Greens, whites and garden glamour at The Terrace, Royal Botanic Gardens
The Royal Botanic Gardens provided an exquisite backdrop for Nicola and Stephen’s ceremony, with lush greenery setting the tone for a beautifully refined celebration. A natural choice, the styling embraced a palette of greens and neutrals, thoughtfully woven through to complement the surrounds.
As Nicola entered the aisle she looked effortlessly elegant in her KYHA gown – a draped, scooped-neck corset paired with a soft neck scarf – timeless against the garden setting. Their ceremony struck the perfect balance of humour and heartfelt sentiment, made unforgettable by a hilarious moment in Nicola’s vows that simply must be read
Just moments from their reception at The Terrace, the celebration flowed seamlessly from ceremony to party, with guests on their feet the instant the couple entered. From there, it was straight into a packed dance floor with Married To The Groove on the decks.
Captured beautifully by the incredibly talented Tess Follett, every moment was documented with an artful, natural eye.
One of our favourite takeaways was Nicola and Stephen’s reminder that communication is key when planning a wedding – always considering each other’s thoughts, ideas, and feelings.
The meeting.
We actually can’t remember where or when we met for the first time! It would’ve been sometime in high school. We then became really close friends after school, which then eventually turned into more than just friends.
The one.
We don’t really remember the exact moment, but we remember the feeling. It was probably about six months into being together and we both remember thinking that we could spend every day with each person and it would never be enough. We realised that we wanted to share every moment and memory with each other and started to picture our future together.
The proposal.
After 11 years together, I (Nicola) was well and truly ready to get engaged. I had been dropping hints for months and was hoping it would happen sometime soon. My best friend and maid of honour, Liz, was visiting from overseas for a few weeks. I had hoped that Stephen would propose while she was here so we could celebrate together, but it got to the last few days of her time here and I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to happen. A couple of days before she was heading back to Europe, Liz and I went out for dinner together one night, thinking that Stephen was just going to make himself some dinner and play Xbox while he waited for me to get home. When we arrived back home and walked into the foyer of our building, it smelt like candles which was weird. I then walked into Stephen standing in our living room surrounded by rose petals, hundreds of candles, and photos of us from over the years. While I was hyperventilating from the shock, he got down on one knee, apologised for taking so long to propose and asked me to marry him. It was perfect.
Planning process.
We had spoken about our wedding a lot over the years, but when it came time to actually planning it, we found ourselves overwhelmed with all of the options and decisions we had to make. We started by thinking about what our non-negotiables were and what our vision of the day was and went from there. We knew that we wanted it to be a sit-down wedding but didn’t want it to feel stuffy or old fashioned. Most of all, we wanted it to be a big party and celebration of our love. We then talked to our friends and family who had gotten married recently to get some recommendations, and the planning began!
Style inspiration.
When we locked in The Terrace in the beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens, we started to create our vision of what we wanted our ceremony and reception to look and feel like. It was a no-brainer to lean into the gorgeous greenery of the gardens, so our colour palate of greens and neutrals was locked in pretty much from the start. We wanted our wedding to be modern without getting too caught up in current trends. It’s so easy to get influenced by everything you see on social media, but I tried to only look at weddings that had a similar vibe to ours, rather than trying to take inspiration from those that were a completely different feel (and budget) to ours.
The ceremony.
Our ceremony was so perfect we still can’t believe it. We had the most amazing weather and felt so good knowing that our guests weren’t sitting in either scorching heat or torrential rain waiting for us. When it got to the day, we both felt a lot calmer than we expected to and were just so happy to see each other when we met at the end of the aisle. We were very particular with the vibe that we wanted for our ceremony, and our celebrant, Megan Thompson, absolutely nailed the brief. She perfectly balanced humour and sentiment, and it matched our vows really well. One of the most special parts of our ceremony was having my Nan there. We were not sure if she was going to be able to make it but she managed to come and see us get married, which is a memory I will cherish forever.
The outfits.
I really had no idea what kind of wedding dress I wanted, so it was helpful to start with ruling out what I didn’t like. I went to a few different bridal stores and tried on about ten different dresses before finding my dress at Kyha. The experience I had at Kyha was a cut above the rest – the girls there made us feel so welcome and so comfortable from the moment we walked in. As soon as I tried on my dress, I knew it was the one and I never looked back.
Stephen got his suit from P. Johnson, who were equally as incredible. Cailin and the team were super supportive during the decision-making process and helped guide him when he needed it. Both Kyha and P. Johnson made the outfit journey so enjoyable and we’d absolutely recommend both of them.
Favourite moment.
This is such a hard question! The whole day was perfect from start to finish, but I think for both of us the highlight was making our entrance into the reception. We had imagined this moment for so long and to enter and see everyone on their feet, ready to celebrate and party with us, was beyond words. We went straight from our entrance into a dance party, which so many of our guests mentioned as being such an incredible way to start the night.
Meaning of marriage.
Continuing to show up for your partner and bringing your best self to the relationship as much and as often as you can. Supporting each other in the way the other person needs, which might not always be what comes naturally to you, but you know it’s what they need from you. Finding something to laugh about every day and bringing those glimmers to the other person when they need them.
Wedding soundtrack.
Bridesmaids’ aisle: Beyond – Leon Bridges
Aisle: XO – Beyonce
Recessional: Love You For A Long Time – Maggie Rogers
Parents’ reception entries: Little Tall Sally – Little Richard and Celebration – Kool & The Gang
Bridesmaids & groomsmen entries: Fergalicious – Fergie and Temperature – Sean Paul
Our entry: Love At First Sight – Kylie Minogue
Father-daughter dance: Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye
First dance: Hold – Vera Blue
Funny stories (or near disasters).
One of the funniest moments was during my vows. I accidentally said that Stephen was the “most selfish person I know” instead of “selfless”! I managed to correct myself, and we all had a laugh about it.
Planning surprises.
I think we were both surprised by how much we enjoyed the planning process. We are both quite type A people so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but I think we had expected it to be a lot more stressful than it was. We’re very in sync and communicate well, and it was no different when it came to making decisions for the wedding. Another big surprise was how into designing the stationery Stephen was. I think he’s found his passion in graphic design!
Words of wisdom.
Communication is key. Listen to each other’s thoughts, feelings and ideas, rather than focusing on exactly what you want, and remember to always take the other’s feelings into consideration. Most importantly, enjoy it! Most people only get married once, and it’s meant to be a time of joy and happiness, not stress. Of course, there will be moments of stress and anxiety, but it’s important to come back to the love between the two of you and why you’re doing this.
In terms of logistics, try and choose vendors who have worked with your venue before, especially your photographer, videographer, DJ, florist and celebrant. It really put our mind at ease knowing that our vendors knew the venue well and we felt more confident that everything would go to plan because of this.
Nicola and Stephen’s vendors.
Ceremony location: Location: Taxodium Lawn, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. Booked through Curtis Stone Events. One of our non-negotiables was having our ceremony and reception in the same location, so having our ceremony venue a minute’s walk from our reception venue was perfect for us. It’s the most beautiful spot!
Reception venue: The Terrace. We could not have been happier with our reception venue. It literally ticked every box and we were blown away with how many positive comments we got from our guests in the days after. The positive feedback was about everything – the food, the drinks, the staff, the location! Alexandra and the team there were fantastic to deal with and were so supportive both in the lead up and on the day.
Celebrant: Megan Thompson. My friend recommended Megan and from our first Zoom meeting, we knew it was a 10/10 recommendation. Megan is just incredible. She was so organised, warm and respectful of what we wanted our ceremony to be. She matched our vibe perfectly and we had so many people comment on how fantastic she was. We couldn’t recommend her enough!
Photography: Tess Follett. Where do we even begin with gorgeous Tess?! She was an absolute delight to work with and we feel really honoured to have had her as part of our day. She was so fantastic to liaise with in the lead up and was beyond amazing on the day. She made everyone feel so comfortable and brought such a great vibe. We literally love every single one of our photos (which she sent a sneak peak through of the next morning – so efficient!) and her package had so many lovely touches, like a delivery of printed photos with a few of them framed. Tess was one of the photographers recommended by our venue and we’re so glad we locked her in!
Videography: Momento Films. Alessandro and his team were fantastic to deal with and brought a great energy on the day. Alessandro and Tess worked so well together and this helped us feel comfortable and confident in front of the camera.
Florist: Pomp & Splendour. Asha and the team were recommended to us both by a friend and our venue, and they were so fantastic to work with. We honestly had no idea where to start when it came to flowers and they were really great with helping us decide on what we wanted within our budget. This was yet another thing that our guests gave us compliments on!! Our guests especially loved having the team there at the end of the night to wrap up bunches of flowers for them to take home.
Hair: Harlen Hair. Sharah had done my hair before when I was bridesmaid for a friend, and she is just so good at what she does! She is so efficient and was very respectful of what I wanted, especially when I changed my mind and ended up having a completely different look to what we did in my trial! She is also such a pro at making the morning flow perfectly, which helped keep the vibes high.
Make-up: Cassandra Lusi. It was great being able to do a trial with Cass and see how the make up lasted on my skin, especially as an oily skin girl! She gave great advice on what to focus on in terms of skin care in the lead up to the day.
The dress: Kyha. I cannot fault them in how positive my wedding dress experience was. They are such pros at what they do and made me feel so comfortable throughout the whole process.
Veil: Kyha, which they kindly gifted me!
Shoes: Aquazurra from Net-A-Porter. I ummed and ahhed about whether to splurge on my wedding shoes given that you could hardly see them but I’m so glad I did. They’re such a timeless pair of heels that I’ll definitely be able to wear again, and I felt so special in them.
Rings: Parker Diamonds. They were recommended to Stephen by his cousin and we were both super happy with our experience there. We got my engagement ring and both of our wedding bands from there. Stephen had no idea what he wanted for his wedding band and Mike talked him through the process and all of his options in so much detail, which was really helpful when it came to making a decision.
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Bec and Bridge & Meshki. The girls looked stunning in their dresses and received so many compliments!
Suits: Stephen got his suit from P. Johnson, with help from Cailin throughout the process. They were amazing to work with and helped bring Stephen’s vision to life. The groomsmen wore Peter Jackson suits.
Bow ties / ties: Stephen’s was from P. Johnson and the groomsmen’s were from Peter Jackson.
Catering and bar: Our venue, The Terrace
Favours: We made them ourselves! They were mini bottles of Fireball.
Cake: Get Caked by Lisa. Yet another thing we were complimented on by our guests! Lisa was recommended by our venue and was incredible to work with. We loved getting to do a cake tasting at her studio! She also knew the venue really well, meaning that the delivery and storage of the cake all went smoothly.
Stationery / Signage: Peppermint Press. We LOVED our stationery so so much. Our friend recommended them and they were an absolute dream to work with. This was another part of the wedding planning where we didn’t know what to start with, so it was great that they sent us a sample pack of their card stock and design options to look through. One of the best things was that we dealt with the same person throughout the whole process – from invitations, to on the day stationery, to our thank you cards. Winnie was delightful and so understanding of all of the edits we made along the way! We absolutely loved how everything turned out and it really matched the vibe that we were going for.
Entertainment: DJ – Married to the Groove. Stephen’s brother and sister in law had Josh as their wedding DJ so we knew he was going to be great, but we didn’t expect him to be THAT good!!! We were so particular about our wedding music and we were adamant that we wanted everyone on the dancefloor all night, and Josh really did make that happen. The regular meetings we had with him in the lead up to the wedding were also really helpful, with him helping us work out our run sheet and giving us tips to help the night flow better. We could not recommend Josh enough!
Transport: Always Classic Cars & Exotic Limo. Both fantastic to work with and made the very nervous car ride to the wedding nice and relaxed.
Décor and hire: The Small Things Co. We hired our gorgeous wishing well, card holders for the table numbers, large signage stands and sandbags from The Small Things Co. They were great to deal with and very understanding when we arrived to pick up the items from their warehouse and the signage stands wouldn’t fit in our car! We were able to easily arrange delivery and pick up from the venue instead, which was really helpful.
Honeymoon: We went to Thailand and Singapore for a very relaxing honeymoon filled with cocktails, good food, pool and beach time and LOTS of catching up on sleep!
