M I C H A E L & N I C O L E
F R O M T H E B R I D E …
The Meeting…
We met in London in 2006, Mako (Michael) moved into my house and we became best friends. One drunken night he leant over, asked to kiss me and the rest is history. There wasn’t really one particular moment that I we knew it was love. In London living in a big share house we decided to go to Bath for a romantic weekend. Being alone for the first time enjoying each other’s company we knew we had something good.
The Proposal…
It was Friday the 14th of December 2012 and I had finished work and was picking Mako up from the train station on the way home. I was late as I was chatting with some work colleagues. I picked Mako up and as soon as he got in the car Love Is In The Air came on the radio. We got home and were sitting on the couch talking about our days, discussing what we should have for dinner over a couple of beers. Mako suggested we should go to Seans Panaroma, a restaurant at Bondi Beach (where we live). As this is a fine dining restaurant it’s not something you just walk in and sit down, you need a booking. I then said yeah you kind of need a special occasion to go there, also you need to book a table. He then got down on one knee and presented this little box and said, ‘Is this a special occasion? Peanut will you marry me?’ Of course I said yes and we had a booking for later that night.
Wedding Style…
Anyone who knows me knows I love antiques, second hand shops and I’m quite individual when it comes to my style. So when it came to my wedding day I wanted something different and quite unique. We wanted to be near water for both the ceremony and the reception, and we wanted it to be different. As our guests were coming from all over we wanted it to be an experience. We didn’t really have a strict theme or colour, I wanted it to be vintage inspired but still have my own style come through.
Venue…
Both the ceremony and reception were held on Cockatoo Island. The guests boarded a private ferry from the Man o’ War steps behind the Opera House. The ceremony was held in front of a historical house on top of the island called Biloela House. The reception followed below in the Naval Store which is located next to the Island Bar.
The Dress…
I found it hard to find a dress that I loved, I did a lot of research online and also tried on a few dresses from a few different bridal stores, but they just weren’t me. A friend from work mentioned that I should try Anaessia, a bridal shop in the strand, as they use vintage lace and don’t mass produce the dress. I fell in love with a few dresses from Anaessia. The one I went with was ivory, it had 3 parts. Underneath a petty coat then 2 dusty pink tulle skirts, over the top was a high necked lace bodice with a pleated sheer shirt.
Bridesmaids…
I was no bridezilla and wanted the girls to be comfortable on the day. We all decided to go with the colour Navy. Erin and Sarah both picked dresses from Zimmerman and Ashlee found a dress from Amy Taylor.
Groom & Groomsmen…
My husband wears a suit everyday for work so I wanted him to wear a colour which didn’t make him feel like he was going to work. I had a colour in my head of a electric blue although this was hard to find. Doing some online research we found the Suit Shop who custom make suits. The groomsmen wore suits from Oxford in a mid-light grey.
Flowers…
We tried to do a lot of stuff ourselves including the bouquets. I didn’t really care too much about the flowers so we went to the flower markets at Flemington and picked what was in season. We chose ivory roses, babies breath and sliver leaf.
Decorations…
We wanted to keep the decorations quite simple as we needed to set this up ourselves the day before and organise to get it over to the island and back ourselves. On the tables we used old corona buckets which we rusted and filled with flowers from the markets. Then we made a table number and stuck it in each bucket. My mum, Mako’s mum and various friends collected vintage dinner plates, bread and butter plates and cups and saucers which we placed on each table. Our wishing well table had our guest book and also a bird cage for our cards. There was a heritage pigeon hole wall where we collected photos of our friends and families weddings and mismatched photo frames and hung them with ribbon.
On the Menu…
We had a sit down meal, with canapés to begin. We wanted to have a banquet style menu per table. We found it really hard to find a caterer that would provide that service and not deep fry the food. We came across Forte Catering who provided a wide range of menu options and went beyond just providing the food.
Canapés
Shredded chilli pork, kaffir lime & caramelised pineapple
Soft floured pancakes w bbq duck, cucumber & shallots
Aranicini with Chorizo & parsley
Sides
Roquette & parmesan salad w white balsamic dressing
Rosemary & garlic roasted chat potatoes
Steamed green beans w chilli & lemon
Mains
Confit Atlantic salmon w ginger & apple salad, mustard seed soy dressing & bonito
Corn-fed chicken ballotine, sage & chestnut stuffing, chargrilled lemons & thyme jus
Smoked sea-salt crusted lamb loin, green olive & heirloom tomato tapas, asparagus & chargrilled lemons
Wedding Favour…
My friend Aimee and Emily made 2 different types of chutneys one Mango and the other tomato and we added the name tags to these instead of place settings.
Photography…
We chose Chris Bennetts as a photographer. We had previously seen his work and know he is really good at getting candid and natural photos rather than posing and this is why we love all of our photos!
Honeymoon…
We stayed at the Grand Quay Pullmans Hotel circular quay which is where us girls got ready earlier that day. We haven’t had our honeymoon yet due to other weddings after ours. We are planning on going in April to LA and Mexico.
Soundtrack…
I walked down the aisle to the Sigur Ros song Hoppipolla. For the signing of the marriage certificate we played You’re My Best Friend by Queen and for the announcing we played David Bowie – Let’s Dance. Our first dance song was Love Is In The Air.
The Future…
Keep having fun, have some cool offspring and grow old together.
Photography Chris Bennetts Ceremony + Reception Venue Cockatoo Island Bride’s Dress Anaessia Bridesmaids’ Dresses Zimmerman + Amy Taylor Groom’s Suit The Suit Shop Groomsmen Suits Oxford Catering Forte Catering Cake Kaysha & Co
MW x