Real Wedding, Lotti & VJ, Cape Schanck VIC
Elevated elegance and fresh, polished glam are the style vibes of Lotti and VJ’s exquisite wedding day. Add a dose of electrifying emotion, a wholly invested community of guests and a stellar team of talented vendors, and you have a flawless vision of a day.
A dreamy palette of soft blushes, deep rose and airy sage infuse the expansive Barragunda Estate backdrop with a sense of refined abundance with florals by Wild Flos, while carefully curated details like monogrammed wooden maracas give a personal, considered touch, styled by Events by Jayde.
We love Lotti’s stunning custom gown by Claire Home Designs and the gorgeous reworking of her mother’s wedding gown as Lotti’s party dress.
Personal details, impeccable signature style and an effortless sense of fun, all captured through the legendary lens of Katie Harmsworth, make this day a true treat for the senses.
The meeting.
We first met in 2019 on the dating app Bumble and realised we had a few mutual friends but had never actually met in person. We look back now, and there were definitely parties and gatherings we both would have been at prior to 2019 but never crossed paths!
The one.
It sounds so corny, but we both knew we had found someone extremely special on the first date! We just had this instant connection and couldn’t believe how similar we were. To this day, we still remark to each other how lucky we are to have found each other.
The proposal.
VJ proposed on a holiday in Lake Wanaka, New Zealand, in 2022. He waited until the second last day of the trip because he was so nervous! He later told me he had his heart set on proposing at the top of the mountain, but the helicopter he had chartered wasn’t able to take off due to high winds. He ended up proposing under a beautiful willow tree, looking over the lake on a Saturday afternoon, which was even more perfect as it was just the two of us with no fanfare.
Planning process.
Working in PR and having experience in events, I knew what I wanted from the outset – a stylish affair with ultimate party vibes. Once we chose the venue it was all systems go. We did a site visit at Barragunda in October 2022 and locked in the venue immediately. It was the first venue we looked at, but I knew as soon as I stepped foot on the property that I wanted to get married there. Due to the venue only being available six weekends of the year we chose 8 March 2024.
The long wait was the best decision we made as life threw a small spanner in the works when we found out we were pregnant in February 2023, with our baby due in November 2023 – four months before our wedding! This wasn’t in our plan but it really put things in perspective for me and made me adopt the mentality of what will be will be.
I had already locked in all the main vendors by the time we found out I was pregnant, so I had faith in the team around me and knew it would come together perfectly. Our event planner, Ayesha from White Top Venues, was incredible in making everything seamless, especially in the four months between our son being born and the wedding, as these were the most crucial months in the planning but also the most hectic for me with a baby! Having a newborn and planning a wedding wasn’t easy but Ayesha and our stylist Jayde were incredible at making it work for me. For me, communication is key, and that is what made the planning process so easy, as well as having faith in the people around you to play their role.
Style inspiration.
Our amazing stylist, Jayde, and event planner, Ayesha, were incredible in bringing my vision to life. Jayde knew exactly what I wanted and nailed the brief – an elegant but colourful affair with a soft colour palette imbuing the day. I couldn’t be happier with how everything looked. Jayde was great at helping nail the small details, like having wooden maracas as place cards or having mix matched chairs to bring a wow factor.
A special mention also has to go to our florist Nat from Wild Flos, who was incredible, with our floral arrangements simply out of this world. We had five hanging installations from the ceiling, which set the scene for the wedding. Almost six months later people can’t stop talking about the florals.
For inspiration, I found looking at real weddings to be the most useful. I found myself stalking celebrities, influencers and designers I thought had great style to see if they were married and what the aesthetic for their wedding was. I also found looking at wedding photography pages and wedding stylists on Instagram to be handy, as it really gave me a broad depth of information about what was possible.
The ceremony.
Our ceremony was exactly what we envisaged – short, sentimental, with some laughs in there too. Our celebrant, Kate Adkins, was amazing and told our story in the most perfect way, not oversharing but just providing a snapshot of our love in the most wholesome way. The whole ceremony only lasted for 18 minutes.
The outfits.
When I was about 14, I saw a Steven Khalil wedding dress in Vogue and told my mum I loved it, and if I was to ever get married, that would be the type of dress I would wear. She told me to cut it out and save it just in case the day ever arrived. Fast forward 14 years, I get engaged, and I’m chatting to my dressmaker Claire (who is a close family friend and made my mum’s wedding dress), and I suddenly remember this cut out so I go back to my family home and find it and it’s still the exact style I love.
So Claire and I used that dress as our inspiration but made something unique to me. Obviously, we had to pause the design process when I got pregnant, with Claire doing a lot of work in the four months between my having the baby and getting married. My final fitting was the week leading into my wedding, as I wanted to wait as long as I could! What she designed was exceptional, the dress of my dreams. Claire also refashioned my mum’s original wedding dress for my second dress, which fit like a glove, and all we did was cut off the train to make it a mini and use the fabric from the train to make a bow at the back.
Favourite moments.
There were so many amazing moments on the day; it’s hard to pick just one! But I think our entry into the reception was my favourite moment as my husband and I had this little moment where we looked at each other before walking in of like ‘omg we are married how crazy is this!’ Then the doors opened, and we danced in to One More Time, the crowd going wild, shaking their maracas. Everyone was dancing for the whole song, with my husband and I doing a lap of the room dancing before sitting down. It was epic.
Meaning of marriage.
To us, marriage is a lifelong commitment to the person you love.
Wedding soundtrack.
Aisle (bridesmaids): I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston (acoustic)
Aisle (bride): Let It Be Me by Ray LaMontagne (acoustic)
Reception entry: One More Time by Daft Punk
Funny stories (or near disasters).
Everything in the lead-up to the day and on the day was so perfect I kept waiting for something to go wrong! The only funny thing that did happen was on the wedding day after the ceremony and our portrait photos, my wedding planner came up to me and said, ‘I have some bad news’. I remember my heart dropping and thinking, oh no, I’ve missed someone on the place card settings, or someone has an allergy I haven’t accounted for, but she said, ‘the croquembouche has melted and tipped over, but one of the guests caught it so we will still be able to serve it, but it won’t be on display’ and I just laughed and thought wow if that is the worst thing to happen it’s going to be an epic night.
Planning surprises.
In the lead-up to the wedding, everyone we knew who was married kept telling us it would be the best day of our lives, and I remember just nodding and thinking nonchalantly yeah, I’m sure it will be, but I was surprised by how true it was. It was truly the best day ever – all your favourite people in one place celebrating you and your partner – it doesn’t get any better.
Words of wisdom.
Don’t sweat the small stuff, and have faith in your vendors! My husband had no experience in events, and six months before the wedding, he was stressing that we hadn’t heard from our vendors. I remember saying to him they were busy and we weren’t a priority right now! I was right, and it wasn’t until around three months to go that it kicked up a notch.
LINKING POST
LOTTI & VJ’S VENDORS
Ceremony & reception venue: Barragunda Estate, White Top Venues. White Top Venues were our wedding planners and look after our venue Barragunda Estate. Our wedding planner, Ayesha, was incredible and made everything seamless – from bus schedules, to run sheets to alcohol quantities – nothing was too hard, and the end was result was just the most perfect day.
Celebrant: Kate Adkins
Photography: Katie Harmsworth. The first supplier I booked in was our photographer, Katie Harmsworth. She had done a few weddings I had been to, and I loved her work so much that I knew I needed her on my wedding day, and luckily, she was free.
Videography: Humdrum. We booked our videographers Humdrum as our second vendor as I had seen their work and loved their vibe of not being a traditional wedding video but more of a production. Katie also told me she had worked with them before and adored them so I was even more sold by then!
Photobooth: Blanc Portraits. Our photographer, Katie, introduced us to Eric and Oli from Blanc Portraits, who were incredible and did a Vanity Fair-style black and white photobooth for two hours during canape hour. It was an absolute hit and added so much fun to canape hour, with guests receiving the photos on the day both on their phone and in a printout form.
Styling: Events by Jayde. I then reached out to Jayde from Events by Jayde to style the wedding. She then put together some recommendations for florals and stationery. Once she showed me Wild Flos and One Mimosa Please, I was sold immediately and was hoping they would both be free.
Florist: Wild Flos. Nat from Wild Flos was amazing to work with and took so much care and pride in the florals. She even dropped off all the leftover florals to our recovery venue at 3am the night of our wedding so we could utilise them the next day.
Hair & make up: Janice Wu / Mae Taylor. Janice Wu did my hair and make-up and Mae Taylor did my bridesmaids. They were both incredible and were so relaxed and fun the morning of the wedding. Our hair and make-up also lasted the whole day and night.
The dresses & veil: Claire Home Designs. I always knew Claire Home Designs would design my dress as Claire is a close family friend and made my mum’s wedding dress! I loved my dress so much, and she was so accommodating, given I wanted to wait to finalise my dress until after I had our son/I felt comfortable in my post-baby body.
Shoes: Loeffler Randall (first dress), Magda Butrymn (second dress)
Rings: NDV Design
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Sir the Label
Suits: PJ Johnson. VJ gets a lot of his suits from PJ Johnson and was so happy with his custom wedding suit.
Bow ties / ties: Tom Ford
Catering: Simone Watts
Bar: Pineapple Jam. We enlisted Clinton from Pineapple Jam at the recommendation of White Top Venues. He ran the bar and did amazing cocktails all night. I couldn’t recommend him more, and he was just an asset to the day and brought the party vibes. By the end of the night, he was making bespoke cocktails depending on what everyone wanted!
Cake / Cake topper: The French Lettuce
Stationery / Signage: One Mimosa Please. Alex from One Mimosa Please was also incredible and really brought me along the creative journey for the stationary, making it unique to us but also in line with my vision.
Entertainment: Champagne Electric (ceremony), Top Dog Entertainment (reception). I work with Top Dog Entertainment in my job and knew they would bring the party vibes, so it was a no-brainer to use them for our reception entertainment. We ended up going with a DJ, saxophonist and drummer, and it was the perfect combination, with our dance floor heaving the whole night. I found Champagne Electric on Instagram and loved their acoustic sound for the ceremony. I was amazed by how good they sounded live.
Décor: Dann Event Hire
