Real Wedding: Tara & Martyn - Photography by Paris Hawken - Together Journal

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship…

We met in 2010, but didn’t start dating each other until November 2014.

Martyn is a sports scientist at the Western Australian Institute of Sport and Tara is a physiotherapist, completing a PhD at Curtin University. We have many things in common. We both LOVE eating good food and drinking beautiful wine. We are both members of a surf club and love spending time at the beach. Exercise is a big part of our relationship. When we go on holiday together, one of the first things we do is plan what exercise we need to do to burn off all of the food and drink that we plan to consume that day!

It was early on in our relationship, during a trip to Bremer Bay (on the South West coast of Australia) that the light bulb moment occurred for us. We were watching the sunset, enjoying a bottle of chardy (or maybe two) and a board of cheese (or maybe it was a wheel), when an amazing lightning storm rolled in, like a scene straight out of a rom-com. It was in that moment that we both knew we were meant to be together.

The quality that Tara loves most about Martyn is his kindness. She said he truly is the kindest person she knows. For Martyn it is Tara’s amazingly happy and positive presence. He is always incredibly proud of her and is just so happy that she has chosen him.

Tell us about your special day, was there a specific theme or style? Tell us a little about the setting, the styling and some of your favourite details…

We loved the idea of getting married in Margaret River as it had always been our special place. We had a lot of family flying in from Scotland, and wanted them to be able to experience our beautiful South West. When we visited Pearl River Houses for the first time, we fell in love with it immediately. We wanted a casual garden wedding – very relaxed – with plenty of good food, good wine and good music, and I think we achieved just that, in a really spectacular setting.

Tell us about your main outfits:

As Martyn is Scottish, it was really important for him to get married in a kilt. We imported his family tartan (Modern Hunting Robertson) from a mill in Scotland, and had his kilt made at the House of Tartan in Perth. Tara tried on dresses at a few bridal stores but chose her dress when her Mum and future Mother-in-law cried when they saw her in it!

What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day?

The whole day was truly amazing but the highlight of the day for both of us was the ‘first look’. I know everyone’s favourite moment is watching the groom’s face when he first sees the bride walking down the aisle, but we had decided ahead of time that we wanted to have that moment for ourselves. And we are so glad we did – it was such a beautiful moment, full of tears and smiles and kisses.