Real Wedding – Sophie & Jackson, Melbourne VIC
When it comes to ‘I do’ attire done differently, Sophie and Jackson set the bar Hollywood high.
As a bride Sophie wanted to feel like the most elevated version of herself and so she turned to the hue most featured in her wardrobe – black.
D’Italia’s expertise and enthusiasm for creating elegant, one-of-a-kind couture – combined with Sophie’s striking vision – resulted in a show-stopping dress that was chic, modern and sexy.
The red-carpet worthy one sleeve gown had an open asymmetrical back, thigh-high single leg split and statement white bow on one hip.
Scroll on to see how these long-time love birds celebrated a decade of commitment, and the start of a new era overseas, with an intimate registry ceremony and stylish inner-city reception all captured by Jessica Abby.
The meeting.
We met working at Woolworths ten years ago when we were 20 and 22 years old. Jackson was working there while finishing his degree, and I was still working out what I wanted to do and working there full-time. We started hanging out in a group of colleagues who would go out after work and on weekends, and one of our friends suggested to both of us that we’d be really well-suited. Our first date was getting frozen yoghurt one Saturday night and we pretty much started dating from there.
The ‘one’.
Sophie: He was very much my type from the beginning (tall, dark hair, sporty) but also smart and funny. Our friendship and relationship was so easy and natural from our first date which was a clear sign to me that it was special. When Jackson invited me to celebrate his sister’s birthday with his family, I saw him in his element with his siblings and aunties and knew that I was falling for him.
Jackson: Sophie was, in contrast to myself, very quiet which intrigued me from the first moment I met her. After we had been out a few times together it was clear that although she was quiet, she was fiercely independent and confident within herself which I found very attractive. Before Sophie was leaving for an overseas trip, I thought to myself that I’d miss her quite a lot, and we were both so committed at the time despite this fact.
The proposal.
The proposal was in September 2023 while we were holidaying in Seoul, South Korea. Jackson had been planning the ring for three months without any knowledge or input from me. We were never in a rush to get married and never put pressure on ourselves or one another to do it for the sake of it. The only criteria I ever flagged was that I didn’t want it to be done in front of people, just the two of us.
One day in Seoul, we had spent a nice morning at the food market eating delicious food and walked over to Dongdaemun Plaza – the stunning design centre conceived by Zaha Hadid. We were walking around and in a random spot, Jackson stopped and apologised for not being himself the last couple of days. I was instantly concerned and confused as nothing had happened that I knew of, and I wanted to make sure he was alright. I asked if he was okay and he started fumbling in his back pocket for the ring and I knew what was happening. It was instant bawling tears from my side as Jackson put the ring on my finger which was beautiful and very sparkly! We embraced, before I asked: are you going to actually ask me?! He did, but we already knew the answer. I said “of course”.
We walked down to the beautiful stream that runs through the city and sat down to absorb the moment and debrief, and a Korean girl on the other side took a photo with her camera. It’s nice knowing there’s a photo of us somewhere having a really special moment to ourselves. We didn’t tell anyone for 24 hours before we started to tell family and close friends. Having a few days in a bubble together on holiday was bliss.
The planning.
We were very much aligned on having a long engagement, but things moved quite quickly once we made the decision to move to London the following year. We both loved the idea of a registry office wedding and weren’t too fussed on the idea of a “traditional” wedding. We thought we might just do the registry wedding before our departure and work out a proper celebration in future. Then we thought of all the people we’d want to have there, and who we would have had at a going away party too, so we combined it all into one night!
The registry office was easy to book and we found a Saturday in September with a midday time slot free. Soph had always loved wedding photos taken at Parliament and surrounding area with the beautiful columns and tilings, with Melbourne as the backdrop.
We loved the idea of having an intimate ceremony with family and then a big party with friends invited. We researched some restaurants and Longsong at Longrain was the first place we visited. We’d only been once before for a drink one night after dinner but remembered how stunning it was upstairs with the lanterns. We had the same feeling when we viewed the location and met with Homra, the events manager. It was an instant yes to the venue and we locked it down very quickly.
We booked Morris House for our family lunch and drinks in-between the ceremony (12pm) and reception (5:30pm) so we could relax and have a drink after a busy morning. Our post-reception cocktail session was at Juliet, right across the road from Longrain.
We stayed at Rydges on Exhibition St and booked ourselves a nice apartment suite so we could have room to get ready; and we were able to give discount codes to family and friends who wished to stay in the city too. It was on the same block as all the venues which was super convenient.
Our recovery the next day was at our favourite bar, Milkhead Beer Store in Balaclava. We spent many weekends enjoying beers there and love the team. We had the whole place to ourselves for a few hours in the afternoon and ordered food from Oasis to help any sore heads.
Style inspiration.
I had a “wedding” folder of saved posts on my Instagram since before we were engaged. It was all purely inspiration and details I loved but it was very handy to refer to. I love fashion and photography and follow a lot of tastemakers in that space so I had a lot of inspiration to draw from. Ultimately, it was very much a fun, modern vision and we worked it out as we went.
We wanted the whole day to give us the opportunity to be completely ourselves and not do anything that we’ve seen others do or feel compelled to abide by tradition. Every decision was deliberate and we asked ourselves whether we did or did not want to do it. We definitely wanted a sit-down dinner rather than cocktail or buffet, and to not spend too much time on speeches. We spaced the speeches out in-between courses and kept them fairly brief.
I am a creative person and love designing and formatting my own work, so I took on the invitations, place cards and signage for the day. I wanted a modern colour palette and font and played around with colour combinations before landing on coral, navy, tangerine and mustard with white accents. These were easily printed through Canva and Officeworks.
The ceremony.
The simplicity and intimacy of the ceremony was exactly what we wanted, rather than being overwhelmed by the full guest list. There were 28 of us at the Registry Office: just parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and close family friends. We have family interstate and overseas in England and Japan and we were grateful that so many of them made the effort to be with us on the day.
The outfits.
Sophie: I was never going to wear white; it felt wrong given I wear black 95% of the time! For the dress, I had a couple of images that had long been my main inspiration. I had a screenshot of a black Gabriela Hearst dress in my phone for about seven-eight years which I always envisioned I would have made as my wedding dress. My second reference image was a Valentino gown similar to the one I ended up with. It was more of a show-stopper that was still chic, elegant and sexy. The first reference could’ve been made dressier but was potentially more of an elevated casual design. So, the decision was made!
Getting the dress custom-made was the only option as I am particular with what I wear, and I knew I’d never find “the one” on a rack. I thought it was going to cost way more than it did; the service and expertise from D’Italia and Judith Penak exceeded my expectations.
I had my eye on a pair of Prada slingbacks for almost the entire planning process, and I knew they’d go perfectly with the dress, despite the investment! I tried them on a couple of times before going in to purchase them a couple of weeks before the wedding, and I love how they look in the photos. (We won’t mention the sore feet – I stupidly didn’t wear them in!)
My bag was an elegant asymmetrical piece from The Horse. I had no idea they even made bags, but it was the perfect shape and finish for keeping all my essentials in there. I wore a vintage bracelet I found in Japan over the long sleeve.
Jackson: It took me a while to pick my suit. I definitely did not want the standard tuxedo jacket with the single breasted vest, however, I did want to stand out. I knew I wanted it to be black and white, but that was it. I thought I best arrange a consultation with the amazing Angela Nicolades who was recommended to me and see if I could draw any inspiration. While there, I was looking at a catalogue and came across “the one”. It was a lovely single-breasted jacket (not a tux) with a double-breasted straight cut vest with lapels. It ticked all the boxes for me: classic look, uncomplicated, suave. Angela persuaded me into cuffed trousers and I went with the waist buckles over a belt to really highlight the vest.
With this I purchased some lovely Italian leather Aquila Oxford shoes to round it out. I could not have been happier with how it all turned out (not to mention it matched Sophie’s gorgeous dress).
Favourite moments.
Sophie: The whole day was incredible and it’s very tough to pick one moment. I loved the speeches from our siblings and friends. They were incredibly heartfelt and genuine, and the whole room was locked on them when they spoke. Our MC Pen surprised us with a rendition of a Sk8r Boi verse about the two of us because I love Avril Lavigne – that was so much fun! The food at Longsong was incredible and I’m so glad we had plenty of time to enjoy eating each course. Ultimately, I think my favourite part was seeing everyone arrive, and chatting and laughing with everyone.
Looking across the room to see 80 of our favourite people was very special and we felt all the love that night.
Jackson: The one thing that stood out for me was my brother’s speech. It was extremely poignant and represented a moment in time that was “a changing of the guard”. Myself, my wife, my siblings and their partners are now living and thriving as the next generation whilst also nurturing the future generation of two beautiful kids (and growing)! Aside from this, seeing all of our friends and family from all walks of life eat, drink and party together is a very fond memory that will stay with me.
Meaning of marriage.
Sophie: Honestly, marriage was never high on my agenda, and I think anyone that has separated/divorced parents can relate to that. It was never something we set out to do at a certain time and lifting that pressure really helped form the idea of marriage into something less intimidating and more personal. To me, our marriage was a special way to recognise our relationship, mark an exciting new chapter living overseas together and share a day celebrating with everyone we love.
Jackson: I was slightly different to Sophie as I was very keen to get married young, have kids early and settle down. Part of the reason I think we are so good for each other is that we have influenced each other and moved towards a “happy medium”. The main driver for my proposal was that I was never put under a single moment of pressure from Sophie to get married. Marriage was a way to celebrate our relationship with 81 people who have made a significant impact on our lives and a chance to thank them for making us who we are today.
Wedding soundtrack.
Nothing specific for the ceremony, just the generic song they had. For the reception, we gave our DJ Mark a list of absolute must-haves and some no-nos which he completely respected. Our song list included lots of fun dancing songs from the late 90s and early 00s, and we asked to end on London Calling by The Clash as a fun nod to our pending move overseas.
Funny stories/ near disasters.
Unfortunately, on the morning of the wedding, the hair and makeup artist messaged to say her father had passed away. Gratefully, she helped to find a replacement to cover with short notice. After a nervous 30-minute wait, during which I attempted to call in favours from friends and even prepared to do my own makeup (luckily, I was confident with this prospect and had brought along everything I may need), Lucie was organised to come. She only had just over an hour to get it done by the time she got there, but she was incredible and made me feel very relaxed, not to mention nailing my brief. I was proud that I didn’t freak out and everything worked out well.
Living in Melbourne, you can never predict the weather. We tracked the forecast for a while and as it got closer, we expected to have some rain in the morning before the ceremony. As I sat waiting and getting my makeup done, the rain outside the window kept falling and I was getting nervous. Luckily, the rain stopped as we got to the registry office so we only had to dodge it dashing into the taxi. The rest of the afternoon was very chilly but the excitement, movement and adrenaline kept us going until we escaped to Pellegrini’s for an espresso.
Planning surprises.
There is always going to be some amount of stress and anxiety along the way, but we found it fairly simple and straightforward once we knew what we wanted to do. We started a shared spreadsheet and butchers paper to-do list which helped us organise and prioritise. I was grateful to lock in the photographer and dress six months out which I know can be a challenge.
Another surprising aspect was cost, although we managed to secure suppliers who offered great value without compromising on quality. We were able to balance our priorities and what we needed to have to save in some areas. It was important to know where we wouldn’t compromise and where we could be more conservative.
Words of wisdom.
Do exactly what you want to do and be introspective about what each decision means. Be selfish! It’s no one else’s decision who goes or what happens on your day. It was incredibly empowering and liberating to make the call on each element of our day, and we had the best day we could’ve asked for. And wear in your shoes!!!
For more chic registry office romance, read Chanel & Mark’s real wedding.
SOPHIE & JACKSON’S SUPPLIERS:
Ceremony location: Victorian Marriage Registry
Reception venue: Longsong
Officiant: Keith from Victorian Marriage Registry
Photography: Jessica Abby – We both had priorities when it came to the suppliers for the day, so we divided responsibility and took charge of different ones. For me, the photographer was as important as the dress! I jumped on the search quickly and made queries with photographers I knew or had bookmarked and started getting quotes. Jess was great from the first video call, totally understood our vibe and was very accommodating of our preferences across the day. She was very familiar with doing registry office weddings which was a big plus. The value add of having some prints provided was the cherry on top. Jess was just what we needed on the day: direct and fun, and almost invisible at the reception. She snapped away all night and we barely knew she was there. The final photos were perfect and truly reflected us, our family and friends, and the amazing day and night we had.
Florist: Blooms Rock – For flowers, I spoke to a colleague about her wedding a few months prior and she told me about her florist who was relatively new on the Bellarine Peninsula. She had great rates and beautiful work on her Instagram and my friend had been really pleased with her arrangements. I was hesitant that she may not travel to Melbourne but that wasn’t a problem. I gave her the colour palette as a brief and asked for whatever was seasonal. I didn’t see the flowers until I walked in on the evening and they were beautifully done!
Hair & make-up: Lucie Stauff – As mentioned, my hair and make-up artist was replaced on the morning of the wedding. While this was unfortunate and slightly stress-inducing with a couple of hours to go, Lucie was amazing and helped us both feel relaxed and on track to be on time. She was calm herself and told me everything would be fine and I’d look beautiful! She listened to my brief which was to look like me but better. It was important to feel like myself rather than try anything new. The final look was stunning and looked great in the photos.
The dress: D’Italia and Judith Penak Couture – Getting the dress custom made was the only option as I am particular and knew I’d never find “the one” on a rack. I literally just Googled “custom dressmakers melbourne” and D’Italia was the first to come up with great reviews. I made an inquiry and went into the store with my sister not long after. Shuchi and Jenna were so helpful, and we chose the final design and fabric on the day. They referred me to Judith who was closest to me from their roster of dressmakers, and I started going to see her in June. Judith loved how different the dress was in the black fabric with a long slit up one leg, open asymmetrical back and big white bow on the hip. The design was perfect from the mock design and I was so happy with how it turned out.
Coat: Bride’s own, handed down from my Nana.
Jewellery: Earrings from Swarovski; bracelet vintage from Japan
Shoes: Prada for Sophie; Aquila for Jackson
Rings: Michael Hill
Suits: Angela Nicolaides – Jackson got recommendations from several friends to get his suit made by Angela Nicolaides. He went to her studio with his brother – who he was organising a suit for too – in July, and they both decided on their styles. Jackson’s suit was a very elegant three-piece black suit with a white shirt and black shoes. The vest had a wider lapel which was a detail that Jackson had admired in an inspiration image.
Tie: Peter Jackson
Stationery / Signage: Designed by Sophie herself
Entertainment: Mark Pellegrini (DJ) – For Jackson, finding a good DJ was the most important thing. We’ve been to weddings where the DJ/band hasn’t been collaborative and we wanted to find someone who really understood our vibe and vision. One Friday night out, Jackson loved the music a DJ was playing and asked if he did weddings. He didn’t but passed on the name of Mark who did. From the first call, Mark was completely on board with what we wanted (nostalgic late ’90s/early ’00s music), and Jackson loved what he listened to on his SoundCloud. We booked him immediately. From the second Mark started playing, it was a total vibe! His choice of background/cocktail hour music vs. dancefloor music was perfect.
Honeymoon: Six-week road trip through Canada and USA during fall and watching as many NFL games as possible.
Post-reception cocktails: Juliet
Recovery venue: Milkhead Beer Store
Recovery catering: Oasis
