T O N Y + A S H L E I G H
High school sweethearts Ashleigh and Tony sat side-by-side in a darkened theatre on their first date and knew that they'd stumbled upon something pretty special. As if from a hollywood romance pulled straight from the screen, ten years on from that first date, Tony organised a day of pampering followed by a proposal in the Gold Class cinema (the couple's favourite place).
F R O M T H E B R I D E
How we met...
We met at a high school Valentine’s Day dance, nearly 10 years ago. We were only 15. Within a few weeks of meeting he asked me to be his girlfriend at the movies and did a big fist pump when I said yes!
We knew it was love...
We hit it off straight away and after a few months of dating we knew we had found something very special in each other. We are the perfect example of opposites attract and it just works.
Our engagement...
Well, ever since Tony asked me to be his girlfriend at the movies, the cinema has become our favourite pastime – so of course it was fitting that he proposed at the Gold Class cinema. It was truly something out of a movie. Tony had totally surprised me on an otherwise ordinary Sunday morning by hiring a personal stylist to take me shopping, pamper me and dress me up. After each purchase we made the stylist gave me a love note from him. The first one read “You are so beautiful to me – the one I want to spend the rest of my life with”. When I caught on to what was happening I started crying and then the stylist (who I'd never met before) started crying in the middle of the shopping centre! After I was all dressed up she gave me the last love note and led me to the Gold Class cinemas where he'd hired out a private function room and filled it with candles. Our song Thinking Out Loud (which I'd later walk down the aisle to) played as I walked down the gold class stairs to my future husband. Pure magic!
T H E W E D D I N G
Our dream wedding...
After nearly ten years of thinking about our special day, I knew exactly what I wanted even before we were engaged – a white on white colour pallete, with soft shades of blush and ivory. We wanted something modern but timeless. I had always dreamt of a big luxe white wedding and the chandeliers and white backdrop at Victoria Park Golf Course was the perfect place. I got a lot of inspo and tips from the ‘white issue’ of the Modern Wedding magazine!
The ceremony...
Garden Marquee, Victoria Park Golf Course
The reception...
Marquee, Victoria Park Golf Course
Our pre-wedding celebrations...
My bridesmaids were true angels, they organised a stunning high tea at Room for Roses (Brisbane Arcade). It was in the same shopping complex as my dress designer Darb, so we got to see the finished product for the first time after the high tea. They also organised a super fun Hens Night, which was themed ‘all that glitters’, while my now husband was taken out for a round of golf at our wedding venue and some paintball wearing a Hello Kitty onesie!
The bridal party...
We had two bridesmaids and two groomsmen who were our best friends from high school. We also had my siblings as the junior bridesmaid and groomsman. The flower girl and page boy were Tony’s niece and nephew. The bridesmaids wore soft blush dresses with a peep hole back from Sentani Boutique. The groomsmen wore classic black suits from Wil Valor.
The groom...
Tony wore a tailor-made suit from Wil Valor.
The gown...
I found my dream wedding gown – ‘the one’- and fell in love! It was a strapless sweetheart princess gown in ivory, with an embellished top and tulle skirt. The designer, Brad from Darb Bridal Couture, is amazing. I described what I was looking for at my first appointment and he went to his showroom and pulled out a dress that took my breath away. From there, we worked closely together to make some tweaks to the design - my instructions were ‘the bigger the better’. It was such a fun and collaborative process.
The bouquet flowers...
My bouquet included shades of white and ivory roses. My bridesmaids had a smaller version of my bouquet with additional blush roses to match their gowns and differentiate their bouquets to mine.
Reception styling...
Of course to fit my theme there was lots of white!
Our cake...
Three tiered white cake with quilted pattern and white pearls on the middle tier and a big feature peony sugar flower (the flavours were chocolate hazelnut mud and lemon with white chocolate coconut ganache – YUM) from Red Kitchen Girls.
The menu...
We had a sit-down three course meal (alternative drop) because we wanted it to have a formal feel.
Starter: Pumpkin ravioli or lamb salad
Main: Pork belly or steak
Dessert: Homemade apple pie or berry shortcake
The bomboniere...
Our bomboniere were ivory and blush macaroons in a clear box, tied with an ivory ribbon, from Macaroons by Monika - I got my inspo to have macaroons decorated in this style from an issue of Luxury Weddings actually! The guests especially loved the rocky road macaroon, which had a surprise strawberry jelly centre!
Memorable moments...
My mum and new husband had planned a video secretly for me (Tony was up until 2am the night before the wedding helping her finish the video!). It was the only part of the wedding that I did not plan or know about! My mum and I are extremely close, think Lorelei and Rory close, so a montage of our favourite pictures and memories from baby until now was just so touching! A lot of tears were shed and it is something my mum and I will never forget.
Overall, it was all the little unexpected moments that truly made the day 'ours' - from my 83 year old grandma who travelled all the way from South Africa by herself to celebrate with us (that meant the world to me) - to my now husband interrupting our wedding ceremony to get lipstick off my teeth in front of everyone. Also trying to fit on a little golf cart in my huge dress was a hoot!
Wedding soundtrack...
Wedding rap – performed by the Bride! I changed the words to an Eminem rap song as my wedding speech. My guests were all shocked, they said they had never seen a bride rapping in a big sparkly princess wedding gown.
Live music – ceremony:
Thinking out Loud by Ed Sheeran (sung by Kris Wason) - walking down the aisle
God Bless the Broken Road by Rascall Flats (sung by Kris Wason) – signing song
Everything by Michael Buble (sung by Kris Wason) – recessional
Reception:
Me and You, LifeHouse (sung by Sex and Chocolate, our reception band with a fun name!)
M A R R I E D L I F E
Our honeymoon...
Qualia, Hamilton Island
Future plans...
Buying our first home!
In 40 years we hope to…
Still be going to the movies together!
W O R D S O F W I S D O M
Enjoying the engagement...
If possible, try to give yourself some time to enjoy the engagement as a couple before jumping into the planning process!
Planning...
A good starting point is to look for inspo online and in magazines and try to come up with a theme. You can then do the venue hunting with a theme in mind. The venue can really help set the tone of your theme. In terms of budgeting, a key thing I learnt is that you can’t have it all (unless you win the lotto!). To be budget savvy, pick some items that are important to you to splurge on and some to save on. For example, it was important to me to have a big white dance floor installed so I saved money on other areas like stationery and my husband helped design and print all of our on the day stationery himself! Our florist also gave us a great tip on reusing the flowers and decorations from our ceremony as centrepieces for our reception!
The wedding day...
Have fun! This is such a special time so try not let the little things get to you! But try be as organised as possible during the time leading up to the wedding so that you can just enjoy the day, knowing that you have done everything you could beforehand. A big tip I have is to try plan some time for just you and your new husband on the day, just to take it all in – its true what they say, the day flies by. Putting specific ‘alone’ time into the run sheet is something we both highly recommend! One of our favourite memories was travelling just him and I in the golf carts to our photo locations and also our photoshoot, where we planned to have nearly a full hour of shooting just him and I while the bridal party went to mingle with guests!
Photography Milque / Ceremony location Garden Marquee, Victoria Park / Reception location Marquee, Victoria Park / Videography Evernew Studio / Wedding coordinator White + White / Band Kris Wason (ceremony) and then band Sex and Chocolate (reception) / Dress Darb Bridal Couture / Shoes Alan Pinkus / Jewellery Swarovski / Clutch Mimco / Rings Hampton Fine Jewellery and Design / Bridesmaid dresses Sentani Boutique / Flower girl dress Vintage Sistas / Groom and groomsmen suits Wil Valor / Pageboy suit Ollies Place / Cake Red Kitchen Girls / Invitations Minted / Stationery Vista Print / Flowers Always Fabulous Flowers / Favours Macaroons by Monika / Style hire Elegant Settings / Hair and makeup Velbella / Celebrant Sarah May Alexander / Dance floor Staging Creations / Monogram decal Signarama