C H R I S T I N E & P A U L
F R O M T H E B R I D E . . .
We first met...
Paul and I met through Paul’s best friend in high school, whom is engaged to the my sister. The moment we were introduced to each other, we knew right then and there that it was what we were waiting for – we just connected. The very next day, we went on our first date and have been inseparable ever since.
We knew it was love...
When we took our first trip to Melbourne together. We went to Jacques Reymond restaurant in Prahran and ate a huge meal and went home terribly drunk. Early the following morning, I woke up with sore swollen legs and went into another room because I couldn’t sleep and was lying on the floor with my feet up. Paul came out to find me, and picked up my legs and lay them on top of him half asleep massaging them. No questions asked, and that’s when I knew he was the real deal.
The proposal...
After three years of dating we very easily decided it was time to move in together. We were looking at apartments in the city and houses in the suburbs. We decided that we wanted to create our ‘forever home’ and bought a little piece of land and went on to build our dream home. After over a year of admin and construction, we received our keys to our new home in August 2014 and that very weekend Paul proposed to me in a beautifully empty candlelit living room in front of our fireplace in a suit with the most beautiful ring, which he had designed himself.
T H E W E D D I N G . . .
We always wanted...
A very rustic theme in a modern setting filled with fresh florals that would create an intimate garden feel with the fresh scents of our blooms filling the room. We wanted raw materials such as silk, hessian with wood trestle tables to finish off the rustic luxe feel. My colour palette was pastels, creams, whites, pinks, greens, soft purples.
Wedding Photographer...
We met our photographers at a friends wedding in Fiji in 2012. Paul and I found them really approachable, professional, extremely creative and when we saw their work we knew that come our big day, we would be contacting them. They were the first vendor we contacted, and chose our wedding date based on their availability.
We absolutely adore our photos, we cannot believe how amazing there turned out. The day went by so fast, and when we received the photos for the first time it was like reliving each moment again by in slow motion. They made the day look magical, and I love the photos of stolen moments between Paul and myself, they are really what makes these special. We are looking forward to receiving the album they are putting together for us that will capture the day!
Ceremony location...
We had the ceremony at Sydney Opera Point, the southern most part of the Opera House right on the harbour out in the open. We had Corey from The Hutch Wedding & Events put together a rustic luxe bohemian ceremony setting at the Opera Point for us, with Ash from Clementine Posy completing the florals. We loved the juxtaposition of the modern architecture of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, with the rustic linens, white wash chairs, cane peacock signing chair and creamy florals used at our ceremony.
Reception venue...
We celebrated our reception right next to the ceremony at the Sydney Opera Point Marquee. There were quite a few reasons we chose the Opera House as our venue, it really ticked a lot of boxes. Paul and I have a huge love of food and produce, and we wanted a venue that would have a good menu. Aria catering provided us with an excellent and flexible menu and drinks selection, and of course the menus are approved by Matt Moran. Another reason we decided on the Opera House was of course the amazing venue - I have a love of the beauty of Sydney and the Opera House, and I wanted to be on the harbour for my wedding. The Opera House was really flexible, with being able to provide us a private space for our ceremony as well as the marquee for the reception. This also helped with our vision of having our guests enjoy drinks and canapés whilst we went out for our location photo shoot after the ceremony.
We enquired at a few other venues for our wedding and looked through sample menus, and only visited one other venue which was Quay restaurant. However, once we visited the space at the Opera House and we met the Aria Catering wedding specialist there who was extremely helpful, we knew it was the venue for us and booked it straight away and never looked back!
Bridesmaids wore...
Blush Sheike dresses, as I wanted them to be comfortable for the day, and these dresses not only look amazing but also are very comfortable and flowy.
Groomsmen wore...
The groomsmen wore classic black tuxedos with satin shawl collars.
The groom wore...
Paul decided to wear a classic tuxedo with a shawl collar by Calvin Klein for the wedding day, paired with patent leather Hugo Boss loafers to match the shawl trim, and a beautiful classic velvet bow tie by Le Noeud Papillon.
The wedding dress...
My wedding dress was the ‘Ethel’ by Vera Wang, with cathedral veil and blush grosgrain sash. It took me about two seconds to find!
To be completely honest, I went to one wedding boutique and tried on a dress that looked like the Ethel about a week before my appointment at the Vera Wang boutique. I had always liked this dress since the first time I saw a picture of it on the runway years ago. When I tried on the look-alike it did not suit my body shape at all, and the person helping me told me to try on more of a ‘cinderella’ dress that would suit my body shape better.
A little battered and bruised, I turned up to the Vera Wang boutique in Sydney the following week. They asked about what type of dresses I was interested in, and I told them “Well, cinderella I guess…I kind of always wanted something like the Ethel but it doesn’t suit my body shape”. When the gorgeous Renee (previous boutique manager) heard me say that, she just turned to me and said “I will get you a few dresses to try, but I want you to try the Ethel again, you have not tried the Vera Wang one, it is made from stretched silk and will look completely different to what you tried on, but please just give it another go”. Low and behold, it looked and felt so much different. I tried on two other gorgeous dresses, but in the end I chose the Ethel because it was always what I had imagined wearing.
I feel that I was very lucky with finding my dress, I really only went to two different places before I had decided on my dress. I didn’t want to keep looking after that, and it was very easy for me to make the decision. I had other boutique appointments lined up, and canceled them all after visiting the Vera Wang boutique. I loved the experience there, and they were helpful and honest with me. I actually went dress shopping on my own, because I wanted to be able to make the decision on my own and decide on what I loved without the influence of anyone else.
Wedding flowers...
A softly rounded, posy style bouquet of gorgeous Spring blooms: peonies, david austen roses, hydrangea, anemones, freesias, phalenopsis orchids, sweetpeas and lisianthus, in pale shades of creamy white, blush, lilac and minty green. The blooms will be gathered together with textural foliages: pierus, thryp and soft silverdust foliage. The bouquet will look as though it was gathered from the garden that morning, girly and fresh, and bound with soft blush tones of plant dyed silk.
Decor...
I would say we had a bit of a mix with our theme. I have a love of fresh flowers, and I wanted to be able to create a garden theme for the wedding, however mixing this with raw elements to create a rustic look. So we decided on wood trestle tables, and removed the white tablecloths so that the wood would come through. We had burlap table runners on the guest tables, and raw pieces of blush silk materials added onto the bridal table. We dressed this up with a beautiful mixture of vases and jars of beautiful blooms that ran through the centre of our two long guest tables. We had a few hanging florals with beautiful phalaenopsis hanging from the vines. For the bridal table, I wanted to create a little bit of bohemian luxe by adding some white lattice screens instead of white draping, and two large shell chandeliers.
For the ceremony, we brought this bohemian luxe with our garden them to new levels with a beautiful archway with linen curtains, with beautiful florals crawling up from the ground and hanging down from the top of the archway. Under the archway we had a beautiful cane peacock chair and marble table for signing our wedding certificates. It was so beautiful to turn up and see the gorgeousness of the ceremony on the day, with the Opera House to my left and the harbour and Sydney Harbour bridge to my right.
Bonbonniere...
Paul loves cookies, so we decided to have beautiful cookies for our bon bons. Patricia from two sweet figs gave us an arrangement of ideas to choose from, and we decided on a square cookie with ‘Thank You’ stamped on fondant, and pastel sugar flowers in the corner. We chose alternate flavours of vanilla bean, and rosewater with pistachio. These were heaven.
Memorable moments
Gosh, I just got butterflies about to respond to this question. My favourite moment has got to be when I started walking down the aisle and saw Paul’s face, and his warm gorgeous smile. I am still picturing it right now trying not to cry oh dear!!! Obviously Paul and I have been together for quite some time, and I know every facial expression he has, but seeing him looking at me like I was the only person there that day really brings warmth to my heart and a huge lump in my throat and goosebumps on my arms! As I was walking down the aisle looking at him, all our moments in time flashed through my mind and all the hard work we had put into planning the wedding and seeing it come down to that precise moment, is a feeling that was unique and really difficult to articulate. It is the exact moment you come to the realisation that - this moment is everything we have worked towards and it’s the beginning of our future together.
Favourite detail...
I have to say the flowers were absolutely stunning, and my bouquet made me teary when I first saw it. You spend a lot of time planning things and knowing exactly what something is going to look like, but the flowers are always going to be a surprise on your wedding day and I really enjoyed seeing them all for the first time on our wedding day.
Another close favourite would definitely have to be the cake and cake display. During the lead up to my wedding, I had formed a really good relationship with my beautiful cake creator Patricia (Two Sweet Figs). I love cakes, and I always thought that the cake design would be something I would agonise over and provide precise details of what I wanted. However, after meeting Patricia (who had also done my engagement cake, and a hanging(!) kitchen tea cake) I really didn’t want to hamper her creativity. I gave her a few guidelines, e.g. flavours, number of tiers, and colour theme which were pastels, and told her to go for it. So I loved that the cake was a surprise on the day also! What was an even bigger surprise, was that unbeknownst to me, Patricia had gone out and learnt how to custom make a cake swing just for our wedding day. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw this gorgeous floral covered three tiered cake hanging from a gorgeous white and wooden swing in the Opera Point Marquee - no words!
M A R R I E D L I F E . . .
Honeymoon...
New York City!
Plans for the future...
More trips back to New York!
In 40 years you hope to…
Remain the luckiest woman alive being married to the most considerate and amazing man I’ve ever known.
W E D D I N G W I S D O M
Advice for enjoying the engagement...
It’s easy to forget that you have just gotten engaged and get straight into the wedding planning, but it is important to remember you need to celebrate the commitment you have made by becoming engaged to one another and not stress about the wedding details. I would definitely say eat all your favourite naughty foods now, because you will feel guilty about it later!
Planning tips...
Choose all the things you love! Don’t get caught up with what goes with what, if you choose the things you love it will work together on the day, because it’s your own style and choices. I would also say have an idea or picture of what you want when you visit vendors, otherwise they confuse you with all their ideas. Stick to what you want as a foundation and then add to that as you go.
Making the most of your wedding day..
Everyone says it, but you won’t believe it until the day arrive, but it really does pass by so quickly. Take a moment, take a breath, take a small moment with your husband to take in the venue, the people and everything you have worked months preparing for. Relax and enjoy every part that goes right equally with anything that might go wrong on the day, what will be will be.
MW x
Photography Hilary Cam Photography Wedding Gown Vera Wang Bridal Shoes Charlotte Olympia Hair Joh Bailey double Bay MUA Stef Cheong Garter Honey Birdette Bridesmaids Sheike Groom's Suit Calvin Klein Bow Tie Le Noeud Papillon Groomsmen suits Alexander Dobell Flowers Clementine Posy Stationery Cartamodello Papeterie Ceremony venue Opera Point, Sydney Opera House Reception venue Opera Point Marquee,Sydney Opera House Catering Aria Catering Cake Two Sweet Figs Decorative elements Decorative Events & Exhibitions Suitcase wishing well Kmart Light box Typo Bonbonniere and cake swing Two Sweet Figs Lighting 1000 stars Seating Chart My Creative Space Custom wood signs weddingstar Entertainment Something Borrowed Celebrant Claire Belford Rings Mondial Transport Allure Bridal Cars Ceremony Styling and Props Corey from The Hutch Order of Service Fans Wedding Star Plant dyed silk ribbons for bouquets Fleuropean