R H O N D A + C H R I S T O P H E R
Chris and Rhonda kept things classic yet timeless in their wedding styling, so as not to detract from their spectacular venues. Dressed in an elegant custom-made Jaton Couture gown, Rhonda was an absolutely stunning bride. Simon from Untitled Images was on hand to capture the magic of the day.
F R O M T H E B R I D E
How we met…
May 2010 I had started my first job (at 19 years old) at Chris’s family business, we did not speak for the first six months – I think both playing hard to get.
We knew it was love…
From our first kiss.
The engagement…
Chris surprised me with tickets to my favourite place, New York City, on my birthday May 2014. A couple of weeks later in New York, Chris proposed overlooking Central Park and the whole city. I had never seen him so nervous, it was the most amazing morning, we couldn’t wait to share the news with everyone back home.
T H E W E D D I N G
Our dream wedding…
Chris and I have such similar taste. We both wanted a timeless classic wedding yet slightly modern. Our venue was so spectacular that we wanted to keep the styling colours very neutral, mostly white and gold.
The photographer…
We had seen Simon’s work with our stylist Diane Khoury and instantly fell in love! He was so much fun on the day and made us all feel so relaxed. Everything was so natural, I don’t recall ever posing that day. Simon just took the most natural shots without any of us even noticing. The photos are so natural, we love love love the black and white shots and so many of the shots we had no idea he even caught!
The ceremony…
Scots’ Church, Melbourne, right across the road from our reception venue.
The reception…
Plaza Ballroom, Regent Theatre. Chris and I had attended an event prior to our wedding at the venue and from that moment we knew we someday wanted to get married there.
Pre-wedding celebrations…
My maid of honour and bridesmaid held a beautiful bridal shower at The Willows in Melbourne for me with only close guests and of course a hens and bucks night.
The bridal party…
We kept our bridal party quite intimate, I had my sister as my maid of honour and my cousin as my bridesmaid. Chris had his cousin as his best man and his brother as his groomsman. Christopher’s adorable niece and nephew were our flower girl page boy.
My bridesmaids had custom made gowns made by the amazing Elly Sofocli. I wanted the girls in an ivory silk. I made sure the girls also felt comfortable. They both had a different design. Our groomsmen wore a black tux with matching silk Dolce and Gabbana ivory bow ties to match the girls.
The gown…
I always knew I wanted sleeves for my gown no matter what season it was. Luckily the weather turned out to be perfect not too hot or cold. There was no one else I wanted to make my gown other than Jaton Couture. The moment I met the boys it was like they read my mind! I wanted a timeless dress with intricate detailed lace, the boys had such amazing vision for me. I told them what I liked and didn’t like and then left it to them. I fell in love at my final fitting. I didn’t want to take the dress off!
The flowers…
I really wanted smaller bouquet as the dress was so detailed. We used only lisianthus and baby’s breathe for my bouquet. The girls had a mixture of spray roses, lisianthus, hydrangea, baby’s breathe and Singapore orchid.
Reception styling…
We were lucky enough to have Diane Khoury planning and styling our wedding. Our centrepieces were kept white with touches of green. We used mainly hydrangeas, spray roses, Singapore orchids, lisianthus, ivy berry and a mixture of different roses. We had amazing glass plates for all the guests with gold rimming. We made sure there were heaps of candles on the tables, it looked amazing at the venue. We had a gold bar also put in to match the theme. Our invitations had a C and R crest, which we used on all our menus, name tags and on the cake. We also had gold tiffany chairs for all our guests. An amazing white draping curtain near the entrance was closed when our guests arrived and then opened once our guests entered for a big reveal.
The food…
We offered our guests two options for each course. We had a caramelised pork belly seared with scallops for the entrée and a ravioli of French chèvre and basil pesto with roasted peppers for the second option. For the main we had beef tenderloin with celeriac cream and sautéed rainbow chard-glazed shallots and red wine. For our second option we had blue eye cod with coconut and turmeric broth. We also had sides of oven chat potatoes and a panzanella salad. For dessert we offered an amazing fig and burnt caramel mousse with caramelised pistachios, sugared figs and vanilla Persian fairy floss. The second option was lemon and yuzu tart with citrus jelly, cinnamon spiced almond crumb with white chocolate and of course the wedding cake.
The bomboniere…
Our guests all received beautiful soy candles. They were packaged in white boxes with thank you tags and a white ribbon.
Memorable moments…
The whole day! It is such an amazing and emotional day. We were so happy to celebrate with all our family and friends. Everyone we loved in one room, we enjoyed every moment of it.
The wedding night…
We stayed at Crown Towers for a couple of nights after the wedding.
A F T E R T H E W E D D I N G
The honeymoon…
We both wanted to wait for the summer in Europe to go on our honeymoon. We’ve only just got back, we had an amazing six weeks in Europe and Lebanon.
Future plans…
Hopefully have kids in the near future, we’d like to enjoy married life together before that though.
Read more about this beautiful wedding in Sydney Wedding Magazine issue 26, due out November 2016.
Photographer Simon Gorges / Bride’s Dress Jaton Couture / Bridesmaids’ Dresses Elly Sofocli Couture / Groom & Groomsmen’s Suits Dolce and Gabbana Reception Location Plaza Ballroom – Regent Theatre Melbourne / Ceremony Location Scots’ Church, Melbourne / Flowers Flowers by Natalie / Cake Jessicakes / Wedding Planner/Stylist Diane Khoury / Décor Diane Khoury