a holiday romance.

Victoria + Fabio

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This Real Life Wedding took place at Novotel Twin Waters, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. The Resort is set around a lagoon and the couple's reception venue, Lily's on the Lagoon actually sits above the water. The gorgeous location was utilised and captured brilliantly by photographer Calli Burnett.

The couple met while holidaying, serendipitously enough, on Valentine's Day. Victoria was living in Brisbane at the time, while Fabio lived in Melbourne, but it didn't take long for Victoria to make the move down south. Three years later, while on holiday again, this time in Fiji, Fabio popped the question. “Fabio surprised me after breakfast one morning, by writing with banana leaves on our bed, 'Victoria, Will You Marry Me?' and quickly dropped to one knee for his proposal,” says Victoria.

Keeping with the travelling theme of their story, Victoria & Fabio chose a Destination Wedding in Victoria's homestate of Queensland, and she has some tips for the planning process, “A lot of our research and planning was done online because we weren’t married in the same city where we live, however we did fly to Brisbane a couple of times to personally meet with all our suppliers and have hair and make-up trials”.

Victoria and Fabio managed to incorporate many personal touches into their big day, from Fabio's Grandfather's tie pin, worn by all the men in the Cannata family on their wedding day, to their families wedding photos displayed at the reception. Victoria even arrived at the wedding in the same car her mum did on her wedding day, the family-owned, 1961 MKII Jaguar.

Victoria wore a stunning Pronovias gown with a mermaid silhouette and ruffled bustline, adorned with a Swarovski crystal brooch, and had her hair and makeup done by Rolling Scissors and Kim Image Specialist respectively. The groom was dressed in a charcoal, Hugo Boss suit with white and gold striped tie.

The ceremony was performed by Jim Burch and took place on the Pandanus Lawn at Novotel Twin Waters. It included personal readings, part of which had been engraved inside the couple's wedding bands. The reception followed at Lily's on the Lagoon where guests were treated to a four course meal and plenty of fun, as Victoria says, “We didn’t want to leave at the end of the night! We wanted to keep dancing the night away with our guests”.

Photography by Calli Burnett, of Calli B Photography.