Real Wedding – Kate & Brad, Fitzroy VIC
Feast your eyes on the incredible inner city celebration of Kate and Brad.
Keeping it simple, they let their surrounds do the talking as they hit the streets for some grungy yet glamorous photos that only the streets of Melbourne could provide.
This perfect pair focused on creating a day that truly represented them, and they didn’t sweat the small stuff, opting to surround themselves with a Tribe they completely trusted to bring their dream day to life.
Magical moments were aplenty and there to capture it all was fabulous photographer Courtney Laura.
In Kate’s words…
The meeting.
We met at BIG DAY OUT 2013. I went with a group of friends. One friend of ours, Damien, was acting crazy with all the music and awesome atmosphere and Brad noticed him and wanted to join in. My friend invited him to meet our group and we ended up spending the entire day together and had a great time.
The ‘one’.
Brad saw me and it was love at first sight! He knew I was the one. However, it took me a week! We had so much fun together at BIG DAY OUT and it really stemmed from there. Once you know, you know!
The proposal.
It was pretty low key. I had been overseas for a few weeks, the night that I came home Brad picked me up from the airport and when we reached home Bully (our dog) had a little tuxedo on and Brad got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I later found out that Brad had the ring hidden in a ceiling for well over a year, he just hadn’t mustered up the courage to my ask my Dad yet.
Planning process.
We knew exactly what we wanted and had a general idea in mind. We didn’t want anything traditional with round tables or covered chairs. We knew when we had the venue, church, band and photographer we had it all. Planning was done right? But everything came together within the following months. Through friend’s referrals, we had all the suppliers we needed. It all worked out by chance and by mutual friends. The only vendor not recommended by a mutual friend was the florist whom I used previously for Mother’s Day, etc.
I would probably say that I’m glad that we kept the whole day true to what we really wanted and didn’t get too caught up in the little things. With weddings, everyone has ideas of how the think your day should be and what you should be doing so it was really important to us that we worked out exactly what we wanted and I think we stuck with that.
Style inspiration.
We wanted to have a fun atmosphere that wasn’t too formal. We really wanted the focus to be on our ceremony and nuptials, as that was the most important part of the day for us, and then just to be able to relax and enjoy the evening.
The dress.
My dress was from Rachel Gilbert. Again, I had done a lot of searching online and I had never really seen anything that I thought was quite right for me. I saw a different one on Rachel Gilbert’s website and went to try it on and they didn’t have my size. So, I was shown the dress I wore, tried it on and loved it. Parents being parents wanted me to go and try some others on, ‘just to make sure’ so I dutifully tried a couple on but knew it was a waste of time, I had already made up my mind.
Favourite moment.
When we sat down during the ceremony next to the altar and we could see all our family and friends, some who had travelled so far. It was a really surreal moment that everyone was there to support us, and that finally the moment of being married, that so much planning and time had been spent on, was actually happening. Surprisingly walking down the aisle was one of my favourite moments as I found it absolutely terrifying.
Meaning of marriage.
Marriage means so much and I don’t think it can actually be put into words. However, I think it is committing to somebody and knowing that through all of life’s ups and downs you will be there for each other no matter what. Marriage is being that person that can make any situation easier just by being there.
Wedding soundtrack.
Aisle Song: Forever by Ben Harper
Recessional: Paradise (Peponi) by The Piano Guys
First Dance: If I Was a Carpenter by Johnny Cash and June Carter
Funny stories (or near disasters).
The whole day is actually a blur, I didn’t even know there were bows on the pews until I saw a photo a few days later, neither did Brad.
But when we were deciding on entertainment for our wedding, one Sunday night we had wine, sat on the couch and listened to a bunch of wedding entertainment but we would turn the laptop screen away from us and listed to their voices. Pretty much just like The Voice blind auditions. We heard their voice and knew, ‘yep, they are the one!’
Words of wisdom.
I think just really work out what is important to you and stick to that. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Things will go wrong or you’ll have ideas that won’t be able to happen but when you put them into perspective, all the little things don’t really matter and in twenty years’ time you want even remember that you could only get copper table names and not the rose gold.
Final words.
We used family candles in our ceremony. There were three candles one each representing the two families, so for us a ‘White’ and a ‘Hennequin’ candle and a larger candle representing a ‘White and Hennequin’, candle. At the start of the service a member of each family was invited up to light their family candle. We asked our Mums. Then at the end of the service, Brad and I used those family candles to light the new candle. It symbolises the two families coming together. I really liked it because it demonstrated that when you become married it is not just two people that are committing to each other but whole families coming together.
Intrigued by Melbourne’s bridal fashion scene? Take a peek at the best of the best here.
KATE AND BRAD’S TRIBE.
Ceremony venue: St Bridget’s Church, Fitzroy
Reception venue: Panama Dining Room
Celebrant/Officiant: Father Luciano Toldo
Photography: Courtney Laura – Courtney captured our wedding beautifully and made Brad and I feel so comfortable. We are not great in front of the camera but us made me relax and enjoy the best day of our lives.
Florist: Fowler Flowers
Hair: Zian Reyn
Make Up: Rebecca Lowry
The Dress: Rachel Gilbert
Bride’s Shoes: Online China somewhere
Rings: Alexis Russel Jewelry
Necklace: Blue Mary Necklace passed down from Grandmother to wear for the wedding. This was something special from my Grandmother and I wore it under my dress and felt blessed to wear it.
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Zara
Groom’s attire: Prinzi Collections
Groom’s Shoes: Aquila
Cake: Stefan, The Clumsy Baker – This cake was out of this world amazing! Tasted incredible too.
Welcome sign and gifts table: La De Da Letters, Lauren is so talented. I knew when I got engaged that I wanted her as one of my vendors.
Seating Chart: Willow Lane Paperie – A fantastic DIY editable document I downloaded from Willow Lane Paperie Etsy store. I had several guests pull out at the last minute, like the last two days! So I was able to edit myself and quickly go off to print at the shops and frame myself. Best investment.
Entertainment: Craig Francis Music – These guys were the real deal. They knew how to talk to our guests (they MC’d too) and to hush the crowd but also reve them up to party!
Transport: David White – Father of the Bride. He restored the car in preparation for the wedding.
Décor: My Sweet Event – I needed to finish my wedding off with a little something more. My Sweet Event gave me a place for my gifts/cards table, table numbers and easel to stand my seating chart on. Great group of ladies and so easy to deal with.
Honeymoon: I had just started a new job so all ideas and dreams went out the window, so we hired a campervan and camped across the coast in Brisbane/Byron Bay. We loved setting up for the night, cooking by the sea and spending the time together doing what we loved.
