Sean and Rebekkah Wilde at their wedding in Olinda. Pictures: MELANIE CROOKSTON MCJ PHOTOGRAPHY.
Nuptial
knot tied after dress drama By JESSE GRAHAM WHEN former Healesville resident Sean Wilde married his partner, Rebekkah, their day was a culmination of four years together, and the end of a stressful search for the perfect dress. The pair married at Cloudehill Gardens in Olinda on 1 December 2012 - four years to the day after the couple began dating - with a theme inspired by the poem The Owl and the Pussycat. Their wedding followed tradition, with the groom’s brother and the bride’s sister reading a Bible verse, traditional vows were exchanged in a candle-lit ceremony undertaken by the bride and groom. However, there were many personal touches to the day, with the groom’s party wearing ties and handkerchiefs made from the bridesmaids’ dresses offcuts, and decorations and bonbonnieres designed and made by the bride. Rebekkah said there was a fair share of drama leading up to their big day, with the devastating blow of having her wedding dress disappear around six months before the day. She had taken her former debutante gown to be altered to a shop in Mitcham, only to discover two weeks later that the shop had gone into liquidation and her dress was lost for good. Without a budget to cover a new dress, the couple started a chocolate-selling fund-raiser, and went door-to-door to try and raise money for a new dress. Once the plight of the bride-to-be had reached newspapers, the couple’s new dressmaker - Gaye from Miss Bella in Boronia - contacted Rebekkah and said there had been a miraculous turn of events.
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Wedding Bells
A surgeon, who had been cared for by Rebekkah’s great grandmother as a child and coincidentally treated Gaye when she had developed breast cancer, got in contact after hearing of the dress fiasco. As a gesture of gratitude to her great grandmother, Rebekkah was only charged for the $500 deposit on the dress, and received a free veil and ring-cushion for the wedding. “This was an incredible blessing at a time when we needed it most,” she said. Despite delays caused by hair and make-up and rain coming down after the couple exchanged their vows on the big day, Sean and Rebekkah said the day was a success, and ended with a reception at Olinda’s Cuckoo Restaurant. “We said our vows and were pronounced man and wife just minutes before the rain came down in earnest,” Rebekkah said. “We have many treasured memories, and later our guests told us that they had a wonderful time at the ceremony and reception - even with the rain and thunder.” She said the guests donned umbrellas and blew a barrage of bubbles over the newlyweds, as they made their way through the gardens to Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love. Later in the evening, the pair undertook a choreographed dance to Peter Gabriel’s song Book of Love, which had extra significance to them, as Sean had learned and played it for Rebekkah on their first anniversary. After the wedding, Sean and Rebekkah took a road trip up to Pambula Beach in New South Wales for their honeymoon, and have since settled down in the Dandenong Ranges.