Classic Sydney Wedding
Classic beauties like this are the reason I love weddings, from the elegant color palette to the sprinkling of baby's breath to the stunning bride in lace. Add in a breathtaking harbor backdrop, gorgeous images from Tim Pascoe and a seriously cute love story and it's worthy of your entire Thursday. Click here for more, then stay tuned for a sweet film from Papercranes Productions below.
From the Bride... Bryan and I met about seven years ago; we instantly clicked and became good friends. Regular coffees, lunches and casual drinks soon turned into romantic dinner dates. On a particularly balmy night in March 2013, after dinner at the Australian Hotel where we had our first date, we took a stroll on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Bryan got down on one knee and proposed. Needless to say, I was ecstatic and was on a high for the next few days! We decided not long after that we should have our wedding at Pier One Sydney Harbour as it was a central location for many of our overseas and interstate guests. It also overlooked the Harbour Bridge where Bryan proposed and was a special place for the both of us.
Admittedly, I am somewhat of a control freak while Bryan is generally more of a laid-back and easy-going person. We gave ourselves 15 months to plan the wedding, lots of time to book suppliers and plenty of notice for our out of town guests. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as a few months after Bryan asked for a transfer to the London office of his firm, and we would be moving a mere two months after the wedding! As you can imagine, the months that followed were hectic, stressful and sometimes testing for the both of us. I was lucky, however, to have a groom who took an active interest in the planning process. Every single detail in this wedding was planned by the both of us without the help of a wedding planner as we wanted this to truly be a product of our teamwork.
The wedding was an intimate black-tie event with a palette of ivory, gold and green. We wanted it to be traditional and classic and to have a luxe feel at the same time. We chose to have our wedding in winter as Sydney tends to be quite hot and humid in the summer and spring and we didn't want any of our guests feeling uncomfortable in the heat. Our ceremony was held on a wharf right under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the reception right next to it. We were in luck as Vivid (annual city light festival) coincided with our big day, so as an added bonus the guests could not only enjoy the view of Sydney Harbour during the ceremony, but at night they were treated to seeing ships and ferries all lit up with multi-coloured lights as the boats floated by the reception room (with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the harbour) all night!
I went dress-shopping almost immediately after getting engaged and while many dresses were lovely, none of them really felt bridal enough for me. I decided to get a couture dress from Steven Khalil and as many brides will tell you-Steven Khalil can do no wrong. Steven created a beaded French lace mermaid number for me with a scalloped back an applique veil and a long train. Not only was he an amazing designer, he was an absolute darling to work with. I looked forward to each and every bridal fitting I had and although the finished product was everything I ever dreamed of, I was sad our fittings had come to an end.
For my dress change, I wore a Lanvin-inspired dress in emerald green which was custom made by Oanh Ma Couture to allow me to dance through the night. My wedding jewellery was kept simple to complement an elaborate dress. I wore tear-shaped diamond earrings to match my pear-shaped engagement ring and a diamond tennis bracelet on loan from my mother as something borrowed. I carried a simple bouquet of cream roses while my bridesmaids and flower girl had baby’s breath bouquets.
To keep within our wedding theme, I wore gold sparkly Christian Louboutin shoes. Our wedding cake was a three tier gold leaf cake which had a cascading rose design made by Faye Cahill. We also had our wedding date carved in roman numerals at the back of the cake to make it extra special.
Our wedding cars were vintage, from the 1920s. Bryan fell in love with them instantly and insisted on having them as soon as he saw them. One of them was actually used in the Great Gatsby movie. My only regret was not having enough time or pictures taken with the cars as it started raining after our ceremony and we had to head back to the hotel for the rest of our photos.
Despite the inclement weather, our photographer Tim Pascoe managed to create some stunning shots of us and our bridal party. I had seen Tim’s work on many other weddings and knew straight away that I wanted him to be our wedding photographer. Many of our most beautiful pictures from the day were captured indoors. I am usually awkward in front of the camera but Tim made me feel so comfortable and natural that I forgot about being self-conscious. He was also a great help in coordinating our big bridal party. The same goes for our videographers, Papercranes Productions, who worked seamlessly behind the scenes, capturing those intimate and candid moments on film without anyone noticing they were there. Their camera angels, editing and choice of music for our wedding film was first class.
The décor at the reception was kept fairly simple as we did not want to compete with the stunning backdrop of harbour lights. I chose baby's breath for the centre pieces and crystal glassware which went very well with the whole theme. Instead of using table numbers we printed photos of ourselves starting from 1983-the year in which both of us were born. This was our little DIY project and we thoroughly enjoyed compiling and comparing baby photos, we thought this would add a bit of frivolity and fun to an otherwise formal event. We chose to have a pianist instead of a band as we only had 100 guests and wanted to keep it quite intimate. As a treat to our guests we hired an Instagram printer for the night and encouraged everyone to use the hastag #bandcwed. The result was beautiful candid photos of our guests and bridal party-something that cannot always be captured by professional photography.
Our first dance song was L-O-V-E by Michael Buble. Bryan and I attending dance lessons to perfect our first dance as neither of us were naturals on the dance floor. I remember feeling incredibly nervous before the first dance but as soon as the music started we forgot about being self conscious and just had fun. We incorporated hora dancing into the night as Bryan is Jewish and we wanted add some cultural elements to the wedding. We needed to find a pianist who could be very versatile with our choice of music. Scot Finnie was simply amazing! He single-handedly managed to churn out all our tunes as well as keep all our guests entertained without stopping for a single break. We owe much of the success of the night to Scot.
After all the hard work, preparation and stresses leading up to the wedding day, it was all worth it to share the celebration with our friends and family! My advice to all brides out there is to trust your vendors and enjoy the day as it passes too quickly. I would give anything to experience this special day again.
Admittedly, I am somewhat of a control freak while Bryan is generally more of a laid-back and easy-going person. We gave ourselves 15 months to plan the wedding, lots of time to book suppliers and plenty of notice for our out of town guests. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as a few months after Bryan asked for a transfer to the London office of his firm, and we would be moving a mere two months after the wedding! As you can imagine, the months that followed were hectic, stressful and sometimes testing for the both of us. I was lucky, however, to have a groom who took an active interest in the planning process. Every single detail in this wedding was planned by the both of us without the help of a wedding planner as we wanted this to truly be a product of our teamwork.
The wedding was an intimate black-tie event with a palette of ivory, gold and green. We wanted it to be traditional and classic and to have a luxe feel at the same time. We chose to have our wedding in winter as Sydney tends to be quite hot and humid in the summer and spring and we didn't want any of our guests feeling uncomfortable in the heat. Our ceremony was held on a wharf right under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the reception right next to it. We were in luck as Vivid (annual city light festival) coincided with our big day, so as an added bonus the guests could not only enjoy the view of Sydney Harbour during the ceremony, but at night they were treated to seeing ships and ferries all lit up with multi-coloured lights as the boats floated by the reception room (with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the harbour) all night!
I went dress-shopping almost immediately after getting engaged and while many dresses were lovely, none of them really felt bridal enough for me. I decided to get a couture dress from Steven Khalil and as many brides will tell you-Steven Khalil can do no wrong. Steven created a beaded French lace mermaid number for me with a scalloped back an applique veil and a long train. Not only was he an amazing designer, he was an absolute darling to work with. I looked forward to each and every bridal fitting I had and although the finished product was everything I ever dreamed of, I was sad our fittings had come to an end.
For my dress change, I wore a Lanvin-inspired dress in emerald green which was custom made by Oanh Ma Couture to allow me to dance through the night. My wedding jewellery was kept simple to complement an elaborate dress. I wore tear-shaped diamond earrings to match my pear-shaped engagement ring and a diamond tennis bracelet on loan from my mother as something borrowed. I carried a simple bouquet of cream roses while my bridesmaids and flower girl had baby’s breath bouquets.
To keep within our wedding theme, I wore gold sparkly Christian Louboutin shoes. Our wedding cake was a three tier gold leaf cake which had a cascading rose design made by Faye Cahill. We also had our wedding date carved in roman numerals at the back of the cake to make it extra special.
Our wedding cars were vintage, from the 1920s. Bryan fell in love with them instantly and insisted on having them as soon as he saw them. One of them was actually used in the Great Gatsby movie. My only regret was not having enough time or pictures taken with the cars as it started raining after our ceremony and we had to head back to the hotel for the rest of our photos.
Despite the inclement weather, our photographer Tim Pascoe managed to create some stunning shots of us and our bridal party. I had seen Tim’s work on many other weddings and knew straight away that I wanted him to be our wedding photographer. Many of our most beautiful pictures from the day were captured indoors. I am usually awkward in front of the camera but Tim made me feel so comfortable and natural that I forgot about being self-conscious. He was also a great help in coordinating our big bridal party. The same goes for our videographers, Papercranes Productions, who worked seamlessly behind the scenes, capturing those intimate and candid moments on film without anyone noticing they were there. Their camera angels, editing and choice of music for our wedding film was first class.
The décor at the reception was kept fairly simple as we did not want to compete with the stunning backdrop of harbour lights. I chose baby's breath for the centre pieces and crystal glassware which went very well with the whole theme. Instead of using table numbers we printed photos of ourselves starting from 1983-the year in which both of us were born. This was our little DIY project and we thoroughly enjoyed compiling and comparing baby photos, we thought this would add a bit of frivolity and fun to an otherwise formal event. We chose to have a pianist instead of a band as we only had 100 guests and wanted to keep it quite intimate. As a treat to our guests we hired an Instagram printer for the night and encouraged everyone to use the hastag #bandcwed. The result was beautiful candid photos of our guests and bridal party-something that cannot always be captured by professional photography.
Our first dance song was L-O-V-E by Michael Buble. Bryan and I attending dance lessons to perfect our first dance as neither of us were naturals on the dance floor. I remember feeling incredibly nervous before the first dance but as soon as the music started we forgot about being self conscious and just had fun. We incorporated hora dancing into the night as Bryan is Jewish and we wanted add some cultural elements to the wedding. We needed to find a pianist who could be very versatile with our choice of music. Scot Finnie was simply amazing! He single-handedly managed to churn out all our tunes as well as keep all our guests entertained without stopping for a single break. We owe much of the success of the night to Scot.
After all the hard work, preparation and stresses leading up to the wedding day, it was all worth it to share the celebration with our friends and family! My advice to all brides out there is to trust your vendors and enjoy the day as it passes too quickly. I would give anything to experience this special day again.