Grace and Michael’s tropical winter wedding at Sugar Wharf, Port Douglas

Grace and Michael wanted an open and tropical venue to showcase the beauty of winter in sunny North Queensland. Sugar Wharf, located in beachside Port Douglas, was the winner.

When Kiwi ex-pats Grace and Michael were on the hunt for a wedding venue, they knew they wanted to really show Port Douglas off to all of their loved ones who were crossing the ditch for the occasion.

“We met the old-fashioned way, through mutual friends at a birthday dinner,” remembers Grace.  “After a few months of flirting, we then made it official, and haven’t looked back since! We are originally from New Zealand and moved to Cairns back in 2017. We absolutely love it here — it’s our new homeland.”

Grace and Michael opted for an outdoor ceremony on the lawn at Little Cove, five minute walk from their reception venue, the waterfront Sugar Wharf. Two Tribes Events dressed the ceremony area beautifully with dramatic wicker peacock signing chairs and a romantic timber arbour set underneath the palm trees. In a special detail, Grace secured a small picture of her late father to her Two Tribes bouquet before walking the aisle solo.

After their ceremony, a spectacular portrait session was lead by Matthew Evans Photography and Threadless Films, where the respective creative teams captured the couple in the spectacular Port Douglas landscape. Grace’s elegant and understated satin wedding gown was the perfect contrast to the untamed rainforest backdrop.

Two Tribes Events transformed the blank canvas of Sugar Wharf into a tropical luxe paradise with timber accents and lots of vibrant green foliage amongst crisp white florals. “Our mood board was created after an initial styling consultation, and then our brief was sorted!” says Grace of the creative process. “Deb and her team set up everything: seating, cocktail set-up, reception tables, bar, arbor, and everything in between!”

Guests enjoyed a combination of seated and canapé style dining, providing the perfect environment to mingle and celebrate. Sought-after local entertainer Mattyboi got everyone (including, of course Grace and Michael!) on the dance-floor with his DJ set which seamlessly followed on from his earlier acoustic performance at the ceremony.

When it came time to pick a venue, Sugar Wharf was always at the back of our minds, but we were stuck between if we wanted the ceremony and reception there or a different venue… The Sugar Wharf was perfect for what we wanted in a reception venue: a blank canvas, the ability to style it the way we wanted and not have any daggy permanent fixtures. We had seen so many different themed set ups at Sugar Wharf. We just had to book!

Grace & Michael

This intimate, tropical wedding at Sugar Wharf, Port Douglas was captured beautifully by Matthew Evans Photography.

“I’ve been following Shannon from Inner Goddess Hair for years now, and I love her styles.”

I had a hair trial with Shannon a few months prior and ended up with a half-up-half-down wavy style with a twist at the back, so majority of my hair was out of my face but my veil could still tuck in. My hair held so well all day— even when I got sweaty from breaking a move on the d-floor!

Grace 

“Matthew Evans is nothing short of amazing! “

His professionalism, style, comforting energy, and results are spectacular. Not to mention the fact that we got all 909 of our images in just two weeks which is unheard of during peak wedding season.

Grace 

“I have worked with Glenn from Threadless Films on a professional level and just love the style of the films he produces.”

Something unusual we chose, was a Slow-Mo Video Booth (I had never heard/seen of this before Glenn) which replaces a standard photo booth. It captures short video bursts of people acting crazy, then slows it down. Props were included and this was all set up by Glenn on the evening. It was a huge hit with our guests, and we can’t wait to see the wildness of the videos when we get them back. It should make for a great movie night!

Grace

“Two Tribes Events created our magical styling set up for both ceremony and reception. We loved it!”

The pictures speak for themselves really… there were no gaps, everything was in theme and the day was executed perfectly. I wanted a mixture of greens and white with a tropical flare, and that’s what I got! Fresh florals were used throughout our wedding including arbor, seat endings, signing table, reception entrance, centre pieces, chair decorations, as well as botanical lighting hanging from above.

Grace

“We had seen Mattyboi perform at local bars throughout the years and loved his voice, vibe & style so it was a no brainer!”

We gave him a fairly specific brief which he followed. On top of that, we had certain songs we wanted played live, so he was able to learn them especially for us which made our day extra magical!

Grace

Photos courtesy of Matthew Evans Photography.

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