red velvet with salted caramel, and lemon blueberry gluten free on top – all executed perfectly with the florals by Zinnia. Our wedding invitation vendor, The Little Press, also happened to be an artist in her own right and created all of the hand-drawn signage including the signs for our hip hop photobooth which was a lot of fun.

We're at a loss for words about how sweet this wedding is in motion. See for yourself in the video below filmed to perfection by Shannon Stent Images.

https://vimeo.com/90011266

1) Even though it was high summer in Australia, there's not a lot I would've changed despite the insane heat. We do however wish we had sourced water mist fans! Also due to the nature of cocktail style weddings, I think tapas wasn't the best choice for all meals, as some people ate a lot whilst others didn't. We would've been happier with some tapas and the rest, something hearty like roast meat.

2) One thing we're really glad we did at the last minute, was source a videographer. Although it meant finding money just before the wedding, we were really happy to have actual footage of the day. We both have commented on how well it captured the day beautifully and was completely worth the short term financial pain.

3) Make your day as "you" as possible. If you're not formal people, don't have a formal wedding. Make the day about who you are as a couple and don't be afraid to break with tradition. For us, it was all about music, fun, socializing, and not being stuck at one table all night. One other piece of advice is if you choose to do a tapas style wedding, I'd recommend over-catering for the number of people attending. Also check that the company has had experience catering to an event the size of the numbers expected to your wedding.
Budget Breakdown:
Attire:
Wedding dress: $4000
Shoes: $330
Veil: $150
Grooms suit: $3500
Grooms shoes: $300
Bridesmaid dresses: $400 (2000)
Bridesmaid shoes: $120 (600)
Bridesmaid hats: $45 (225)
Groomsmen suits: $370 (1850)
Flower girl dresses: $30 (60)
Vendors:
Hair & Makeup: $1200
Photographer: $4500
Videographer: $2700
Celebrant: $500
Flowers: $2000
Equipment hire: $3800
Catering $14500
Cake: $600
Decoration: Approximately $1500 all together Total: Less than $40,000 as bridesmaids/groomsmen paid for aspects of their attire.

• Bridesmaid Dresses: Lover The Label
• Cake: Angelic Cakes
• Cakes & Catering: Bijou's Sweet Treats
• Caterer: Red Hot Spatula
• Chalk Board: Shugabee Lane
• Chandeliers: Restoration Hardware
• Coordinator: Marco Octaviano
• Custom Cuff Links: Urban Eye
• Dress Designer: Collette Dinnigan
• Favors & Gifts: the little press
• Flowers: Zinnia Floral Design
• Groom’s Attire: Saint Laurent & Barney's NYC
• Groom’s Attire: Gingers For Gentlemen
• Hair & Makeup: Creations by Kassy
• Mexican Wedding Flags: Ay Majur
• Prop/Furniture Rentals: Her Handpicked Harvest
• Veil or Hair Accessories: Reny Kestel Millinery
• Wedding Shoes: Christian Louboutin