Real Wedding – Natalie & Brandon, Richmond VIC
From the moment they set about planning their dream day, Natalie and Brandon knew they wanted their celebration to be a memorable and romantic party for their loved ones (fur babies included!).
A cocktail wedding at Richmond’s Glasshaus really set the tone, and a moody and romantic celebration surrounded by lush greenery and some impressive floral arrangements saw it all come to life.
This perfect pair didn’t sweat the small stuff and it allowed them to relax and simply enjoy the dream day they had put together.
Armed with a host of impressive local suppliers at the helm – Natalie and Brendan’s dream day was all they had imagined it would be, and tribe talent Aleksandar Jason was there to capture every moment.
In Natalie’s words…
The meeting.
Unbeknown to us, we first met in 1997 when we were in the same Kindergarten class. This was only realised when we recognised the same kindergarten tea towel at my grand-parents’ house years into our relationship! But our first official meeting/contact was through a prank call late one night in early 2009, when we were both 16!
The ‘one’.
It’s hard to say – we were just kids when we met but we matured side-by-side, we had celebrated so many milestones together, been through the good and bad up till this point and we just couldn’t imagine drinking margaritas and spending the rest of our lives with anyone else.
The proposal.
We had been planning another big trip over to the States alongside my parents who were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary in Vegas by renewing their vows. We had landed in San Francisco a few weeks into our trip, travelled around throughout the day and I kept saying how much I loved the city. We picked out a fancy restaurant under the Bay Bridge for dinner and we arrived early to the Bay Area and started to stroll around. I kept complaining about how cold I was and that we surely could just go in for our reservation early. Brandon insisted we continue to stroll around and suggested we take a photo as we stood under the Bay Bridge. As we both stood back to pose for the photo he turned and dropped down on one knee!
Planning process.
Firstly, we chose our venue. Glasshaus Outside and Inside were the perfect fit. Once we had a date we gave ourselves 12 months to get planning. Brandon knew before we had even booked our venue that he wanted Tobi Tobi playing at our ceremony and they were the first vendors booked in, followed by Claire our celebrant and Aleksandar Jason our photographer who I had found from a real wedding blog that we loved. A lot of our other vendors came from Glasshaus’ recommendations and we trusted that they had worked with the venue – they turned out to be amazing! We had plenty of time and both being people who love to plan things and host parties, we just worked away at it together and chose all the things we wanted.
Style inspiration.
We knew from the start we wanted something different to the weddings we had been to and that we wanted it to be a party. We just wanted to be surrounded by our closest friends and family (and our pups) and to just celebrate our love – this is what led us to having a cocktail wedding. Glasshaus really set the style. It was moody and romantic and filled with so much lush greenery. We didn’t need to do much to make the venue more amazing, but we knew we wanted to add pops of colours and that’s where Andy from Petals Flower Co came in with our beautiful arrangements of pinks, oranges and golds to contrast against all of the greenery.
The outfits.
Starting the process to find a wedding dress was a bit daunting (and exciting) but there’s just so much expectation in wanting to find the perfect dress and not knowing exactly what will work. The moment I tried on the LAYNE gown at Karen Willis Holmes and saw the tears in my mum and sister’s eyes, I knew it was the one. It was simple, elegant and timeless – I wish I could wear it again and again!
For Brandon, he knew exactly what he wanted. A black tuxedo with a vest for more of an edge and he worked with Arthur Galan to tailor his perfect suit for the day.
Favourite moment.
We both agreed, the moment we first saw each other as I walked down the aisle was our favourite, closely followed by hearing each other’s vows.
Meaning of marriage.
Marriage, to us, means we just keep experiencing life together, as lovers and best friends.
Wedding soundtrack.
Aisle: Tobi Tobi Live cover of Blowers Daughter
Reception entry: Believe by Cher
First dance: Beyond by Leon Bridges
Funny stories (or near disasters).
Oh, we both had our own disasters prior to meeting at the altar. For me, I got car grease all over the end of my train. Luckily, we realised early enough that we had time to stop at a Woolworths for my sister to run in and buy baby wipes. We stopped on the side of the road in Richmond and scrubbed away, we made it ‘almost’ disappear but luckily my veil was long enough to cover. For Brandon, the groomsmen’s bowties went missing right at the last minute, his Dad had to drive to the shops and purchase new ones an hour before the ceremony started!
Planning surprises.
Putting together our run sheet. I left this to the last minute and although I love a good excel spreadsheet, I really found it hard to put all the traditional things in order for our cocktail style wedding. At the end of the day, things didn’t run to plan, but it was still so perfect!
Words of wisdom.
Don’t sweat the small stuff, the day is perfect no matter what happens!
When it comes to nailing your wedding floral factor, ensure sustainability is on the agenda. Take a read of our low-down on selecting wedding florals and keeping them eco friendly while you’re at it.
NATALIE AND BRANDON’S VENDORS
Ceremony venue: Glasshaus Outside, Stanley Street Richmond
Reception venue: Glasshaus Inside, Cremorne Street, Cremorne
Celebrant: Claire Paterson – Claire created the perfect ceremony for us, she read our story beautifully and was a pleasure to deal with
Photography: Aleksandar Jason
Videography: Atti & O – Aleksandar and his beautiful wife Chantelle are the best duo for your photography and videography, they’re easy going and keep things nice and simple throughout the day
Florist: Petals Flower Co – Andy is just lovely to deal with, she’s so creative and takes your style brief and brings it to life
Hair: Bessy, Maiden Empire
Make Up: Amelia Webb
The Dress: Karen Willis Holmes– LAYNE gown
Shoes: Sol Sana
Rings: Burlington Antiques and Ralf Fisch Fine Jewellery
Earrings: Jan Logan – gift from the Groom
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Bec & Bridge
Groom and groomsmen attire: Arthur Galan
Catering: Grazing table at Ceremony – Plentiful Catering – Fat and Skinny Catering for reception.
Bar: Fat and Skinny Catering
Favors: Koyo Creative, cocktail tags
Cake / Cake topper: We Love Cake
Stationery / Signage: Fox & Hart
Entertainment: Tobi Tobi (ceremony) – TobiTobi set the most beautiful scene for our ceremony and our guests were blown away by the husband and wife duo.
One More Song (reception) – Aleks from One More Song was amazing to deal with, we met her for drinks and talked about the vibe we wanted and felt totally at ease leaving it up to her and she didn’t disappoint, I don’t think I left the dance floor all night, and adding in Kat on the Sax was worth every scent! The live sounds of the saxophone still make us smile!
Transport: Dad’s torana
Hire: Peppersprout
Dog Chaperone: I Do Paws
