PAIGE & JAKE

Q & A WITH THE BRIDE
Who
Paige Swalue, 23 years old, hair stylist & Jake Swalue, 24 years old, car salesman
Location
Port Lincoln at the Tanonga Luxury Eco Lodges at the main homestead garden.
Guests
175
Theme
“So many people have asked us our theme and I found it so hard to put into words as I felt like we had mixed a lot of different themes into one but still managed to make it work! My clients have always named me as an ‘Elegant Hippy’ and I feel as though our wedding portrayed that! But our videographer Kim Power explained to a T!! She called it Rural, modern, boho, classic, beautiful, touching, romantic, calm and stunning! Which was a huuuge compliment!”
The Wedding dress
“I Loooooved my dress! I was lucky enough to work closely with Pallas Couture to create my custom made gown which was true to her name. Adorabella! Once again it had that Boho feel to it while being fitted but flowey at the same time, they really know how to create a beautiful silhouette with for their brides. It was a very romantic and whimsical but still have that sexy feel to it! Something that I had only ever dreamed of finding.”
Bridesmaids’ dresses
“I am blessed to have 6 beautiful girls in my life who I hold dearly to my heart and they all accepted to stand with me on the most important day of my life! I couldn’t of imagined them looking any more beautiful as they did! One by one 3 of them Surprised me by telling me only 3 months before our wedding that they were expecting little bundles of joy! I still can not believe how well you girls did to get their dresses here in time! Not wanting them to look too busy with so many standing up with me we opted to stay with ivory as the colour. Luckily they did it evenly and 3 girls wore a beautiful ivory strapless Carly gown and the 3 who were pregnant looked stunning in the ivory off the shoulder Lucy gown. It was such a classic look and not at all over the top!”
Invitations
“Our wedding invitations were still classic and elegant with a hint that rustic feel to them.”
Flowers
“My bouquet consisted of a combination of white grandiflora cluster roses, carnations and tulips (which is the national flower of Holland which my husbands heritage has a Dutch/Croatian background) again I chose to stay with a classic look and my husbands only request was that I would be the only one to hold a white bouquet! I chose to add a pop of colour with my bridesmaids bouquets and nothing worked better than adding the coral tones! We used Roses, billy buttons, grandiflora cluster roses and also tulips all in coral and a pop of orange here and there with also a little bit of greenery. As for our reception we chose to not go over the top with our floral centre pieces at all as it would have been too much. We chose to stick with all white disbud chrysanthemums mixed in with greenery of just ivy berry in one alternating with gypsophila and asparagus fern foliage in another. Along with the centre pieces we also had a huge hanging floral arrangement hanging over our bridal table in all white with greenery, my favourite feature of the whole wedding!!”
Ceremony
“Our ceremony was very personal. Tanonga Eco lodges being mine and Jakes get away and special place. Adding to that Jake and I wrote our own vows for each other which was a proven tear jerker!!”
Reception
“Our reception had a very relaxed feel to it and was also just such a happy place! We really wanted it to be a social affair but still wanted our guest to have a seat and a meal to themselves. We love our food so that was a big must for us that everyone left feeling full and satisfied! and I think we achieved that by having a huge variety of canapés on arrival in the welcome foyer and when being seated in the ball room there were antipasto platters and oysters on the tables for our guest to pick at, and then a main being served, and canapé deserts to be walked around along with a candy buffet! We had so many compliments on the set up of our wedding, I especially loved where our bridal table was set up! Jake and I wanted our guest to feel as though they could come and talk to us and didn’t want to look as though we were on display so we decided that instead of setting our table up at the front of the room that we would be in the middle! So we had 8 long tables of 20 people all up, 4 on each side of us so we were in the middle. I loved the visual of this as well as the social side of it! We wanted to have as many keepsake and memories of our wedding as possible so when it came to our guest book we couldn’t go past the idea of a fingerprint tree! I searched far and wide for a hand drawn one that I then took to be framed and had it set up when people arrived. So they not only signed our guest book which consisted of our favourite photos of our engagement session with our beautiful photographer Jade Norwood. But they also left their fingerprint on our tree. Since the wedding we have had the glass put over the top of it and now it hangs in our house as a constant reminder of our favourite day! After the main course we started our speeches from our maid of honour, best man and my father. Jake and I followed and after we concluded our speech Jake then invited me to share in our first dance as husband and wife to our all time favourite song, ‘Drops of Jupiter’ by Train.”
Decorations
“We had such a big area to set up and a vision that was set in my mind! When you walked in you saw an all white candy buffet with a lace backdrop. We took out all the furniture and replaced the welcome foyer with white couches and tables, and ghost bar stools surrounding bar tables covered in white table cloths with a floral arrangement sitting on a round mirror and candle lit. We also included a photo booth in the welcome foyer which looked amazing! We had fairy lights and lanterns hanging all the way through the foyer and ball room. The ball room as I said was a set up of all long tables with our bridal table in the middle. Each table had a long champagne coloured sequin table runner with floral arrangements and tea lights. Our menus were all recycled paper with a white doily featured on the top which tied in with our table name settings which were a larger white doily with their name printed in the middle and a golden peg to join them onto a recycled paper lolly bag to encourage everyone to enjoy the lolly buffet. To help make our bridal table stand out we created our modern take of a sash on the chiavari chairs with using a white organza and weaving it to create a breath taking look! And my all time favourite part of the whole wedding our hanging floral arrangement in which my amazingly talented mother created herself! We featured that hanging over our table to in the middle of the whole room! Behind our table we chose to hang a lighting backdrop but decided to keep the rest of the windows clear to take in the beautiful views of the ocean.”
Favours
“Along with the candy buffet and the photo booth that allowed our guest to take and take home their photos we also had slippers made up that had our initials ‘JP’ embroider on them. They were a huge hit, not only with the women but the man LOVED them! And it was such a nice treat for when our feet got tender and kept the ladies dancing all night!”
Wedding cake
“Our cake was such a masterpiece! 4 tiers including 2 of them covered in edible champagne coloured sequins! To finish the look off we had white cluster roses placed on the tier. And it tasted as good as it looked!!”