J E N N A + A N T H O N Y
Jenna and Anthony’s elegant wedding was a traditional church ceremony at the iconic St Mary’s Cathedral followed by a modern and luxurious reception at Sergeant’s Mess. The couple’s day was timeless and sophisticated with a colour scheme of white, ivory and a touch of silver!
F R O M T H E B R I D E
We first met…
We met back in 2008 at a local nightclub.
We knew it was love…
We were both quite young at the time, and I just remember how well we fit into each other’s lives. We didn’t play any “games” like some people do when they first start dating – we felt comfortable from the outset, and I knew it was ‘love’.
The proposal…
It was in 2015, around the time of our 7 year anniversary. To celebrate our anniversary we went to dinner at Rockpool on Bridge Street, Sydney. We had the degustation menu and about three-quarters of the way through the menu, just before dessert, Anthony proposed at the restaurant. The engagement ring Anthony had bought me was way too big, so I put it in my wallet. I was driving that night, and we stopped on the way home – my wallet was on my lap, and when I got out of the car it must have fallen on the ground. We didn’t realise until we got home, about an hour later. We eventually found it, luckily! There were tyre marks across my wallet and my ring was bent out of shape because cars must have driven over my wallet!
T H E W E D D I N G
Our dream wedding…
We always wanted a church wedding, as we were both raised Catholic, and we wanted to move away from our local area of the Sutherland Shire so the obvious choice for us was to have our ceremony at St Mary’s Cathedral. Saying that we wanted our reception to be more modern as that is more so our common taste – I would describe our reception styling as clean, crisp, modern and luxurious. We also wanted our colour theme to be primarily white / ivory, with a hint of silver.
Ceremony location…
St Mary’s Cathedral
Reception venue…
Sergeants’ Mess
Pre-wedding celebrations…
We had an engagement party back in September 2015. Otherwise, I had a hens and kitchen tea leading up to the wedding, and Anthony had a bucks party.
The bridal party…
I had four bridesmaids (my sister, Anthony’s two sisters, and my best friend). Anthony also had four groomsmen (his four closest friends).
The bridesmaids wore…
My bridesmaids wore fitted ivory dresses, which became looser around the bottom and flowed into a floor length gown with a train.
The groomsmen wore…
Our groomsmen wore grey suits (vest included), white shirts, navy tie, navy pocket square, navy cufflinks, and black dress shoes and belt.
The groom wore…
Anthony wore a dark navy suit (vest included), white shirt, grey tie, grey pocket square, grey Oroton cufflinks, and brown dress shoes and belt.
The dress…
The bodice of my wedding gown was made from silver beaded lace – it had a sweetheart neckline, but with straps, and a keyhole back. The front of the bodice had the beaded lace with white satin behind it but the rest of the bodice had only the beaded lace (without the white satin underneath) so my skin was visible through the lace. The underskirt of my dress was made from white satin, and it had a stream of silver crystals from the bottom of the bodice to the end of the 1 metre train. There was then an organza overlay with at least a 2 metre train. I designed my own dress based on photos I found as inspiration – a mix of Kate Middleton’s wedding dress, with a slightly younger, more summery vibe (given we were married in the height of summer). I approached a local dressmaker to make my dress for me.
Wedding flowers…
We all had white/ivory flowers, and instead of greenery, we had dusty miller (a slightly silverish leaf) to keep with our colour theme. Some flowers in my bouquet had a slightly pink tinge to stand out from the other bouquets and they were larger as well. The flowers in our bouquets were whatever was in season at the time.
Our photographer…
Our photographer was Two Peaches. We chose this particular photographer as they provided significant attention to detail in their photos – in our initial meetings, we talked about everything that we should consider on our wedding day to make our photos special and the best they could be, including the “good” hotel rooms for photographs whilst getting ready, the size and colour of my bridal bouquet compared to my bridesmaids and so on. We love our wedding photos as they are a mix of candid and posed shots. The moments captured are incredible, and the different ideas our photographer had for the more structured photos were very unique.
Reception décor…
We kept with our primarily white/ivory theme, with a hint of silver, for the reception venue. On the bridal table, we had flowers along the entire length of the table with tea light candles placed around the flowers for the full length of the table. At each end of the table, we had stem vases with floating candles.
On each of the guest tables we had a tall vase with extra-large bouquets of flowers, and in the length of the tall vase, we had a white orchard. There were about 4 floating candles in stem vases at different heights around the large vase, and about a further approximately 5 tealight candles on each table.
We folded our napkins and inserted in the fold the guest’s menu, which also included the guest’s name at the top in lieu of a place card (this was printed on pearl coloured paper with a sparkly silver border). Instead of wedding favours, we donated to charity, and therefore we had a further card explaining our donation, and a purple wristband from the Leukaemia Foundation for our guests to wear on the night. The donation card and wristband were attached to the folded napkin with a silver and white ribbon.
We had flowers in mason jars and candles on the outside tables of the venue, and in the bathrooms. We also had baubles hanging from the ceiling with tealight candles inside, which were placed along the length of the dancefloor (about 5 metres either side).
At the entrance of the reception, we had a mirror welcome sign, and once the guests walked in there was placed a mirror seating chart. In the foyer area, we set up a table with a wishing well (handmade) and placed a further vase of flowers and candles around that table with some framed photos of Anthony and me from our engagement photo shoot. We also had a fingerprint tree on a table next to the wishing well for guests to stamp their fingerprint (it was our form of a guestbook).
We had a whisky and cigar bar setup on the balcony of the venue for guests to enjoy from 9:30pm onwards. We also had projectors setup in the main dinner room for photos to appear through the night posted by guests to the app Wedpics.
Frances Dunn Florist did the flowers, Bubbly Events did our decorations, and Groomsmen (also Pastry Chef) Tim Downy made our cake.
On the menu…
We had primarily a sit down meal. Guests enjoyed five different types of canapés upon entry. Then for the sit-down meal, guests started with sourdough baguette, olive oil and balsamic and marinated green and black kalamata olives. For entrée (alternate serve) guests had either Kingfish ceviche, cucumber soup with a herb salad; or slow roast pork belly, apple butter & shaved brussel sprout salad.
For Main Course (which guests could choose) was either of the following:
- Pan fried barramundi fillet, lemon and herb risotto, sweet pea sauce & pickled lemon
- Sage & Parmesan crust chicken breast, roast pumpkin puree, celery, pine nut & currant
- Roast beef sirloin, chimichurri butter, beetroot & sauté potatoes
For Dessert we had a selection of desserts served as canapés as follows:
- Lemon Meringue Tarts
- Chocolate Truffles
- Strawberry, Mascarpone and Balsamic tarts
- Mini gelato cones
- Crème Caramel
- Wedding cake served as petit four portions
Bomboniere…
We donated to the Leukaemia foundation in lieu of bomboniere. In return our guests received a wristband from the Leukaemia Foundation.
Memorable moments…
For me, the most memorable moment was when I walked into the church to see Anthony and our guests – it was such an overwhelming feeling. Otherwise, our speeches were beautiful, they definitely had some of us crying, or close to tears.
Wedding soundtrack…
For the ceremony (all played on organ):
Pre-service: Canon in D
Bridesmaid Entrance: Amazing Grace played on organ, no singing
Bridal Entrance: Amazing Grace, singing starts
Signing of the Register: Eagle’s Wings
Recessional: Trumpet Voluntary
Our first dance song was Labrinth and Emeli Sandé’s Beneath Your Beautiful.
M A R R I E D L I F E
The honeymoon…
We went to The Maldives and Singapore – for approximately one week each.
Future plans…
We hope to have children, and have moved into a house in our local area of the Sutherland Shire. We both enjoy our careers so hopefully we will have the opportunity to continue working, but of course, juggling this with any children we do have so we can be there for them as well!
In 40 years we hope to…
Have undertaken some more travelling, continued to work on our careers and build our family.
W E D D I N G W I S D O M
The engagement…
We had a long engagement (almost 2 years) – that was probably our best decision as we could enjoy that special time, and also take our time with organising our wedding.
Planning…
Once you find a supplier that you like – stick with them! Don’t shop around too much or you will confuse yourself.
On the day…
Take it all in! Enjoy the morning when you are getting ready as once you leave for the ceremony it is non-stop the rest of the day.
Photographer & Videographer: Two Peaches / Flowers: Frances Dunn Florist / Styling: Bubbly Events / Wedding Dress: Jenny Bernie, Dressmaker / Bride’s Shoes: Jimmy Choo / Bride’s Hairclip: DressSense (Windsor Bridal Jewellery) / Bridesmaid Dress: Zsa Zsa Boutique (J’adore) / Groomsmen suits, ties and pocket squares: Ferrari Formalwear / Groomsmen Shoes: Julius Marlow from David Jones / Groomsmen Cufflinks: Oroton and Ron Bennett / Makeup: Danielle Loughnan / Hair: Rebecca Vanderweide of Hair Obsession and Rochelle Appleyard of Gold Society / Bomboniere: The Leukaemia Foundation / Bride’s Wedding Ring: Hatzi Jewellers / Groom’s Wedding Ring: Parade Jewellers / Bridal Party Transport: HF Wedding Cars / Guest Transport: Captain Cook Cruises and Coach Charter Specialist / Church: St Mary’s Cathedral / Reception Venue: Sergeants’ Mess / Guestbook: The Fingerprint Tree / Hotels: The Langham and Pier One