About SJ
If we haven't met, I'm Sarah-Jane! I have been honoured to be an award winning wedding photographer, planner, ex hair and makeup artist (don't judge me I never do my own haha) in Byron Bay, Tweed Coast and Gold Coast for the past 14 x years!
You'll find me barefoot amongst Mother Nature capturing love stories and connecting authentically with my incredible brides :)
I moved to Byron when I was 21 (1985 baby for reference). This is where my soul was INSPIRED by all of the creative Women in business - WOW, the DREAM was to be a full time creative! It didn't take long for me to study, invest in myself and develop multiple brands within the fashion and wedding industries.
Personally, I am a single Mother to Sophia (14yrs) and Bella (8yrs) and fur baby Rusty (King Charles Cav). I live for the arts, ocean, golden light, creating and connecting! I was diagnosed recently with ADHD (combined) and my entire life made sense! It gave me the language and self awareness to remove the shame from the challenges I have faced and recognise it is my SUPER POWER! I was able to harness my superpowers to hyper focus on new skill sets, recognise patterns and find solutions to benefit my amazing brides!
My Vision for SJBB
Let's talk about how we got here at SJBB... remember I mentioned pattern recognition being a super power? Pre-covid and before the *cost of living crisis* couples were booking vendors 2yrs in advance. The industry has changed as couples are opting for intimate elopements, micro weddings and planning traditional weddings in under 12months. Facebook wedding groups are full of brides trying to find "off the rack" designer bridal dresses when they don't have 12mths to wait for a custom bridal gown. The average bridal gown in Australia is $2-5K which is out of reach for many.
I remember applying for NSW Business Awards and having to explain my 5-10yr plan, I always wrote designing dresses! I have Pinterest boards from 7yrs ago with designs and fabrics. I spent many later night hyper fixating sessions trying to find manufacturers in Bali, India, China and Australia. Reaching out to local pattern markers, designers and friends along the way with no luck.
After going through a divorce I had more time to invest in the "next step" for me personally and professionally. I started to look into it again and the timing was perfect - the universe aligned effortlessly and I found an incredible team to support me with my vision!
My entire career pre and post entrepreneurship cosmetically came together!
I spent 12mths designing and developing the brand before launching. I am so proud of my first collection and hope you love it as much as I do!
My Career
I have worked intimately with brides for 14 years! Captured hundreds of wedding days, trusted by brides who opened up to me about their personal lives, insecurities and vision for their wedding day. I harnessed this unique insight into creating everything that I do, whether it's designing bridal dresses or wedding planning/photographing through my other brand Luxe Elopements.
It feels like a previous life, when I was running around Byron, childfree, working as a project manager and marketing manager. I took the plunge and upskilled, I started my first brand Lady Bella doing makeup for fashion shoots (Billabong, Cotton On Body, Magazines etc) and weddings. I quickly upskilled to include hair styling, then had an online fashion shop with a warehouse and studio. I couldn't afford a photographer which lead me to upskill again soon becoming a professional photographer offering wedding photography, hair and makeup packages. This lead me to creating Luxe Elopements 7 year ago, now with a huge team offering luxury elopement and micro wedding packages! Along the way I learned so many skills in business from building websites, social media marketing, writing business plans, customer service and overcoming challenges in a fast paced environment - think Covid, borders, floods, bushfires and all the emotions and challenging that come with performing on weddings days!
SJBB will be my 5th business and I have won several business awards along the way, notably *2017 Young Entrepreneur* and multiple wins for *Business Excellence in Personal Services and Retail* - my teenage self would be so proud!
