Real Wedding – Mackayla & Adam, Melbourne VIC
Surrounded by some of the greatest love stories of all times, Mackayla and Adam’s wedding reception at the Melbourne State Library was in apt company. Their day exuded warmth and elegance and after one postponed date and a few variations with guest numbers right up until the last minute, simply making it to the altar hand in hand brought them immense joy.
Their ceremony was held on the balcony of Melbourne Town Hall, with wedding wordsmith Megan Thompson sharing the intimate details of their love story with their nearest and dearest, and Ivory Tribe favourites Tess Follett and Annette & Dani Films there to ensure everything was captured in picture-perfect fashion.
Mackayla and Adam’s stellar line up of suppliers on the day meant that everything ran ever-so-smoothly and the smiles on their faces were a permanent fixture throughout the evening. It really was a day they’ll cherish for the rest of their lives.
The meeting.
We met at Ormond College in 2010 whilst we were studying at Melbourne University and we didn’t get along very well initially, which is very funny in hindsight! It wasn’t until a few years later that we ran into each other at Oktoberfest in Munich and didn’t know many people in the city and so decided to hang out when something just clicked. Many months later when we were both back in Melbourne, we went on our first ever date and the rest is history!
The ‘one’.
There was no exact moment that we knew we were each others’ ‘one’ but we were both equally crazy to go overseas together about only month after dating and bought an apartment together soon after. So straight away we knew we’d found someone else who was equally impulsive and fun – which was a pretty good sign! Since then, we’ve never looked back.
The proposal.
Mackayla’s Dad took her to the basketball on a Sunday afternoon to get her out of the house while Ads set up some flowers and champagne on the rooftop garden. This decoy mission was no mean feat as Mackayla was severely hungover after a Thanksgiving dinner with friends the night before. Ads was patiently waiting at home with the rooftop looking very romantic when Mack returned from the basketball in a state of complete shock. We shared a glass of champagne together and then had our nearest and dearest immediately join us for a surprise celebratory BBQ.
Planning process.
We both wanted something very classic and timeless, but also very fun. We had lived in the CBD together prior to the wedding so we thought something close to home would be on brand for us – what better fit than the Town Hall and State Library!
Style inspiration.
We relied on wedding blogs a lot (particularly Ivory Tribe) to help us get a sense of things we liked, things we didn’t and above all, which suppliers were the best in the business!
The ceremony.
To be honest, we were just so relieved to be standing in front of each other on an altar. After having postponed our wedding once due to Covid, our eventual wedding date fell during the eye of the Omicron outbreak, and we had a huge number of guests unable to make the wedding. To reach each other at the end of the aisle and finally hold each other’s’ hands and get married just felt unbelievably joyous.
The look.
The groom wore a midnight blue suit with a black lapel from Institchu. Mackayla’s dress was from Sam Pappas at the Bridal Curator in Melbourne. She knew she wanted a modern ballgown that fit with the ‘timeless’ theme and Sam was able to design a custom dress that nailed the brief.
Favourite moments.
Without a doubt it was the ceremony. Because we had put so much time and effort into planning the reception, we thought that would be the main event, and whilst the reception was so much fun, the ceremony was so emotional and we didn’t realise how incredible it would feel to stand in front of so many people we loved and marry each other.
Meaning of marriage.
We chose to go with traditional vows, for us those vows summed up what marriage means; a promise to have and to hold each other through every high and every low, for the rest of our lives.
Wedding soundtrack.
Aisle: Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley
Reception entry: Can’t Take My Eyes off You by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
First Dance Song: You Make My Dreams Come True by Hall and Oats
Funny stories or near disasters.
The Covid outbreak and guest movements was a real whirlwind with the two of us making edits to the seating plan right up until we had to leave for the ceremony. But in a way, this made us really not sweat the small stuff, we couldn’t have loved our day more or wipe the smiles off our faces.
Planning surprises.
I think how fun it is! We had both been warned that planning a wedding was one of the most stressful things you can do, but for us (and putting the covid outbreak in the days before the wedding to one side) it was honestly just a whole heap of fun.
Words of wisdom.
You spend a huge amount of time with your hair/makeup, photographer and videographer on the day of your wedding and so pick awesome people who you like as people as much as you like them as suppliers. We felt so grateful to have spent our day with really lovely and warm people (who also happened to have been exceptionally talented!).
We just want to say a massive thank you to our suppliers – they have each suffered so many trials and tribulations over the last two years and they could not have been more wonderful to work with or made us feel so special. We are hugely grateful for their kindness and endless optimism!
Your ceremony can really set the tone for your wedding day, so ensuring you have a stellar celebrant who can share your story with all the emotion and feels is super important. We have a an amazing array of talented celebrants ready for you to check out here.
MACKAYLA & ADAM’S VENDORS
Ceremony venue: Melbourne Town Hall – The team at Epicure who run events at the Town Hall were so easy to deal with. We had originally booked a room inside but decided to make the last-minute decision to hold the ceremony on the balcony, from a Covid-Safe perspective. Luay, Rikki and Kevin couldn’t have been more accommodating in dealing with the late changes and everything ran so smoothly on the day and we ended up much preferring the balcony setting.
Reception venue: State Library of Victoria – Colleen at Showtime along with her team are an absolute dream. Colleen has such a talent and love of all things weddings that you really couldn’t want anyone else to plan your wedding. She thought of so many things that we never would have and was the absolute best part of choosing the State Library for our reception venue.
Celebrant: The magnificent Megan Thompson – this woman was made to be a celebrant. She is so warm, genuine and most importantly, she knows how to command a room. We didn’t have to give Megan any instruction and she easily struck the perfect balance between romantic and funny – we love Megan!
Photography: Tess Follett – we might run out of page space if we try and sum up how wonderful Tess is. One real sadness that we have with the wedding being over is that we don’t get to speak to Tess anymore or have a day hanging out with her. As two people who don’t love having their photos taken, Tess listened to our hesitations and was so great at making the photo session feel natural and fun.
Videography: Annette and Dani – these two are absolutely hilarious. They were so much fun to be around on the wedding day. We love every wedding video that Annette and Dani have filmed and produced and for us it was a no brainer to go with them.
Florist: Giorgi Fiori – This girl is an absolute talent. We gave her no brief whatsoever other than ‘classic’ and she absolutely nailed it. We couldn’t recommend her more for all your flower needs, whether it be daily blooms or formal events.
Hair & Make Up : LoveCo – this group of women are amazing. Mim, LoveCo’s founder was absolutely fabulous and has an incredible business which brings in as many hair and makeup artists as needed for your bridal party which was amazing for us, as there was a lot of bridesmaids and two mums. Everyone looked phenomenal and felt fabulous about their hair and makeup and the wonderful LoveCo team were so lovely and relaxing to spend the day with.
The Dress(es): Dress one – Sam Papas at The Bridal Curator Dress two – Michael Lo Sordo
Veil / headwear: The Bridal Curator
Shoes: Bared for Bride, Groom and Bridesmaids
Rings: Pilkington Jewellers
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Shona Joy and Bec and Bridge
Suits: InStitchu
Bar: We had a whiskey and gin bar set up. The State Library lets you BYO spirits which was an absolute hit.
Cake / Cake topper: Kitty Bakes – We had so many guests come up to us and tell us that our wedding cake was the best they had ever tasted. There was a bit left over, and it made for an excellent post wedding breakfast too!
Stationery / Signage: State of Reverie – We spent a lot of time finding a stationary supplier that we liked, but State of Reverie was definitely worth waiting for. Emily, Jacqui and Emily were so responsive and so flexible with ideas and the stationary was really beautiful. We decided to write a little booklet with a blurb about each our guests which we had placed on the table at the reception and the girls could not have been more helpful in making that possible.
Entertainment: Bailey who we hired through the Melbourne Event Co – Our initial singer for the ceremony and their subsequent replacement both went down with Covid in the days leading up to the wedding. We put a hail mary call into Melbourne Event Co the day before the wedding who were incredibly responsible and they supplied us with Bailey who was a solo acoustic singer with a beautiful voice, he even learnt one of the songs we requested the night before the wedding! We had some mates DJ the reception which was so much fun. They nailed the 90s bangers playlist.
Hire: Harry the Hirer for the furniture & The Small Things Co for signage stands and candles
Honeymoon: Jackalope Hotel for a few nights
Other: Tans – Tan Time. The Tanning Salon we had booked had to close due to staff getting Covid, so we had to arrange last minute tans for 8 people on a public holiday which was no easy feat. Luckily Tan Time are a mobile tanning service that come to your home and saved the day!
