Kerrie Hess had always dreamed of a French inspired wedding, and Deux Belettes in Byron Bay served as the perfect French inspired chateau for their special day. With a pool of roses and extravagantly strung chandeliers, each detail is more lavish than the next. Grab some champagne and enjoy the magic of their romance, from the story of their proposal to their fairytale wedding day.
Tell us about your proposal. I had flown to Sydney one morning to shoot a “Tea with Jules” video with Jules Sebastian, that evening I flew back to Brisbane and arrived home to a house filled with candles! It was so beautiful! Peter was waiting for me on the balcony and dropped to one knee when he saw me and proposed! It was magical. We had about 10-minutes before my son, Marcel came home from a play date to tell him the good news.
How did you know your partner was the one? I think I just knew because it was all just so easy from the moment we met all the way through to Peter meeting my son Marcel. The boys getting along so well made things really easy too. There was just never a moment of wondering since we met and I think we can both really be our true selves with each other. I think that’s when you know you have found the right person.
What do you love most about your partner? Peter makes me laugh each and every day. We can have serious conversations and also be completely silly and make fun of each other. I love that balance. He is incredibly caring both towards myself and Marcel. He’s intelligent, funny and kind. Those were my non negotiables! We just generally love each other’s company. I remember when we experienced a 9 hour delay at Barcelona Airport on our first overseas trip together. This was fairly early on in our relationship and somehow we just made the most of a bad situation together. That day also made me realise how right we were for each.
What was your favourite part of the wedding day? There were so many highlights on the day, but one thing both Peter and I loved was having a Perrier Jouet champagne tower. It really suited the French themed wedding we wanted to create and was such an amazing statement piece and conversation starter after the ceremony. The floral details of the bottles and shallow champagne glasses worked in perfectly with what we were trying to achieve- it was just gorgeous!
Describe your wedding theme/style. We really wanted to achieve a French inspired wedding, it has always been a dream of mine! The best thing about having the reception and ceremony at Deux Belettes was we didn’t need to decorate much as the venue was already so beautiful. Kate and Hayley from The Wedding Series helped us plan everything on the day. From the long center table, to the flowers, beautiful gold chairs, table settings and guest transport, having Kate and Hayley on board was a massive help! They even hung some beautiful pendants and chandeliers above our table for extra effect. It was perfect!
We also had flowers placed in the pool on the grounds of Deux Belettes creating a ‘rose pool’. This was something I once saw at an event that I painted live at in San Diego many years ago, and I have been waiting for the perfect moment to recreate it ever since.
What is marriage to you? I think for me it’s just a quiet happiness. It’s a feeling of having commitment from the person that you love as your best friend and partner in life, which I think makes some of the hard times that come and go in life that little bit easier. It’s having that someone that you can just break down in tears to and knowing they will listen. It’s that person you get to share the highlights of life with, but who will also pour you a bath when you had a terrible day.
I can honestly say that Marcel and I were a very happy pair when we met Pete, we had been that way for almost seven years. But I am a big romantic at heart and I think deep down I always thought that it would be lovely to meet the person that would come into our lives and just make it even better. Which is exactly what happened.
