C H R I S T O P H E R + S H A N N O N

Chris told Shannon they were needed for a hot air balloon commercial. Little did she know, they were actually filming her very own proposal story. The romantic video went viral and now the newlyweds share their joy-filled wedding with us. Peppered with sparkles, feathers and laughter, their celebration is utterly divine.

F R O M T H E B R I D E

We first met...

Church - Chris and I both served in our youth ministry at church for the last 10 years - grew up in it through high-school, became leaders and are now the Youth Pastors. Chris also happened to be my best friend from high-school's older brother, but strangely I never knew Chris that well or ever hung out with him then. He apparently had eyes on me when I was younger, but waited until I was 18 to actually start the pursuit haha.

We knew it was love...

We both definitely believe that you don't just 'fall in love' based on attraction or commonalities, but 'choose to love' someone you want to build a future with. That moment we knew that this was a forever kind of love was when we had to have the tough conversation when external pressures arose, significant people in our lives challenged the relationship and a few other things. Three hours later in a McDonald's car park, we had peace about our decision to choose each other and pursue a relationship with the intention of marriage.

The proposal...

Chris and his brother used to run a film company together so they told me we got approached by a hot air balloon company on the Gold Coast and that they wanted an "inter-racial couple" to model which conveniently Chris and I fit the brief! So we were on our way at 3am to film in the middle of winter in the Gold Coast Hinterlands! Then after the ride, I was stuffing myself silly at the buffet breakfast, while confused that Chris wasn't eating, but really he was just nervous! Then Chris told me to go get a last shot with his bro in the vineyards then he comes over with a microphone attached to his lapel and the whole thing suddenly made sense! Then he dropped a knee in the vineyards. On our ride back to Brisbane I was calling everyone to tell them the news and as I was getting out of the car - Chris slams my finger in the door and then there was blood all over my new ring! The freak out was real haha. But all in all it was amazing, and I was genuinely surprised, which is hard to do! The hot air balloon company did actually hire the boys though and generously gave three of us a ride and breakfast for free!

You can watch the whole video here:

And yes, we did get about $40 from this - thanks YouTube!

T H E W E D D I N G

Our dream wedding...

All we knew that we wanted was a wedding in our home - Brisbane City! The rest of the decisions were all pretty negotiable as we didn't have any ideals or pictures in our minds - which definitely helped when some Plan Bs had to be followed in the process! Although naturally not being outrageously colourful people - we knew a lot of the decor would be black and white!

The bridal party...

We had six each! Two of the groomsmen are Chris' brother and the other four have been some of his best friends for years! My six bridesmaids are all great friends that I've grown up with - some I've known for 17 years since being in class together from Grade 1.

The bridesmaids wore...

The Bridesmaids wore a black sequin top we found on Asos.com and a black tulle skirt from Boohoo.com that my mum added extra tulle layers to to fluff it up a bit! Plus nude heels of their choice.

The groomsmen wore...

The Groomsmen wore some lovely slim black suits from Roger David, including wolf pins on their lapels and different patterned happy socks.

The groom wore...

A black suit from Roger David with a white button up shirt with tiny black polka dots on it, a gold and navy floral Wolf Kanat tie, multi-coloured happy socks and of course, a wolf pin on his lapel.

After months of going to nearly every bridal store, boutique and shop in Brisbane with my Matron of Honour, I was pretty disappointed that I hadn't yet found the perfect dress. So I started having a look online and recognised a girl Chris and I know modelling a gold sequin dress that I LOVED. So after some Facebook stalking I found "Le-Lujah Fashion Design". I contacted Ashleigh and asked if she would make a similar dress for me and then it all began. We met up at her studio and she so generously offered to make the dress at a fraction of the regular cost and from there we helped each other and I got the most perfect dress!

She took all my cloudy visions that I was really bad at explaining, made a mood board, took me to the fabric shop, expanded on some of my ideas and made them 1000 times better, always did more than expected and really put her heart and soul into every little detail of the dress.

The precision, care and love she put into every little detail literally made my dress perfect! Every meeting and fitting with Ash left me with so much confidence, right from the beginning. Even my Mum who was a dress-maker was very impressed on the first meeting after seeing her perfect work! I can only speak highly of who Ash is, her integrity and her one-of-a-kind, outstanding-quality work!

Wedding flowers...

I'm not well-versed in flowers, except that I love peonies, but it wasn't the right time of year. So I had white roses, gum, white carnations and white chrysanthemums. I had my bouquet made, but my mum and her friend made the bridesmaids ones.

Ceremony location...

The ceremony was held at City Baptist Tabernacle Church in Brisbane CBD. We loved the idea of a church wedding, but our church building wasn't quite the right style as it's very modern and large, so we searched all the lovely historical churches in the city and found this great one.

The photographer...

Our photographer was Dee Van der Merwe from DeeZigner Images. We have known Dee for years and loved that because we were comfortable with each other, the whole process was super easy and fun! From even before we were engaged Dee shot-gunned doing our engagement shoot and our wedding day! She was constantly full of great ideas for all aspects of the engagement and wedding, just like a great friend is - but we hear the same thing from all of her clients. She is so dedicated to her work and always goes above and beyond - sending screenshots, Pinterest links, location scouting etc. Dee is amazing!

Reception venue...

We initially wanted our wedding at Restaurant II as it's one of our favourites in Brisbane and we loved the idea of having a huge party with all our best friends and family eating ridiculously good food, but unfortunately it was out of our price range. After so much googling, downloading and phone calls, we settled with another restaurant in Brisbane City, which then three weeks from our wedding went into liquidation!! So they gave us back our deposit thank God, and were connected with Restaurant II who said they were happy to help and match the price (which is half what they normally charged)! We were blown away!

The décor...

I'm a black and white girl and if there's any other colour I like, it's metallics. So black, white and gold it was! It wasn't even summer, but for some reason I was adamant on having gold pineapples everywhere! So everything was metallic gold, with black and white or striped accents, with hints of simple white roses and gum. Chris is a simple man and wasn't really too fussed at all about colours, so he loved it too!

We had a sit-down meal at Restaurant II.

ENTREES:

Pork belly + parsnip + rosella + macadamia

Soft shell crab + chevre + apple + cucumber + orange

MAIN:

Market fish + fennel + broadbeans + salted cod toastie

Eye fillet + kohlrabi + onion + rye + mushroom

DESSERT:

Marble mudcake + fresh berries + ice cream

White chocolate mudcake + fresh berries + ice cream

Bombonniere...

They were gold heart chocolates and maltesers in glass tea cups from IKEA.

Memorable moments...

It was all amazing - I loved every second of it! I laughed my whole way down the aisle because I'm just not a crier, the speeches were all beautiful (and long), the dancing was fun, the food was amazing, every moment in between was so precious with my love, but the day was definitely full of funny moments!

While Chris was getting ready, I later find out that someone had pulled a skin tag off his nose because they thought it was fluff or something - he then bled for the whole morning leading up to the ceremony!

Then to get the perfect shot at Kangaroo Point I climbed up and down the giant flight of stairs in my heels, extremely hungry and in the pouring rain! Leaving me with extreme muscle pain all down my legs for the next 7 days.

One of the funniest moments was the amazing Instagram page that Chris' best man made for us - you can still find it at www.instagram.com/hodgmanwedding! His speech required everyone to jump on and check out the great photos that he superimposed our faces on and proceeded to tell our life story. It was hilarious!

Wedding soundtrack...

Aisle Song: Multiplied by Needtobreathe

First Dance Song: May Waltz by Brooke Fraser - Chris was very into it and gazing into my eyes, but I can't dance and when I don't know what to do I just laugh a lot!!

M A R R I E D L I F E

The honeymoon...

We went to Hawaii for 7 nights then Sydney for another 5 nights.

Future plans...

Continue to build an amazing life, change the world by loving and serving people and leave an amazing inheritance not just of physical wealth, but values, integrity and legacy for the generations to come from us.

In 40 years you hope to...

Have seen the world transformed by true love, invested everything that we are into others, have a couple investment properties and cute grandbabies!

W E D D I N G W I S D O M

The engagement...

Have fun, don't let the little things you're learning about each other become annoyances, but have grace for each other and remember that you're building a life together, not just a wedding!

Planning...

Don't go into it with your Pinterest secret board already filled with million dollar ideas that you aren't ready to compromise on! Compromise is a huge part of marriage, and it starts in the planning! It will save you a lot of heartache, frustration, and spending outside of your means!

Have a resolve not to stress! It's not worth it! We chose not to let stress overcome us, but have fun and see opportunities in every moment.

On the day...

Feel and be present in every single word and moment! Don't think about the run sheet, what needs to happen next, why your uncle is causing chaos and don't think about those out of place decorations! Just celebrate your new spouse and the one who you have chosen to build a life with and all the friends and family who are a part of that too!

Photographer Dee Van der Merwe Cinematographer Michael Kelly from MK Motion Event planner / Stylist Shannon Hodgman (the bride) Bride's Bouquet Rosita Flowers Bridal gown designer Lelujah Fashion Design Ceremony venue City Baptist Tabernacle Church Brisbane Reception venue Restaurant Two Cake The Cheese Cake Shop in Wynnum Table centres, table runners, "LOVE" letters etc dry hired from AVIdeas Wedding favours Gold heart chocolates and Maltesers in glass tea cups from IKEA Photo booth Photoboothique Lighting AVIdeas Soundgear borrowed from Citipointe Church Entertainment Friends from church Celebrant Pastor Sam and Karolina Gunsser Engagement ring Diamonds International Wedding bands Diamonds International Onesies Sheridan Shoes Tony Bianco Hair & makeup H&S Beauty Bridesmaid tops ASOS Bridesmaids skirts with an extra layer of tulle added by bride's mum Bridesmaid shoes Betts Suit, shirt, wolf pins & socks Roger David Ties Wolf Kanat Shoes Target Watch Daniel Wellington Barber Jack's Barber - Bulimba Flower girl outfits: Top Bardot Junior Sequin Pants Cotton On Kids Bow Ties made by bride's Mum Page boy outfits: Shirt & pants Myer Boots Industrie Kids