Real Wedding – Sam & John, South Melbourne VIC

April 8, 2024 In Blue, Real Weddings, Victoria By Ivory Tribe

Real Wedding – Sam & John, South Melbourne VIC

On a truly luminous rooftop in Melbourne, encompassed by incredible expansive views and the bluest of blue skies, Sam and John exchanged their I Dos. Choosing to articulate their dream day with perfectly personal touches meant for a celebration that was as authentic in feeling as it was incredible in vibes.

Creamy vanillas and sharp noir accents contrast against the hints of cornflower blue throughout the styling to create aesthetic impact and visions of modern elegance and timelessness. Sam simply stuns in her custom gown by d’Italia Couture, a vision of dreamy draping in sleek modern lines. Not only do they bring a discerningly tasteful eye, but for Sam, the process of creating her gorgeous gown was a dream.

In the legendary hands of Married to the Groove, this is one epic party, with boundless fun matching the style. Courtney Laura Photography and Lightbox Media capture every dream day moment with artful perfection – read on to see it all unfold.

The meeting.

We met on Tinder in 2017. Firstly, we chatted every day or two. We then caught up and spoke for eight hours, and our relationship progressed naturally from there!

The ‘one’.

There wasn’t a significant moment, but I suppose meeting each other’s friends and family made it feel really serious. We both knew pretty early on that we wanted to be together.

The proposal.

In March 2022, we, along with our good friends, went down to Phillip Island, where Sam’s parents have their holiday home. John got the ring on the Wednesday before going to Phillip Island, and straight away, he knew that it was going to be the perfect location to ask Sam to marry him.

We had made plans to have lunch at Phillip Island Winery, so it felt like everything was coming together. When we arrived at the winery, John saw an area that was set up for a wedding later that day with an arch and thought that would be the perfect location to get a photo. While our friend was taking photos of us, John asked for just one more and, at that point, pulled out the ring, got down on one knee, and asked Sammy to marry him. To which she started crying and shaking. We are so lucky to have the moment on video, and it’s something that we can watch over and over again.

Planning process.

We started planning our wedding 18 months in advance. John’s extended family are from Ireland and so we wanted to give them the opportunity to plan for the trip over if they wanted to come. We both wanted to have a city wedding and wanted everyone to be able to access our venue easily by public transport, Uber or being able to drive. We only looked at two venues, and as soon as we walked into Luminare, we were sold. The city view that surrounds the reception is like nothing else, and we loved it from the moment we saw it.

Luminare, run by The Big Group, was outstanding to deal with. We were assigned a wedding planner who was on top of everything and incredibly helpful the whole way through.

Once we had our venue, we started reaching out to suppliers, most we found over Instagram!

Style inspiration.

We wanted it to be timeless, something we would look back on in 20 years and still be happy with and not want to change a thing. We had blue gin bottles from a distillery near where John’s extended family is from in Ireland that we wanted to have flowers in at the ceremony. Using those as inspo, we decided to have some blue touches in our florals throughout the night.

I did all our stationary myself and also incorporated the blue into it. We decided to write an individual note on the back of every guest’s personalised menu thanking them for being at our wedding and telling them how much we loved them; that was also their place card.

We wanted our wedding to have an atmosphere where everyone felt like they were included, meant to be there and loved.

It was so helpful to scroll through blogs such as Ivory Tribe and get inspiration from other weddings! We also found a lot through word of mouth from friends who have gotten married and through vendors’ Instagram pages.

The ceremony.

Our ceremony was beautiful; we had it at Luminare on the balcony that looks over Port Phillip Bay. We were so lucky to have gorgeous Melbourne weather on our side. Our celebrant Megan was able to tell our story so well. We had said to Megan that we wanted it to be funny and relaxed and to make everyone feel loved. She was outstanding, and we received so many compliments on how amazing she was!

The outfit.

The idea of going and trying on lots of dresses was something that didn’t appeal to me at all. I had seen a dress that someone had worn to the Brownlow and was hopeful I would be able to get something similar replicated. I took the inspiration photo to D’Italia and straight away got assigned a dressmaker.

From there, I met my dressmaker, Mary, and I would see her every month for fittings and alterations. Mary was amazing and continually told me that she just wanted me to love my dress and that I could change anything at any point if needed.

For my dress, I wanted something classic that I would look back on in years to come and still love. I wanted to avoid current trends and have something timeless. I loved the process of getting my dress made. Having something fit specifically on my body that I could alter if I wanted or needed to was amazing.

John wore a black Tuxedo, he wanted something classic and timeless also.

Favourite moments.

Honestly, we don’t know how to choose. We loved absolutely everything about our whole day. From walking down the aisle and seeing each other for the first time, the ceremony, our speeches were amazing, to a packed dancefloor the entire night. We felt so loved the whole day, it was really special, and we felt so lucky.

We also had late-night snacks of double cheeseburgers and fries served at 10:30 p.m. I had stickers made that looked like McDonald’s stickers, and they said “McDonohoes,” which is our last name (with the added Mc). They were such a crowd pleaser!

Meaning of marriage.

Marriage means to dedicate this next chapter of both of our lives to each other. Ultimately promising to love, support, and be kind and loyal to one another as we navigate life together as a family. We are both so lucky to have such positive role models in our parents, grandparents’, siblings and friends’ marriages and relationships who have shown us what it is to dedicate your lives to each other, to work hard together and to be able to enjoy life’s biggest moments together.

Wedding soundtrack.

Aisle: Love You Til The End by The Finns

Signing: I’m With You by Vance Joy

Recessional: Lovin Each Day by Ronan Keating
Reception entry: Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay

First dance: Angels by Robbie Williams

Funny stories or near disasters.

John has a party trick of knowing all the lyrics to “We Can’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel. I floated it with our DJ for John to perform during the night; he totally doubted the idea but said he would have it on his set list if we really wanted to towards the end of the night. At around 10pm, after John had had a couple of drinks to ease the nerves, he sang it for everyone. All 145 of our guests were on the dancefloor, watching and singing along. It was really outstanding. After the wedding, our DJ said it was amazing and loved everyone singing along!

We didn’t have any near disasters at all, we were really lucky!

Planning surprises.

The decision fatigue is exhausting and I think the anticipation can feel overwhelming. Once we got to the day before I felt like I could finally relax and enjoy our day for what it was going to be!

Words of wisdom.

Try and stay off wedding social media once you have locked in styling ideas/vendors, it’s very easy to get caught up and feel like you’re not doing enough. At the end of the day, you remember the people that were there and how you felt in the moment.

Planning your dream day, but unsure where to begin? We’ve created the perfect planning hub for you, so pour a glass of something special and get that organisation happening!

SAM & JOHN’S VENDORS

Ceremony & reception venue: Luminare, South Melbourne

Celebrant: Megan Watson (Marry Me Megan)

Photography: Courtney Laura Photography

Videography: Lightbox Media

Styling, catering & bar: The Big Group

Florist: Hailey Paige Flowers

Hair: Kim Toogood Hairstyling

Make-up: Cosmetique Makeup

The dress & veil: d’Italia

Shoes: Charles & Keith

Bridesmaid’s dresses: (Different makers)