Real Wedding – Ben & Jemma, St Kilda VIC
Ben and Jemma’s golden wedding planning advice? Romanticise it all.
Pop a bottle of champagne after buying the dress, have a bridal party bonding event to bring your besties together, throw a spray tanning party – make the lead-up as fun and as memorable as the wedding day itself.
The couple found their mindful, joy-focused match in photographer Nikki McCrone, who is the type of vibe-bringing vendor that packs a speaker to play the duo’s favourite songs during photo sessions to bring out their most authentic, at-ease selves.
The soundtrack of the ceremony was just as sentimental. The sublimely talented Paper Hearts performed a unique rendition of Resolution by Matt Corby for the aisle walk, followed by Angus and Julia Stone’s Chateau during the signing of the marriage certificate, which was the same song that played when Ben proposed to Jemma.
The sight of her groom on the sun-kissed Prince Deck as Jemma walked down the aisle was just as she’d pictured the first time they looked at the venue.
With sweeping views of the sea and the city, it was the ideal contemporary canvas upon which to sprinkle their stunning details of calligraphy, candles and vanilla florals.
Delight in it all below.
The meeting.
The ever so romantic app, Bumble. We swiped right in December 2020 when we were free to roam after a year of Covid lock downs. However, on our first date we both realised that we had actually met each other before at a mutual friend’s party back in 2014.
‘The one’.
It didn’t take us long to know that we had met someone special and to realise that we had something incredible going. The summer of 2021 was truly the best time, not only because we were able to start living a somewhat normal life post the first Covid lock down, but because we spent so much time together doing all of our favorite things and learning so much about each other.
The proposal.
My best friend took me to the Alba Hot Springs one beautiful morning saying that she had a voucher that needed to be used. We spent the morning drinking mimosas and had the most relaxing hot stone massage. We then went to my favourite winery, Montalto, for lunch. We had the best day together and I felt so lucky that she used her voucher on me. When she dropped me back home, I walked through the front door to my favourite song Chateau by Angus and Julia Stone. Ben was standing in our lounge room next to candles and flowers and a sign saying, “Will You Marry Me”. We laugh now saying ‘Thank God he had the sign made because he couldn’t get any words out’. An hour later, both of our families arrived for dinner to celebrate. Unbeknownst to me, he had been the one to organise my day at the hot springs with my best friend to get me out of the house. We spent the evening in our dining room with all our favourite people. It was so full of love and so perfect.
Planning process.
We knew that we didn’t want to wait too long to get married. Ben and I booked our wedding venue the month after we got engaged after only viewing two venues. We like to think we are pretty ‘no fuss’ people, and both agree that the more options there are, the harder it all gets. We knew that we wanted the lead up to our day and the planning process to be fun! When we saw the Prince Deck in St Kilda we both knew it was where we wanted to get married. We could picture ourselves on a warm summer’s day, standing out on the deck with all our loved ones. You can see both the city and the bay from the deck and we loved the modern style of the venue. After we booked our venue, it didn’t take us long to lock in our vendors. Again, we didn’t look at too many options because it can get so overwhelming! We may be biased, but we truly believe we had the absolute best vendors.
Style inspiration.
Modern, with a touch of romance and lots and lots of candles. I had seen previous weddings at the Prince Deck place candles all around the indoor pool, which I knew I also wanted to do. We also love the look of guests in black tie.
I looked at previous weddings at the Prince Deck on Ivory Tribe real weddings for inspiration. It’s so much easier to visualise and plan your day when you can actually see the space you’re working with. Pinterest also became my best friend when planning our day. We also used vendors that friends or trusted people that we know had used so that we felt confident with the reviews. Finding vendors that had worked with the Prince Deck previously was also important to us so that they knew the space and the staff.
The ceremony.
We wanted our ceremony to be lighthearted and relaxed. We also didn’t want it to be long so that we could get to the fun part and grab a drink! Getting married in Melbourne in January is such a risk but we were so lucky to have a sunny 23 degree day. Seeing Ben on the sun kissed deck as I walked down the aisle was just as I pictured when we first looked at the venue. We loved our celebrant, Clare Shone; she was able to capture US very well. (Fun fact: I actually asked her whilst caring for her in labour when she was having her first baby haha!). Because we met during such a significant and special time in her life, I felt like we had a beautiful bond. When Ben and I met up with her as the wedding was approaching, we spent so much time laughing. We wanted everything about our wedding to be very ‘Ben and Jemma’, so personalising our vows was also important to us. We both laughed and cried during our ceremony, and it was so special looking out to see all our favorite people.
The outfits.
I knew I wanted something simple and modern. I also wanted a dress that I could look back on in many years to come and still absolutely LOVE. In classic ‘us’ style, I didn’t try on many dresses. This may have been because when I tried on a Maticevski dress at Bluebell Bridal I was utterly obsessed with his designs and I knew I wanted to wear one of them. I love that they’re a little bit different! His new range had just come out when I booked my appointment at Bluebell. We altered the top of the dress slightly from the original but I just knew it was my dress the moment I had it on. My best friend, my auntie and my mum were with me when I first tried it and we all loved it. We then went out and celebrated with a bottle of champagne. These are the days that make the lead up to the wedding so fun and memorable.
Ben picked a ‘no fuss’ approach and wore a classic black tuxedo and bow tie. He chose a white shirt with black buttons to differentiate himself from the groomsmen.
Favourite moments.
Oh, there are so many.
Our first look. We had it in the beautiful plant-filled atrium room at the Prince Hotel. We were both so nervous, but the nerves completely lifted as soon as we saw each other. We both just cried and laughed and hugged. It was such an incredible moment. We then sipped on our favourite cocktail and got to relax for a brief moment before the craziest day our of lives.
Walking into our reception was also so overwhelmingly fun. We had tambourines as table numbers which was an absolute hit. To see all our favourite people standing, ‘wooing’ and using the tambourines as we walked out was the best! It was so loud. We were worried that we would be so awkward walking into our reception, but we genuinely just had so much fun with it.
Our first dance to Your Song by Elton John was sung by one of our best friends (Hannah) which made it a million times more special. Her version of it is our favourite. Ben and I danced for a short amount of time (which felt like forever), before I grabbed my Dad, and he got his Mum on the dance floor. We didn’t tell them that we were going to do this, so it was a beautiful moment. All our guests then joined us as we belted out the words with Hannah.
Meaning of marriage.
Marriage to us is like a never-ending sleepover with your best friend. It is being so excited to go home because it means you get to spend time together. It’s the secret staring at each other with a smile on your face. It is also about challenging each other to be the best version of themselves, making compromises and finding the joy in the simplest of things.
Wedding soundtrack.
Aisle song: Ally and Marcus from Paperhearts sang the most beautiful version of Resolution by Matt Corby as I walked down the aisle.
Signing song: Chataeu by Angus and Julia stone
Exit song: Adore U by Fred Again
Reception entry song: Innerbloom by Rufus Du Sol
First dance: Your Song by Elton John (Sung live by a friend)
Funny stories.
We loved that the Prince Deck is above the Prince Hotel, which meant Ben and the groomsmen were at the pub with guests before the wedding. It created a relaxed and fun vibe prior to the ceremony. However, my Dad completely missed our father/daughter first look because he was down at the pub with some friends and family. When my bridesmaid called him to ask where he was as the photographer and videographer were waiting, he was not even dressed in his suit. After initially being slightly stressed, everything turned out completely fine. Our timeline was slightly pushed back but it makes for a funny story now. And one I’ll never let him forget.
Planning surprises.
How many options there are for absolutely everything! And just how many decisions you have to make.
Words of wisdom.
Try and make it as fun as possible because it can get very overwhelming! We used to plan wedding meetings in the lead-up, where we would just tick a few things off one by one.
Also, make everything a big deal because it all goes by so quickly. Have the spray tan party! Get the bottle of champagne after buying the dress. We had a wedding party ‘get to know each other’ backyard event and it was so fun. Romanticise it all.
For more stunning city ceremony inspiration, check out Winnie & Simon’s urban I dos.
BEN & JEMMA’S SUPPLIERS:
Ceremony & reception venue: Prince Deck – They were amazing to work with. We loved the look of the modern, romantic deck but also knew that they would allow for a loud, fun party inside for the reception. The food and drinks were incredible. We had such great feedback from our guests.
Celebrant: Clare Shone. – Her bio claims she specialises in fun, chilled, non-lame weddings and I can truly vouch for that.
Photography: Nikki McCrone – I found Nikki through Ivory Tribe. I honestly don’t have the words for Nikki. If I could recommend only one vendor, it would be her. I want to be her best friend. She is so funny and made our day amazing. Not only did she take the most incredible photos, which we will treasure forever, she helped me create the timeline and was basically our event coordinator on the day. She makes everything run so smoothly so that you don’t have to think about anything else but having the best day of your life. Her photos are so natural and candid, which was so important to us. She yells out the funniest and most vulgar (right up our alley), things that all you can do is laugh and the photos turn out amazing. She also carries a speaker and plays your favourite songs, so it feels instantly fun and you don’t feel like you’re doing a photoshoot. She honestly makes you feel so relaxed. I could not recommend her more highly. Our wedding party also absolutely loved her.
Videography: For The Future Films – Jackson filmed a friend’s wedding and I absolutely loved her wedding video, so it was a no brainer. When I was writing a review for Jackson, I wrote, in the nicest way possible, we didn’t even know he was there. Which is what we wanted when it came to videography. It can be quite daunting having a camera in your face the whole time, so to have our day captured without us evening knowing it was incredible. We have watched our video a million times. I love knowing that all our speeches and most important moments are there to rewatched over and over.
Florist: Piper and Posie – I know piper personally, so again it was the easiest decision. Her work is unbelievably beautiful. And she is also just the kindest person who made the whole process so easy.
Hair: Harlen Hair – Sharah is honestly the best! She made us girls feel so incredibly beautiful and we were all obsessed with our hair. She also sang Fleetwood Mac with us all morning.
Make-up: Makeup With Pim – I think my most asked question after the wedding was ‘who did your make up?’. Pim’s work is out of this world. I honestly could not recommend her more.
The dress: Maticevski from Bluebell Bridal. I loved my dress so much, there was no way I was changing into a second dress.
Veil: Amelie George Bridal
Rings: All Diamonds – They were a dream to work with.
Bridesmaid’s dresses: My bridesmaids all picked different black dresses. I wanted them to feel beautiful and confident in a dress that suited them. They all picked dresses coincidentally from Sheike
Suits & ties: Men’s Suit Warehouse
Cake: Simply Cakes Melbourne – It was DELICIOUS.
Stationery / Signage: Our beautiful sister-in-law created all our signage. She’s the brains behind Mikka Studio and she did it all. Including our name tags, where we listed three of our favorite memories with each of our guests, and the art on the tambourines.
Entertainment: Paper Hearts – We had Ally and Marcus on acoustics and then DJ Burgs took over for the party. Paper Hearts were so easy to work with and we could honestly listen to Ally and Marcus sing all day.
Audio guestbook: Glad You Called
Gelato cart: Bianco Latte
Honeymoon: Koh Samui
