SHANNON X LIAM

Liam + Shannon married at The Westin Hotel Perth three years to the day of their first date, meeting on Tinder and together for about 18 months when they started designing an engagement ring with Rohan Jewellers.

images by amanda afton photography

the proposal: "Engaged just before our two year anniversary and after having designed the ring together, I wasn’t to see the real thing so that the proposal would come as a somewhat-surprise. Liam went to collect the ring and as soon as he saw it, he knew he needed to propose that same day - despite having other plans. He spent the afternoon rushing around to visit family, collecting champagne, flowers and all the other proposal necessities before dropping to one knee as soon as he walked through the front door. I was in my pj’s at the time!" Shannon tells.

Wedding venue. With a wedding date in winter, we wanted a venue that was indoors and could host both our ceremony and reception within the same location, but in separate spaces. We visited a couple of venues but couldn’t go past the glamour of The Westin.

Wedding theme. We were hoping to create a luxe and romantic feel. We wanted rich & velvety florals, candlelight, and a few personal touches which we were able to do through our dance floor and neon.

Favourite moments. Our first look was a pretty special moment and we also loved our ceremony. Our celebrant Andrew worked with us to make the ceremony uniquely ours, which included a mid-ceremony champagne toast for us and our guests. We had the biggest smiles on our faces throughout the whole thing.

Favourite detail. Oh wow, it’s impossible to choose really! Our invitations from Lala Design set the tone for our wedding perfectly. On the day, Freek Florals absolutely blew us away. The bouquets were beautiful and the arbour in the ceremony was far beyond our expectations.

Dress/suit shopping experience. Liam’s tuxedo was easy! We visited 2 stores and he decided on a black tuxedo from Hugo Boss. I tried on a few dresses but didn’t find anything that I loved. I had previously met Jasmine from Jean Nash Designs through a close friend and decided that creating my own one-of-a-kind piece was the way to go. The process was so relaxed from start to finish and I actually miss visiting Jasmine every month for a fitting!

My dress, veil and nightgown were more than I could have ever imagined and Jasmine dressing me on the day topped off the perfect experience.  For accessories I had come across Kezani on Instagram and within my first meeting with Anita we had created my wedding crown and I'd walked away with a headpiece for my hens party as well!

What does marriage mean to you? To us, marriage means spending the rest of our lives with our best friend. Someone who can celebrate the wins, support you after the losses and someone who is forced to join you in the mundane things in life like gardening or grocery shopping.

Any classic stories you want to share from the day? The piece of advice that we kept hearing was to ensure that the bride and groom get 5 minutes alone together on the wedding day. Great advice, it just didn’t go very well for us! Following the ceremony we went back to our room for a glass of champagne whilst the guests enjoyed pre-reception canapes. 

In this time, I checked my phone and had 10+ missed calls from phone numbers I did not recognise along with a text message saying that our two dogs had escaped and only our blind dog Milly had been slow enough to get caught. 

Cooper was missing for the majority of our wedding reception with a few of our guests calling around, posting online and doing everything they could to try and find him. We can look back and laugh now that he is home safe with us after his adventure, but it was very stressful at the time!

Advice. Two big things - Firstly, surround yourself with passionate vendors as the pride they have in their work will benefit you in both the planning and on the day. And secondly, have an engagement shoot!! It gives the couple and the photographer an opportunity to learn about each other. We have photos (with our pups included!) that we will treasure forever and it made us so much more comfortable in front of the camera on the wedding day.

Stand out vendors. Can we say all of them?!  Our photographer Amanda was just like having a friend with us for the day and the Glow Films team were so discreet that we never felt we were being filmed. Eden from Freek Florals saved us from a decor-emergency and our band BlackTop brough the dancefloor to life from start to finish.

Shannon and Liam - Cinematic Highlight at The Westin Perth from Glow Films - Wedding Video Perth on Vimeo.

wedding songs: Aisle - This is Love by Kelly Rowland

(At the 11th hour our band BlackTop discovered that there are actually 2x versions of this song but amazingly had the right song perfected for my walk down the aisle. Superstars!)

First Dance - XO cover by John Mayer. This song was found for us by a friend as Liam wouldn’t agree to a Beyonce song! This version was the perfect blend of us both.

images by @amanda.aftonphoto     

floral design @freakhaus_     

wedding stationery @laladesignperth     

celebrant @onegreatlife     

videographer @glowfilmsperth      

furniture @eventartillery      

neon sign @planetneon_     

dancefloor @perthdancefloors     

bridal crown @kezanijewellery     

HMUA @eliciarosehairandmakeup      

bridesmaids @fameandpartners     

flower girls @cocoblushboutique     

rings @rohanjewellers

Follow @totheaisleweddings for more inspiration & the vendors who create it.