“We did reconnect again in 2005 at a friends party and have been at each other’s side since then.. Well most of the time if there is not one of our delightful bulldogs Daphne or Doris sandwiched between us!”

Today I get to share the sweet story of Jess & Leon who were married at Melville Nurseries in Perth and then went on to celebrate at Padbury Stables, Rosehill Lodge with wonderful photography from Christine Lim.

I have always been a little bit of a “collector”, Leon throws around the “H” word (hoarder) a little too loosely, so I have collected loads of bits and pieces over the years and it actually worked out perfectly because we packed up the whole house and decorated both the venues with it all – it couldn’t have looked more perfect and “us”. 

“We wanted guests to walk in and feel like they were celebrating our love in its entirety over the 8 years we were together, not just one special day .”

We did everything for the wedding – I went into total crazy DIY lady mode! Everything was hand picked and handmade from the furniture, props and pretties to the pom-poms, favours and wedding cake. Looking back I enjoyed every single moment of sticking, stitching and baking  – thou it would be a lie to say it wasn’t challenging at times the warmth from the glow of happiness on everyone’s faces was worth every second of crafting.

I love all of my tattoos but I also wanted my dress to be a feature at the same time. I wanted to keep some under wraps with perfectly positioned lace. When I first came to the amazing ladies at Elvi Design all I had was an insane pair of Aruna Seth ivory wedges, a silhouette of an image floating around in my head of a tea length wedding dress with a high boat neck, low back and creeping lace to frame my “till death do us part” tattoo and I remember looking at Sandra and Birgitta in utter bewilderment because I had no idea how they were going to “read my mind” and create this dream dress when I hadn’t tried on a single wedding dress before and after 2 years of searching everywhere both in bridal magazines and online and not  finding a single dress that I even remotely liked, let alone was prepared to be remembered in forever.

“They absolutely nailed it and I still hop back into that bad boy every chance I get!”

 How gorgeous does Jess look in her dress and Leon in his bowtie? And the dogs?!! I love dogs at a wedding! Thank you to them both for sharing their story with Marry Me Ink today and to photographer Christine Lim for the amazing images. Be sure to leave them all some love!