Gown: Archela Bridal Thank you Andy! I felt beautiful, confident and amazing! Flowers: Bride & https://instagram.com/artificialweddingflowersperth
Ceremony: Wanneroo Botanical Gardens https://instagram.com/wanneroobotanicgardens
Reception: Wanneroo Sports and Social Club. https://www.facebook.com/wanneroosports?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Limosine: @Bling Limosines
Hair and Makeup:@Bl_ beautystudio https://instagram.com/glamd.by.bianca
Cake Robins Cakes @ https://www.facebook.com/caking101?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Lesley our celebrant is amazing! Journeys of Love kept it fun and light which is exactly what we wanted!
Becoming Mrs Afeaki!
Joe (Fredrick) and I met in Sept 2016 after a long period of unsuccessful online dating! I had given up and decided to delete everything that day and then I get one last message. Little did I know it would be my perfect man. 😂😂😂
We swapped numbers quickly as he was FiFo and had useless reception and for the next 3 weeks we just got to know each other through messages and long phone calls.
We first met after I went clubbing at 2.00 am in the morning and after he flew in earlier that night.
He met me at the car brought me a jacket, took my high heels off as I had told him earlier in the night my feet were killing me and he had brought me some slippers out to put on.
We talked all night and a week later he flew back to work and I dropped him off at the Airport. We had spent all week together.
They say when it’s meant to be you know. I knew.
We were combining families, I had 4 children, he had 1. We moved houses 2 times in the next few years, went on some holidays and got engaged! In 2020 and 2021 came our two girls. We have combined 7 children from 15 months through to 19!
This year was our Seven year anniversary on the 5 Sept and our wedding was on the 23 Sept.
Our wedding was perfect. Casual and relaxed but beautiful. We had to run it around our two toddlers so we kept it simple by having it in on the deck at the botanical gardens where Joe proposed. It’s my favourite place in Perth. The gardens are amazing and remind me of Bali.
The reception was also relaxed with a few formalities as we were including some Tongan traditions .
The reception venue was perfect with a kids room full of toys and outdoor play equipment right next door to where we had our reception setup. It’s nice and affordable too and the ladies are lovely and helpful. Yuliya took care of of all the big stuff and setting that up for me and we went at 8.30 am on Saturday morning to help set up the little things and we were back at 10 ready for hair and makeup.
Wedding was at 1.30 pm. A little cloudy but no rain and the perfect temperature.
My favourite part of the day seeing all our children all dressed up together in one place and of course marrying my soulmate. I was still nervous even though I had done this before! It was more my anxiety of so many people being there I think!
The most stressful part of the day was trying to figure out the weather! We had booked a marquee but only wanted to use it if necessary so not to spoil the gardens. I cancelled it the day before as the weather was absolutely perfect but then woke up to overcast and cloudy day 🤦♀️. So at 9 am I called them to ask if they could set it up in case. They amazingly found someone last minute to set it up for me!
If I could offer any advice don’t sweat the small stuff. Be organised and have a back up plan. Then just go into your wedding day knowing you have done all you can and the rest is out of your hands and just enjoy it! It goes so very fast!
I planned this wedding for a year with two babies, hubby was away all year paying for the wedding so I did most of it by myself.
We were on a budget so I had to find the cheapest venues and suppliers and cut costs, I did a lot of decorations myself but it all didn’t matter. It was perfect!
My dress was the most expensive item other than the food for 80 people. But having 6 children and lipodema and excess skin meant I needed a dress that pulled everything in. I had booked an appointment at another shop earlier that had nothing in my size at all . I left feeling horrible, deflated and miserable.
I googled other dress shops nearby as we had specifically driven to Perth and it came up with Archela Bridal.
We went in to have a look on a hugely busy Saturday morning and explained what had happened and they managed to fit me in between bookings.
Andy was amazing. She asked me what I wanted in a dress and came back with two dresses. I put on the first dress and was amazed it fit perfectly and made me look how I had never looked before but it was way out of my price range.
I put on the second dress and burst into tears, it was just as beautiful and half the price. I was so happy. I looked amazing in both and for someone that does not wear dresses due to my legs and excess skin issues I was in shock I looked like that.
Long story short I let my dad choose as I could not. He chose the most expensive one and thankfully he helped pay for some of it too! I then just paid it off gradually over 6 months.
