Real Wedding - Angelique & Matt, Sorrento VIC

August 30, 2023 In Blue, Pastel, Peach, Pink, Real Weddings, Victoria By Ivory Tribe

Real Wedding – Angelique & Matt, Sorrento VIC

Angelique & Matt’s celebration is a sun-drenched, sparkling soiree filled with sweet bespoke details and a fresh, ocean-inspired feel. Scrolling Elsa Campbell’s incredible capture of this darling day feels like a refreshing dip in the clearest waters.

Superstar stylists Wanderlust Creative combine crisply chic decor with soft, raw linens and the clean lines of contemporary glass candelabras to create a juxtaposition of modern vibrance with delicate style. Florals by The Petal Project bring reinforce this with old-world florals meet perfectly on-point hues in muted peach, cornflower blues and buttery vanillas.

We love that in lieu of favours, the newlyweds sent their guests home with a piece of the magic, giving the florals out at the recovery the next day.

Angelique wore a gorgeous custom-designed gown by Elly Sofocli, while Matt cut a handsome figure in his suit by YSG Tailors. Both are simply beaming in every stunning shot of this dynamically emotion-filled celebration, the perfect accessory to their dream day fits.

Scroll on for every stunning, summery frame.

The meeting.

Fresh out of uni, we met at work (an accounting firm in Melbourne). However, this love story took a while to take flight, with Angelique jet-setting off to the US for a year after finishing her internship, giving Matt time to work on a pickup line that would land.
Upon Angelique’s return, the seating plan had them sitting next to each other, and you can say the rest was history.

The ‘one’.

We both joke that it was the six months of working across from each other on a 67x67cm Ikea table in the one-bedroom apartment in the UK during COVID and not killing each other. In all honesty, we wouldn’t say there was the “one” moment. It’s the small things when you are in each other’s presence that makes the moments better that tell you they are the one.

The proposal.

It was a Monday evening (ironically, Angelique had spent her day in a tax planning session on how to best tax plan for divorces!), and a family dinner had been organised at Angelique’s parents’ house. Angelique didn’t think much of it when Matt was running late, so she went over to the dinner solo.

Halfway through dinner, Angelique got a call from Matt that the car battery was flat. Not happy she had to leave mid-meal, she drove to their house and beeped. When he didn’t proceed to exit the house, Angelique called him to tell him the food was getting cold. Matt said he needed help carrying the drinks out, with Angelique’s response being, “It’s a Monday night; we don’t need to drink,” however, she begrudgingly went into the house.

When Matt opened the door for her, she was greeted by candles, flowers and Matt standing there with an eight-week-old golden retriever puppy who is now known as Cooper. Then this was quickly followed by Matt getting down on one knee and proposing. It will go down as the best Monday and one very huge surprise. We then headed back to the dinner to celebrate.

Planning process.

I’m very much a planner and organiser, so as soon as we got engaged, I got right onto the planning. For the whole process, I would shortlist a couple of vendors, and then Matt and I would both sit down to work through the options and then lock them in. Within the first couple of months, we had locked in all the key vendors.

We also enlisted the help of Laura from Wanderlust Creative for styling. This made the lead-up to the big day very stress-free as she looked after all the styling on the day and was always there to help steer on any wedding questions we had throughout the process.

We also tried to finalise the majority of the on-the-day details (wedding run sheet, seating arrangement etc.) one to two months out, so we did not have to worry about it leading up to the wedding.

The lead-up was perfect. We had a girls’ spa day at Aurora Spa at The Continental the day before while the boys played golf at the Dunes. We followed this with a welcome dinner at The Continental with our immediate family and wedding party, and it was the perfect way to start the wedding weekend.

Style inspiration.

We wanted to make sure the day was a true reflection of us, and every decision was guided by this, and also making sure it was a fun day.

In terms of the venue, we knew we wanted to have it in the Mornington Peninsula; having spent many summers down there, it holds great significance for both of us. The Continental Hotel was still a construction site when we walked through it; however, we knew it had a lot of potential, and it was exactly what we wanted, so we locked it in.

We did a walkthrough of the venue with Laura, and all the styling details unfolded from there, with Laura working her magic. A highlight of the styling was all the beautiful florals by the Petal Project.

Rebel Reflect designed the most gorgeous stationery. We got to incorporate lots of puns and special details into them, such as our table names which were all named after places of significance to us.

The other important part to us was the experiences throughout the day. After the ceremony, we had drinks on the terrace. We surprised our guests by walking out with Horns of Leroy, a New Orleans-inspired brass band, to get the party started. We had drinks with our family and friends while listening to jazz music in the background, and it was just a perfect way to celebrate being newly married.

Angelique’s brother is a singer, and he sang the father-daughter dance and our first dance. This was really special. This was then followed by a round of espresso martinis and the saxophonist to kick the dance floor off. We love a party and loved being able to kick on after the wedding, having the after-party at Barlow.

For inspiration, real weddings were really useful. It was great to get hints and tips from people who have been there. It also helped to get real-life examples of vendors’ works and to see what really resonated with us both. I also loved listening to wedding podcasts; once again, it was great to listen to those real-life experiences and tips.

The ceremony.

The whole time we had smiles plastered on our faces. Kate Morgan made our ceremony very personal and intimate.

We kicked it off with a tongue-in-cheek introduction of the bridal party, which had everyone in hysterics. Our families then surprised us with pictures of our dog Cooper. This then set the scene and made the ceremony super relaxed.

Kate did the best job of telling our love story and had everyone in laughter one moment and tears the next.

There were so many special moments, from seeing each other for the first time, our vows to each other and having the violin quartet there playing the most beautiful music.

The look.

I must say dress shopping was pretty deflating at first, having visited a couple of stores and not finding “the dress” and having “that” moment. My bridesmaid suggested I look at Elly Sofocli, and as soon as I met her, I knew I wanted her to make my dress. It was such a fun process getting the dress made, from the initial sketches of the dress to the fittings. It was pretty magical to watch Elly and her team design the dress before me; they were so great to work with. I was so happy with both the dress and veil and how I ended up having two looks out of the one dress.

The boys had the suits made at YSG tailors. Ryan and the team came recommended, and they didn’t disappoint. You could tell they really cared about the final product and making sure the boys looked sharp.

The bridesmaids had their dresses made by Erika Georg. We opted to have the dresses in the Steele colour, with the girls picking their own style of dress. They also made pocket ties for the boys in the same colour as the dresses.

Favourite moments.

It’s hard to pick one.

Sunset photos where we snuck away to the back beach were pretty magical. We were the only ones there, and Elsa had the tunes playing, and it was all pretty special and gave us time to absorb the day.

The speeches were also a highlight and will be a treasured memory. Followed by the dance floor, which was so much fun. We loved the Dj and saxophonist combo and just had the best night on the dance floor with our family and friends.

Meaning of marriage.

Having been together for a while, it didn’t change too much for us, but it was great to be able to have all our loved ones in one room to celebrate our love, and that will always be a special memory for us.

Wedding soundtrack.

Ceremony – violin quartet.

Aisle: Higher Love (bridesmaids), Chasing Cars (Angelique)

Signing: Love Story

Recessional: All You Need is Love

Reception entry: Ain’t Worried by One Republic

Father / daughter dance & first dance sung by Angelique’s brother Steven Zammit

Father / daughter dance: Stand by Me

First dance: This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)

Funny stories or near disasters.

It was one of the hottest days on record the day before the wedding (we are talking 40 degrees in Melbourne). Angelique’s brother Daniel was given the job of driving the cake down from Melbourne to Sorrento. Daniel is a pilot, and he still says it was the most stressful hour and half journey he’s had to do. Thankfully the cake made it in one piece, and we’re very thankful for all the tips from Mali Bakes on transporting the cake, esky and all. In hindsight, getting it delivered would have been the better option.

Planning surprises.

The number of decisions that had to be made; the decision fatigue was real.

Words of wisdom.

As everyone says, the day goes so quickly, so try to enjoy every moment leading up to it. Whether it be the planning decisions over a wine, making a day of the menu tasting or locking in events the night before or the day after the wedding.

Also, get disposable cameras; it was so much fun looking through the photos from the guests’ perspective.

Love a seaside-inspired celebration? Check out Chloe and Brent’s Lorne wedding, packed full of perfect personal details and beach bliss, here on the blog.

ANGELIQUE & MATT’S VENDORS

We used the Real Wedding section of Ivory Tribe to get vendor inspiration. It was so helpful getting to see real-life examples of our vendors’ work. I would also use Laura to bounce supplier ideas off her.

Ceremony & reception venue: The Continental Sorrento; we could not speak more highly of Madeleine and the team. So great to work with!

Celebrant & MC: Kate Morgan

Photography: Elsa Campbell. Her work speaks for itself. She is very talented and has a knack for capturing everything in the moment.

Videography: Josue Films

Styling: Wanderlust Creative

Florist: The Petal Project

Hair: Tonic Agency, Andrea Takagi

Make-up: Tonic Agency, Lauren Dell

The dress & veil: Elly Sofocli

Earrings: Natasha Schweitzer

Bride Shoes: Stuart Weitzman

Rings: Both engagement and weddings rings were custom designed by Rod Elmer