C E R I S E & M A T T H E W
F R O M T H E B R I D E …
The Meeting…
We met during a night out. I was out with some friends and I saw Matt across the bar talking about me (in hindsight he was obviously trying to get my attention). At the time however, from my viewpoint, it looked like he was paying out on me, so being a fiery Chilean girl, I approached him angrily… and the rest is history….
The Proposal…
It was a hot summer’s night in February 2014 and Matt had told me he was working late, so I planned to have dinner with my Mum.
When I arrived at Mum’s house she had a new dress and pair of shoes waiting for me and asked me to put it on and drive back home – which was the oddest thing she has ever said to me, so I knew straight away something was going on.
I arrived back at my apartment and the place was covered in rose petals, candles and framed photos of Matthew and I. A candlelit pathway led out to my balcony where Matthew was standing, once I came outside he proceeded to get down on one knee and propose. It was personal, heartfelt and perfect.
Wedding Style…
From the outset I wanted our wedding to be a balance of nautical styling intertwined with touches of modern femininity.
Crisp white décor was chosen, with an abundance of white flowers and modern furniture for both the ceremony and reception. The crisp white was complemented by the floor to ceiling windows which looked out to the blue water of the bay. I sourced white maritime ornaments which were dispersed throughout the venue and also incorporated nautical stripes on our signage.
I was careful to make sure the nautical elements weren’t too bold, and were balanced with white features and feminine floral lines.
The Dress…
I’ve heard a few brides say that they fell for the first dress they tried on, and I was no exception! It was a champagne coloured, romantic ballgown with ruffled layers of organza and a sweetheart neckline bodice with lace – it very much had a princess feel to it.
I also chose a second wedding dress so that I could feel more comfortable and be able to dance freely later at the reception. The second dress was a lace peplum gown – it was a huge surprise to Matt and our guests when I came out for our wedding dance in a different wedding dress.
Bridesmaids Dresses…
Nude coloured Bariano V neck full length dresses. I had always intended for my bridesmaids to wear white, but when I saw the girls in this dress I fell in love with it, and the colour matched my ceremony dress perfectly.
Flowers…
I didn’t want the bouquets to look too structured; I adore loose, natural looking bouquets with lots of foliage. The florist created a gorgeous, natural, bouquet with white and blush peonies, David Austin roses, and loose trailing foliage such as jasmine, veronicas and peppercorn.
For the bridesmaids I wanted something loose and natural as well, the florist used beautiful unstructured posies of Gyp (Babies Breath) with a touch of white veronica.
Decorations…
Crisp white styling dominated both my ceremony and reception, keeping a modern minimalist feel, with nautical touches such as maritime ornaments and nautical stripes, and dashes of femininity.
For the ceremony White LOVE letters dressed the decking area, which was set off by the contrast of the blue sea behind them. We also chose white ceremony chairs and white carpet for the aisle. At the end of the aisle we had two large urns with flowers which added that feminine feel. It was a very clean and striking look.
For the reception we had three long banquet tables as we wanted the big impact that long banquet tables can give. My mother and I sourced nautical ornaments through Ivory House and we spread these throughout our table and furniture settings. From the time I got engaged I knew I wanted flowers to be in abundance at my wedding, so we had floral table runners full of foliage and white flowers running down each of the long tables – it was fantastic and looked like a mass of flowers.
We were conscious that our venue was quite an open space, and so to make it feel warmer we hired white cocktail tables and ottomans and placed them around the dance floor and also had a white styled dessert bar.
Lanterns were scattered throughout the whole venue, and white fairy lights on the deck were switched on as the sun went down. Light was extremely important to me as I felt it complemented the venue beautifully.
I wanted our wedding to have personal touches and in order to achieve this we had books printed with photos of Matthew and I from our childhood and the six years we’ve been together which we placed on the cocktail tables, along with an Instagram hashtag, photo game cards and we hired a photobooth which everyone loved!
On the Menu…
We had a cocktail menu straight after the ceremony and then a three course sit down dinner. We were very lucky as the Port Melbourne Yacht Club is managed by Peter Rowland Catering, so our food choices were endless.
Cocktail food:
I am half Chilean so two of the canapes I chose were Chilean Empanadas and Chilean Ceviche to give guests a taste of our delicious food, as well as Peter Rowland Catering’s famous poached chicken, herb mayonnaise sandwiches.
Entrée:
Smoked Chicken salad with shaved asparagus, pickled shallot, rocket and pine nut crisp, pear cider dressing.
Alternate meals for the main:
Salmon fillet, “bubble n squeak”, green pea puree, salmon pearls, lemon and chervil butter sauce
Porterhouse steak, celeriac puree, kipfler fondant potato, malted shallot cheeks, Bordelaise jus.
Dessert:
We served our wedding cake for dessert with king island cream and berry coulis, as well as a dessert bar where guests had a selection of cakes, including Chilean Traditional Milhojas (millefeuille), sponge la rica, coconut and lemon sponge cake, chocolate strawberries, profiterole towers, macarons and cupcakes.
Wedding Bomboniere…
I love social media, so we had a hashtag for guests to post their own personal photos of the wedding on social media, and we printed the hashtag and our wedding date on Gingerbread heart cookies which were baked by the Little Malvern Cake Company.
Memorable Moments…
My younger sister is a ballroom dance teacher, so she choreographed our wedding dance which we’d been practicing for a few months prior to the wedding. To finally show our family and friends the dance was both scary and rewarding! It was so much fun performing with my husband for our loved ones.
Wedding Photography…
My sister found Ateia Photography through wedding forums, they had outstanding recommendations. When Matthew and I met the photographer, Ramy, he was so personable, professional and we loved the photos in his portfolio.
The wedding day was so much fun and we felt so much love between Matt and I as well as love from our guests – all of the emotions we felt throughout the day are perfectly captured in our photos.
After months of planning, the event came together beautifully and the venue looked sensational, even the weather was perfect, so I’m so happy that Ateia Photography really did capture the finer details from the table settings through to the beautifully decorated decking area.
Wedding Music…
For our ceremony we specifically chose Australian music, in celebration of mine and Matt’s heritage. I was also extremely lucky as my twin sister and uncle are amazing musicians, so I walked down the aisle to my twin sister singing Even When I’m Sleeping by Leonardos Bride – it was such a special moment. Then for our documentation signing my uncle sung Private Universe by Crowded House.
Our reception entrance song was I Believe in a Thing Called Love by the Darkness and our wedding dance was It must be love by Madness.
Honeymoon…
We spent three weeks in Port Vila, Vanuatu for our honeymoon which fell across Christmas and New Years Eve. It was magical spending our first Christmas as a married couple on a beautiful tropical island with the local children singing carols.
Photography Ateia Photography (Images 2-4 from top taken by Melissa Verberne Images) Ceremony + Reception Venue Port Melbourne Yacht Club (Peter Rowland Catering) Bride’s Dresses Allure Bridals from Hills in Hollywood Armadale Bridesmaids’ Dresses Bariano Groomsmen Topman Flowers Flos Florum Furniture Hire CF Hire LOVE Letters Love Headquarters Nautical Decor Ivory House Wedding Cake + Cookie Bomboniere Little Malvern Cake Company Dessert Bar Eternal Events & Co.
MW x