PORT DOUGLAS WEDDING LOOKBOOK

Angela & Scott

When Perth based Angela and Scott were deciding on their dream wedding destination, the allure of Tropical North Queensland was too tempting to resist.

"We wanted a holiday with all our family & friends. Scott had been to Port Douglas before so he took me there on holiday about two years prior. I fell in love with the place. I just knew that we should be married there. Also,we live in Perth but we are originally from Victoria so it was either our Victorian friends and family travel to Perth or our Perth friends and family travel to Victoria... so we thought how about we all travel!"

The decision to have a destination wedding proved popular with the wedding guests also who were keen to combine a holiday and wedding celebration all in one! "We gave our guests a years notice so they were able to plan and everyone was thrilled about the location. Most had never travelled to Tropical North Queensland so they all made a holiday of it. They loved Port Douglas. Ange's parents went back to TNQ a few months later they loved it that much.

The happy couple chose absolute beachfront bliss for their wedding reception, at luxury private home ReNewell by Executive Retreats. Situated between the ancient world heritage listed Daintree Rainforest and the cosmopolitan village of Port Douglas, ReNewell (at Newell Beach) was the perfect choice. With uninterrupted views of the coral sea, expansive entertaining area, manicured gardens and sparkling pool, this the perfect venue for their exclusive wedding.

"We were trying to decide how we can cater for adults and kids. Many of our friends have young children and Scott and I have a daughter who was one at the time and we had to ensure that she would be ok whilst we partied the night away with everyone. I then stumbled upon the Executive Retreats website and knew it was exactly what we were after! Renewell also catered for our numbers and the setting was perfect. The most amazing thing about being married there was the view. We had absolute private beachfront! It really takes your breath away walking into the house".

"We knew what we had was something special though so we played down the venue a bit and it really exceeded everyone's expectations. It's hard to explain but you are sitting in a backyard right next to the ocean among palm trees but at the same time it feels like you're in an intimate five-star venue."

Self-confessed traditionalists, Angela and Scott chose to keep the reception simple. "We had one vision in our head and that was having a long dining table at the Reception. We wanted to be a part of our wedding and not separated on another table. We dressed the table had a lot of white and cream flowers and a lot of candles. Other than that we had fairy lights draping over the pool and a few spotlights around the gardens to highlight the palm trees & vegetation but that was about it. We didn't want to take anything away from view and setting we had."

Guests were treated to a selection of canapes for cocktail hour before sitting down to a carefully curated three-course menu. "We both love food and wine so the menu was really important to us. We included some locally sourced seafood on the menu to showcase the region we were in and finished the dinner with our lemon sponge wedding cake."

Despite the stunning setting and menu, Angela confesses that the wedding speeches were the most memorable part of the reception. "We gave our speech standing up on the top deck and to be able to look out to 55 of the closest people to us in the world was truly special. I get teary thinking about it now! The fact that all those people travelled all that way for us is something Scott & I will always be grateful for."