A few more details from our wedding day. As mentioned before my dress was made by Karen Willis Holmes , I sent her a lovely thankyou email after the big day with some pics for the Lady's in the Paddington store, she then sent our wedding photos to the editor of Cosmopolitan Bride, and then this happened.....
These are the questions that I had to answer to Cosmo about the day:
Date of wedding: 21/2/10
Ceremony location: Roberts Restaurant at tower Estate, Hunter Valley
Did your wedding have a theme or a particular style?
Our theme Country elegance/ Bicycle built for two/ Eat drink & Be merry…
How many guests? 50
Describe your dress.
I wore a Strapless gown with a short train, it had an asymmetrical overlay of silk bella georgette. I took the silk overlay off for the evening celebrations, it created a entirely different feel to the dress. I also wore a black sash to accentuate my waist, the sash had been hand beaded during the depression by my grandmother, it was fixed with a sequined flower that I bought on ETSY. Price of dress: $1,639 (KWH floor price, does not include alterations or belt & sequin flower pin)
Describe how you wore your hair:
big loose curls that we swept to the side and held with a bobby pin.
Describe your headdress or veil:
A single tier Cathedral Veil.
Describe your shoes in detail:
Cream patent leather sandals with a black bow on the front.
Describe your wedding bands/engagement ring:
I have a 1920’s antique gold wedding ring. My husband has a Matt titanium wedding ring with two pin stripes (Two is his favourite number).
How many people did you have in your bridal party? Groom’s party?
I had my sister as Maid of honour and My husband had his Brother as Best Man, my 20 month old nice was flower girl (with my brother walking with her down the isle).
Describe your bridesmaids’/ flowergirls’ dresses.
My Maid of honour wore a pale pink dress encrusted with Swarovski crystals around the waist and Swarovski crystal straps, the sheer material was embellished with velvet feathers. We accessorised with an ostrich feather in her hair to match the dress and silver sandals from Witchery.
The flower girl wore a full tutu style dress, we accessorised by pining a pink flower to the front of the dress with matching pink sequined shoes and hair clip.
Describe your invitations and stationery.
I designed and handmade all the invitations and stationary, they centralised around a Purple and cream theme of stripes with hints of the bike theme throughout. They consisted of an invitation, information booklet and RSVP postcard. The envelopes had a bike silhouette printed on the inside and I had personalised stamps made by Australia Post with the Bike silhouette.
I also designed and made the stationary for the reception including name/ menu cards, seating chart and table numbers.
Describe your bridal bouquet and your bridal party’s flowers.
- I carried a Posy of babies breath. Bound with black satin ribbon and brown string. I fixed on a broach that has a picture of my Nan and Pop inside, it was a 21st gift from my great aunt & is quite special to me as they have passed.
- BRIDESMAID & Flower girl- Posy of pale pink roses, small tufts of babies Breath and dusty miller foliage. White/ Cream satin ribbon
- BUTTONHOLES (Groom, Best Man, Father’s and grandfather)- Tufts of babies breath with stems bound in brown string.
- 4 buttonholes(for our mother’s and grandmother’s) - Pale pink rose and tuft of babies breath with Dusty miller leaves.
Did your husband play an active role in organising the wedding?
My husband was active in every part of planning the wedding. He organized cupcakes and pineapple tarts for the guests to take home in cake boxes (along with cake) as most guests had quote far to travel home.
He also programmed all of the music and entertainment & helped me with the stationary and invitations
What happened on the day?
The night before the wedding my mum hosted a dinner for our immediate families and interstate guests, it was a wonderful night spent relaxing and catching up with everyone.
We hired out all of the rooms at Tower Lodge (12 rooms), a beautiful five star boutique hotel next to the ceremony location Roberts Restaurant. The bridal suite had an abundance of room for us to spread out in, the hairdresser and Make up artist had separate areas to work in and it all worked very well.
Describe your ceremony:
Our Civil ceremony was very personal, our celebrant was very detailed and we had quite a few meetings to plan how everything would run. We decided to honour the longevity of our parents marriages and included a ring blessing whereby both couples held our rings whilst the celebrant described our respect for our parents and the guidance that they had given us.
As it was a hot afternoon we were lucky that we had provided guests with fans to use. A Friend and I personalised water bottles with our names and the date of our wedding for guests, they were a real hit on such a hot day.
What did your husband think when he saw you walking down the aisle? What did you feel?
What was the one thing you learned from the day and getting married?
Negotiate! Vendors are more than happy to negotiate with you. If required delete items that you don’t need from packages to make costs cheaper.
Where was your reception? (name of place+ suburb)
Roberts Restaurant at Tower Estate- Hunter Valley.
Please transcribe your menu.
Canapés:
Freshly shucked oysters with lime
Tempura king prawn with sauce gribeche
Crumbed Sicilian olive filled with goats cheese
Savory puff pastry topped with artichoke, cherry tomato and fetta
Entrée – served alternatively
Globe artichoke, olive, roma tomato and goats cheese tarte tatin, radicchio, and olive tapenade
{or}
Seared Atlantic sea scallops, truffle and green pea puree, crispy leeks and truffle oil
Second entrée
Green asparagus spears, roasted garlic oil, parmesan
{or}
Almond crumbed zucchini flowers with prawn and basil farce
Mains – served alternatively
Grain fed beef fillet medallion, baked field mushroom,
red wine sauce, green beans and béarnaise
{or}
Marinated lamb rack, sweet potato mash, rosemary jus
and crisp sweet potato with green beans
{With}
Hand cut chips for tables!
Dessert – served alternatively
Ile flottante (floating island) vanilla bean anglaise,
seasonal berries and crisp wafer
{or}
Chocolate fondant with strawberries and vanilla bean ice cream
{& Don’t forget to take home some cake!}
Soft Drinks, orange juice, mineral water
Beer- Bluetongue Light , James Boags Lager , Corona
Spirits- All, please ask wait staff
White
Riesling- Clare Valley 2009
Pinot Gris- Adelaide Hills 2009
Sauvignon Blanc- Adelaide Hills 2009
Semillon- Tyrrell’s ‘Steven Reserve’ 2005 Hunter Valley
Chardonnay- The Carriages 2007 Hunter Valley
Red
Pinot Noir- Yarra Valley 2005
Merlot- Hilltops 2009
Shiraz- Tyrell’s ‘Steven Reserve’ 2007 Hunter Valley
Sparkling
Tyrrells Sparkling Brut Moores Creek NV Hunter Valley
Dessert Wine
Peppertree Botrytis Semillon 2005 Hunter Valley
What kind of decorations were at your reception?
We had three long tables so we named the tables 21, 2 & 10 after our wedding date. We had deep purple table runners the whole length of the table, the succulents that we gave as bomboniere, these sat in front of each guest and formed part of the table decoration. To suit the country elegance theme items were randomly placed on the runners including bike silhouettes, glass tea light holders covered in brown paper and string, mirrored frames with the table numbers and silver birds.
Who made your reception decorations?
My mother and I made the table runners and collected all of the table decorations at different times throughout the year.
What kind of entertainment did you have at the reception?
We played a selection of dinner music via I-pod, we wanted to create the casual atmosphere of a lovely dinner party with all of our family and friends. Songs such as Sting, Norah Jones, Pete Murray & Jack Johnson.
What was your bridal waltz song? Why did you choose this song – what significance did it have?
Pete Murray- Happy Ground
I was adamant abut not having a first dance. However my husband surprised me with a first dance to one of our favourite Pete Murray songs “Happy Ground”, it is such a special memory from the evening. Extract from the song lyrics as below:
“Happy days are coming my way, its been some time, but here to stay,
Is the life of love I’ve found, sends me up on happy ground.
Sleepy head has gone to bed, makes me laugh, face turn red,
Giggling down on the ground, I'll pick you up and spin you around.”
Is the life of love I’ve found, sends me up on happy ground.
Sleepy head has gone to bed, makes me laugh, face turn red,
Giggling down on the ground, I'll pick you up and spin you around.”
Describe your wedding cake.
We had a two tier cake, the bottom layer of the cake was a double height Chocolate mud and caramel mud, the top layer was a vanilla butter cake (that we have kept for our anniversary). The bottom tier of the cake had a bike silhouette iced onto it, the top layer had a velvet ribbon tied around and a flower that I handmade sat atop the cake.
We also had a vanilla cake for cutting out the back, this was served with coffee after desert & In cake boxes for guest to take home (Along with cupcakes and pineapple tarts).
Did you have bomboniere (favours or gifts for your guests)? Please describe them.
Each guest received a small fish bowl glass filled with succulents & pebbles, my Nan made these from succulents from her garden (it took a lot of preparation from my Nan).
What kind of transport did you have?
A Black Mercedes
What was your fave wedding registry gift and why?
Family and friends assistance with planning the wedding was by far the best present received.
Total cost of wedding, not including rings or honeymoon?
$20,000 (Hire of Tower Estate and Roberts restaurant included)
What’s your best advice for other brides?
- Keep a Budget: My husband and I decided on a realistic budget and almost everything came in under budget, if we underspent in some areas we had a chance to spend a little more in other areas.
- My sister (maid of honour) made me a “Bride Box” it was essentially a file where I stored cut outs from magazines, receipts, contracts and contact details of every vendor, all in separate sections. It was a huge help in keeping track of everything, the weeks leading up to the wedding it was by my side almost every day.
- Keep in contact with vendors & let them know of any ideas that you have along the way.
Was there anything you wish you’d known?
Theme’s evolve: The theme that we liked during the initial stages of planning the wedding was completely different to the theme that we ended up with.
What was the best decision you made about your wedding day?
Having an abundance of good quality food and wine! I had so many compliments that the food and drinks selection was by far the best than any other wedding people had been to. We had many White’s, Red’s, Champagne, spirits, desert wine & our signature cocktail “vodka sunrise” to choose from.
Anything else you’d like to say about your special day?
I organised “vodka sunrise” as our signature cocktail as a surprise for my husband as he does not drink Beer, Wine or fizzy drink. These were served with the Canapés. Drinks and food started immediately after the ceremony, we mingled with the guests, did a group photograph and then went for 45 minute photo session whilst guest’s enjoyed the canapés & drinks.
I was so pleased with all of our vendors, they were absolutely amazing and all so professional! I kept in communication with all of them mostly via email and phone, we will definitely be keeping in contact with our photographer he is so talented!.
We wanted to keep speeches minimal so my father, Best Man & Maid of honour did speeches. My Best friend had prepared a surprise speech also, it was so heartfelt and beautiful, I am glad she had it is a great memory of the night!.
Honeymoon?
South Island of New Zealand
What lipstick and/or lipgloss and/or lip pencil did you wear?
Napoleon Perdis “Denver”
What perfume did you wear?
Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf
