An Oceanside Ceremony in Thailand

Relaxed and intimate, Cassie and Matthew’s barefoot ceremony unfolded on a private beach in Thailand; a location that held personal sentiment. Fitting the oceanic surrounds, Cassie’s couture gown spilled into a mermaid silhouette, embellished with intricate beading and hand applique over transparent fabric.

Inspired by the spirit of Havana, the starlit beach reception was filled with chic tropical accents; bamboo chairs, Thai orchids, gilded metallics and finished with an ambient display of lanterns and fairy lights.

Photographed by Narrative Of Love.

About…

Names / Cassie Matthews & Matthew Cameron

Wedding Date / December 3^rd 2016

Guest Numbers / 45

Our Backstory…

How we Met / We met 5 years ago at Le Paris-Go Café in Bondi. I was sitting inside and he was sitting on the outside. We caught each other’s eye instantly. I could only half finish my sandwich so the waitress took it away. As this happened Matt said to me “That was really rude of you… I could have had the other half and we could have split the bill”. I said to him “who do you think you are?” and he replied “I’m the guy that’s now having a conversation with you”. I laughed, and we kept talking. We really connected and have been together ever since.

Our Engagement Story / The whole thing was so beautiful and a complete surprise. I had just got off a long flight back from LA after I had been working overseas for a few months. He treated me to a spa day and told me we were going out for dinner to celebrate me being back, little did I know that night he would propose! We had a booking for dinner at Icebergs. On the way to the restaurant in Bondi he stopped down a side street so we could go for a drink beforehand. When I got out the car I saw we were at the same café where we met – they looked like they were closing, with all the chairs stacked apart from the exact seats we had been sitting at when we first saw each other and a guy sitting in the corner wearing a baseball cap. The waitress poured us a glass of champagne, and then out of nowhere, the guy wearing the baseball cap, Chris Sebastian (Guy Sebastian’s talented brother) appeared with a guitar and started singing a beautiful adaptation of John Legend’s ‘Stay With You’. Matt dropped to one knee did the sweetest proposal. Of course I said yes! There were lots of tears.

Marriage to us Means / It means a life-long partnership and commitment to each other. We’re not just in love, we’re best friends, partners in crime, and even work together!

The Details…

Wedding Location / The ceremony and reception were both at The Surin, a stunning luxury hideaway on the best and most private beach in Phuket. . Matt and I stayed at The Surin two years ago during a trip to Thailand. We’ve travelled a lot and this particular location is one of our favourite resorts in the world, and we have great memories from our time spent there. This was the first place we sat and planned our future. It was also a place we both secretly wanted to be married although never discussed until we got engaged.

The ceremony was on the beach itself, only meters from our villa, and the reception was in the open air right next to the ceremony. We wanted to have a relaxed, intimate tropical getaway with a small group of our most treasured friends and family. It has also always been my dream to get married on the beach as it’s the most peaceful and beautiful place in the world to me. A destination wedding made sense for us as we both enjoy travel so much together – and how awesome to get away with everyone too! It turns into a week long celebration.

Theme & Style / Simple, chic, white & gold tropical Havana. Everyone wore white to the wedding, and we had a tropical, white & gold theme and aesthetic throughout. Because of the beautiful scenery (blue water, white sand, palm trees) we really didn’t need much, and kept it super simple. We wanted everyone to feel super relaxed and have as much fun as possible. We were inspired by a recent trip to Miami, with the beautiful palms, tropical weather and Havana influence.

Photography / Jonny Naera-Scott of Narrative of Love photography shot our wedding. We love his work because it’s bright, clean and detail-oriented. He is a great guy and really goes out of his way to nail every moment and every detail. He spent a lot of time researching the location and making sure he delivered what we wanted by asking the right questions. He absolutely nailed it!

Fashion Notes…

Bride’s Dress / As a model I’ve had the opportunity to try on quite a few dresses for shoots but I’d never really seen anything that blew me away, until I had the opportunity to see some gowns by Pallas Couture. I loved the shape of one of their gowns and the embellishment of another. They went above and beyond my wildest dreams, instead creating an entirely custom couture gown that was everything I’d pictured in a dream dress but better. The gown was figure-hugging and made exactly to my measurements. It was decadently embellished, totally transparent, made of french tulle and hand appliqué. They also custom created a reception gown for me that was inspired by the sparkling foam of the ocean. It was a semi-transparent, shimmering slinky dress that I felt like a million dollars in.

Bride’s Shoes / Saint Laurent nude strappy patent heels.

Wedding Rings / Mine was a band of diamonds all the way around to complement my engagement ring, Matt’s was a two tone gold & silver band.

Jewelry & Accessories / The dress didn’t need a lot as it is quite a stand alone piece, but I wore some beautiful white gold round brilliant cut halo stud earrings by Linneys which complemented it perfectly. As the face of Linneys again this year, these earrings were really special and meaningful to me, because the most recent campaign I shot with them was about celebrating moments of love and joy with beautiful jewelry, especially relevant to me on my wedding day. I chose diamond earrings because they are an age-old symbol of love and prosperity, and they complemented my wedding rings nicely.

Groomsman’s Attire / Matt wore an amazing custom-made suit by Roger Shamoun of Zimma Tailors. He had white tailored pants and shirt, and a stunning blue jacket made from loosely woven lightweight cotton from italy. He also wore a white & blue tropical- patterned pocket square, white Louis Vuitton loafers and a gold submariner Rolex.

Hair / I wanted to have something relaxed and fairly natural to reflect the surroundings, so I just had loose, smooth beach waves.

Makeup / I had natural, bronzed dewey makeup with some amped up lashes – super simple and pretty. My makeup artist friend Tobi did my makeup on the day, and because we’d worked together a few times she already knew what to do that would suit me best. This is usually some bronze/golden tones for the eyes, highlighter, dewy skin and a natural coloured lip. My inspiration was just photos of her work that I liked, pretty much!

Style Notes…

Stationery & Invitations / Because it’s a destination wedding, we didn’t do paper invitations, instead, we created our own website where the guests could access all the information (where to stay, any other plans we had during the week, inspiration, dress code, pictures of the location etc.)

Flowers & Bouquets / My bouquet was a blend of white Thai orchards and white roses. The rest of the arrangements were also a blend of handpicked white tropical flowers, to suit the environment. Because of the stunning backdrop of nature all around us, and the palm trees, we didn’t need too much.

Videography / Joseph Willis shot our wedding video. He has a really beautiful style that captures the mood of the day, and brings you back as if you were re-living it, capturing all the memorable sounds, details, and emotions. He had a great time at our wedding and was a lot of fun.

Preparation / I got ready in my villa at the resort, which was only a short walk to the ceremony which was amazing. We had lots of friends staying at the resort, so we all had a long breakfast together. Then I went and got ready for the afternoon with my best friends & girls in my family. It was so much fun getting ready with them as always – there were lots of laughs, champagne and photos taken.

Ceremony Décor & Reception Décor / The decor was oceanic inspired. We had a custom-made hand-painted wooden sign decorated with tropical flowers for the seating board, bamboo raton chairs for the reception, coconuts and thai orchid for the tables, gold cutlery, lots of sandbags, lanterns & candles, festoon lighting, fairly lights wrapped around palm tree trunks, fresh drinking coconuts for the guests…all with a white and gold them. Very tropical Havana.

Wedding Planner & Wedding Stylist / The wedding planner at The Surin, Bat, did an exceptional job organising every detail. We passed on all our styling ideas to her, and everything we wanted she made happen. It was incredible.

Cake / We didn’t have a cake! Instead, everyone had a tropical shot before they hit the dancefloor!

Wedding Songs / Ceremony song: Kissing You by Des’ree. After ceremony song: Kokomo by the Beach Boys. First Dance: You Make me Feel Like Dancing by Leo Sayer

Wedding Stylists

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Entertainment / We had a live band with a female vocalist playing laid back reggae and Havana style songs during dinner, our favourite being ‘Girl from Ipanema’ – before switching to a DJ for dancing. Most people at the wedding were into nineties hip hop so that was the general theme for the night’s music – lots of fun!

Food & Beverages / For the cocktail hour before reception, we put on beachy cocktails (Pina Colada, Lychee Mohito, Margarita) and fresh drinking coconuts. For the reception, we had an extended drink selection and specialty cocktails, and the resort put on a gourmet buffet of Thai dishes and seafood, including live cooking stations with chefs whipping up dishes upon request.

Honeymoon / We just stayed on at the resort, because, why leave your favourite place? We will do another trip anyway to Europe next summer.

Gift Registry / We didn’t want anyone to give us gifts, because they were already giving us the best gift we could ask for simply by traveling all that way to be there for us.

Celebrant / Clive, our celebrant, is actually a long time friend of my parents, and an excellent celebrant and life-coach by trade. He is a lovely guy with a really calming nature, and because he’s close to my family it was really special to have him there.

The Rest…

Sources of Inspiration / We mainly drew our inspiration from our favourite places we’ve travelled to and our own personal style. Pinterest is also a very good resource, and of course, The LANE!!

A Memorable Moment / I know this sounds really cheesy, but truly, every moment of the day was magic. There was lots of laughing, crying, dancing and LOTS of love in the air. I’ll never forget the feeling of walking down the isle looking at Matt, not believing that my dreams had come true. The speeches at reception were incredible. We had a pretty wild bunch at the wedding, so everyone let loose on the dance floor, including our MC Will who did a freestyle rap performance about our wedding! The guests were shocked as he took over the mic and had every person dancing for several songs.

Everyone asked me why we were so relaxed leading up to the wedding, and the truth is, this was the least stressful part of our life, and the most special, because for us it’s more about the marriage than the wedding. Don’t sweat the small stuff, it’s your day and it will be over ithe blink of the eye, so enjoy every minute of it. Be 100% present. If something needs doing, delegate. Make sure you have a special moment with your husband to take it all in. Don’t worry about everyone else, they’re definitely having a great time.