On tradition - Part 2 - The Reception Venue

Apologies for the length of the last post - hopefully it wasn't so long you lost interest halfway through!

I realise that I said I like traditional weddings, but this in no way means I don't like and appreciate the different types and styles of other people's - it is simply what I thought I wanted for myself. As the planning process has shown me, it turns out that what I had in my head as the ideal wedding for me, was not the ideal wedding for us! which has resulted in some reality checks, and definite widening of horizons.

Ok - so we've decided on Broome and checked out the Church up there. All good so far.

During our holiday last April we also had several appointments lined up to check out different reception venues - from the typical Broome wedding on the grass overlooking the iconic Cable Beach, to Sun Pictures (the outdoor cinema), to the Pearl Luggers museum. We had also considered Eco Beach Wilderness Retreat for several reasons, but had ultimately looked elsewhere given it's location - it is an hour's drive outside of Broome (where the Anglican Church is).

That is - until our dear friends W and N took us over to Eco Beach in their boat.

As we sat on the deck overlooking the infinity pool and the ocean - drinking coronas with lime and eating fresh Kimberley produce for lunch, GiB and I looked at each other and said - "This. This is the vibe we want for our wedding. We want relaxed. We want casual. We want eating and drinking and swimming and eating some more. We want to capture the Sunday sesh atmosphere of chilled out catching up with good close friends".

Chillin' in the pool at Jack's Bar - Eco Beach Wilderness Retreat

But - can we do it?

One of the very helpful guides took us for a wander around the Retreat, with W and his son in tow and told us how it could work.

GiB looked at me and said - "You know - I was thinking we should have a day wedding anyway, I mean, what a waste of a day if I only get to see you in the afternoon? I want to spend my whole wedding day with you - isn't that what it's all about?"

This sounded like a fabulous idea. We would get the whole day together, which would mean the relaxed afternoon/lunchtime reception we wanted, at an ideal location we did not even know we were looking for.

Further investigation revealed that it was all well within our budget too.

Fated really.

And that my friends - is how we ended up deviating from the typical afternoon ceremony, dinner reception, and decided on a 10am wedding followed by a lunchtime reception - in Broome!