Just Married: Mel and Gareth’s Forget Me Not Wedding, Byron Bay

Before we tuck in to Mel and Gareth’s incredible Byron Bay wedding, I (it’s Alyce speaking/writing – hello!) have a little story about Forget Me Not.

Back at the very start of 2015, I sat on the patio of Jo’s place – Forget Me Not – in Byron Bay, sharing a whole wedding cake with a crew of amazing wedding vendors after a styled shoot. We dug into the whole cake with teaspoons as the sun went down over the hills behind Byron Bay. I don’t wanna get all woo-woo on yo asses, but there is some magic in those Byron Bay hills, yo. We shared our hopes and dreams for our wedding businesses. I wanted more than anything on earth to be amongst that Byron Bay magic on wedding days week in and week out. I got married in Byron Bay, I fell in love there some years prior, and I fall in love with the place a little bit more every time I’m there… which, these days, is a lot.

Byron Bay’s weather is a cruel mistress though, the day of our styled shoot in 2015 was so overcast that there was no sunset. I had hoped for sunset on the back hill and we didn’t get one. There isn’t a damn thing you can do about the weather, so we made the most of the beautiful location in the light that we had. When Mel had scheduled ‘sunset on the hill photos’ in our run sheet, we were pretty excited for round two with the nice light and the long grass.

The day of Mel and Gareth’s wedding, it poured with rain on and off. I was a bit sad that again that beautiful Byron sunset would elude us. But for the main event – the ceremony – we had sunshine and blue skies. Then, we ducked in and out between champagnes and rain showers to get some portraits of the gang all dolled up and lookin’ freshhhh. By the time we hit sunset o’clock, we were back to golden skies. After the whirlwind that had been the day to that point, Mel and Gareth were able to take a deep breath together and just hang out, and watch the sun set on their beautiful wedding day before heading back to the party.

And now, on to the bit we’re all here for – the photos!