Real Wedding - Adam & Alena, Brisbane QLD

January 11, 2023 In Pink, Queensland, Real Weddings, White By Ivory Tribe

Real Wedding – Adam & Alena, Brisbane QLD

For Alena and Adam, experienced wedding attendees, the vision for their own dream day was based around an essence of timelessness with chic contemporary touches, injected with an overall sense of epic, endless fun and underpinned by the soft romance of formalising a family. And in our opinion, they absolutely nailed it.

Aurora Floral Studio created a dream of white on white through textural layers of cloud-like florals, creating soft framing effects punctuated with ombre accents of vibrant vermillion.

Against this exquisite effect, the stunning couple looked every bit like modern superstars. Adam wears a sleek tux with stylish silk bow tie by Institchu. The only thing that outshines his dapper get-up is his electric smile, present from the minute he spots his beautiful bride making her way towards him. Alena is a glam goddess in her Monte gown and Hepburn veil by dream designer, Kyha Studios. Inspired by her original plan to wear a suit to an elopement-style ceremony, she finished off the night dance floor ready in a killer white suit, also by Kyha.

Every moment of this stylish soiree is captured to perfection by lens legend Leah Cruikshank. For every divine detail, scroll on.

The meeting.

Adam and I met at a work function and hit it off immediately.

The ‘one’.

I knew pretty soon after meeting that I had found someone pretty special, but it was after Adam started spending time and developing a bond with my daughter that I knew for sure.

The proposal.

Adam proposed on our three-year anniversary at a lookout on Mount Tamborine.

Planning process.

The process was quite overwhelming. I had a strong vision of how I wanted our wedding to look and feel and really worked hard to bring that to life. We were so lucky to have found vendors that understood our vision and were talented enough to make it happen!

Looking through wedding blogs on Instagram really helped to nail down the vision we had for our day, and it was helpful to have those visuals to share with our vendors so they could understand what we were trying to achieve.

Style inspiration.

Adam and I are one of the last in our large friendship circle to get married. We’ve been to lots of weddings over the years, which helped to narrow down the things we wanted for our own wedding.

First are foremost, we wanted cocktail style so our guests could mingle and choose who they spent their time with.

When it came to styling, our inspiration was modern and timeless with a hint of fun which I felt we were able to create. We had all-white florals, bouquets and styling for our ceremony and then injected some pops of colour into our reception styling with ombre florals in white, dusty pink and red.

The ceremony.

Our ceremony was really meaningful to us because Adam and I were not just marrying each other, but we were becoming a blended family. During the ceremony, Adam also took the time to recite his own personal vows to my daughter Lily.

Another unique aspect of our ceremony was that Adam had ten groomsmen while I had four bridesmaids.

The look.

Initially, Adam and I planned on having a small registry wedding, and I was pretty set on wearing a suit for it. Funnily, after we decided we would have a wedding, I ended up trying on and falling in love with a ballgown, the complete opposite of a low-key wedding suit. I wore a minimalistic silk Mikado gown (Monte) with a floral applique sheath veil (Hepburn) from Kyha. I did get to have my suit moment, though, and after our first dance, I changed into a white suit (Miller), also from Kyha.

Adam chose to wear a tuxedo with black trousers, a cream blazer and black velvet bow tie from InStitchu in contrast to his ten groomsmen who wore black tux’s and black satin bow ties also from InStitchu. I think it was nice for Adam to have his own unique outfit to stand out on the day.

Favourite moments.

The whole day was perfect. It’s hard to choose a favourite, but if I had to, I would probably say walking down the aisle to my favourite person in the world who was waiting for me with the biggest grin on his face.

Meaning of marriage.

For us, marriage was a solidification of the family unit that Adam and I have already built together. Our dedication and commitment to each other began long before our marriage was official.

Wedding soundtrack.

Aisle: Acoustic rendition of Tina Turner’s Simply the Best

Reception entry: Our saxophone player just let it rip!

First dance: Bill Withers’ Lovely Day

Funny stories or near disasters.

No, despite lots of anxiety in those last few weeks leading up to the wedding, everything came together perfectly.

Planning surprises.

How much work was actually involved.

Words of wisdom.

If I could give one piece of advice to other couples heading into their big day, it would be to make a conscious decision to spend the day together. It’s easy to become separated when catching up with all your guests, but where you can, try to come back together. As everyone says, the day goes so quickly, and you don’t want to feel like you hardly saw your partner at your wedding.

Did you just get asked the big question? Congratulations! Now, if you’re ready to start planning your dream day but have no idea where to begin, check out our top five tips for the newly engaged (and pour yourself a glass of bubbles – exciting times ahead!)

ADAM & ALENA’S VENDORS

I met my beautiful florist Mim from Aurora Florals when we attended Mums and Bubs Pilates together with our newborn babies; I was so excited to have her do our florals because she just nails it every single time, and I am a huge fan of her work.

I then found most of our key vendors through Instagram, including our incredible photographer Leah Cruikshank. Her dreamy, romantic and editorial-style photography was exactly what I was looking for.

Our vendors were awesome during the planning phase and were willing to offer recommendations for other vendors that I hadn’t yet secured.

Another special mention was my hair stylist, Sarah Neill. Sarah did the hair for my best friend’s wedding, where I was the maid of honour. That same day I booked her for my own wedding because she was not only so talented, but she is just such calming presence and definitely someone who you want to be in the room on the morning of your wedding.

Ceremony & reception venue: Bouganvillea House, Howard Smith Wharves

Celebrant: Genene Deakin

Photography: Leah Cruikshank

Videography: Luke Bickley

Florist: Aurora Floral Studio

Hair: Sarah Neill Hair

Make-up: Kate Devlin

The dresses & veil: Monte gown, Miller pants and blazer and Hepburn sheath veil, all by Kyha

Shoes: Loeffler Randall

Rings: A.G Designer Jeweller

Bridesmaid’s dresses: Hexie

Suits & bow ties: InStitchu