N A T A L I E + T H O M A S
Too busy taking in the view on Koh Samui Island, Natalie didn’t realise her boyfriend (at the time) Thomas was down on bended knee behind her. The couple were married in the quaint Saint Peter Chanel chapel in Hunters Hill and later celebrated in luxe style at Doltone House, Darling Island Wharf.
F R O M T H E B R I D E
How we met…
I danced with Tom’s sister for many years and Amanda and I were best friends. Our families were also close friends from dancing too. I didn’t really know Tom because he was her older brother and did his own thing but on my 21st birthday we spent some time together and it all started from there.
We knew it was love…
When we became the best of friends and did everything together and wanted the best for each other.
Our engagement…
16th April 2015, in Koh Samui. We rode around the Island and Tom found this lookout on top of this giant rock. I was too busy taking photos on my phone and when I turned around he was on his knee. Wasn’t expecting it at all. I was in shock.
T H E W E D D I N G
Our dream wedding…
I wanted a modern look and romantic feel to my wedding. I wanted to be creative and different to make my wedding one of kind. I went with really neutral colours to achieve that modern look. Our colours were black, white and grey. I chose these colours to match in with our room at Doltone House – Darling Island Wharf. We had a lot of candles in clear baubles hanging from the roof and on each table that created a romantic feel. We also went with orchids and long stems as our centre pieces to be a little different and used the roof feature to hang white wisteria to go with our look and feel.
The ceremony…
St Peter Chanel, Woolwich.
Our reception…
Doltone House, Darling Island Wharf.
Pre-wedding celebrations…
I had a Hens Party and a Bridal Shower. My Hens party was school themed as I am school teacher and pink was the colour theme for my bridal shower. My husband actually had two bucks parties. One in Thailand and one here in Sydney.
The bridal party…
We had four bridesmaids. My sister was my Maid-of-Honour, my sister-in-law and two cousins were my bridesmaids. We had four groomsmen and one junior groomsmen. The best man was Tom’s brother. My brother, Tom’s good friend and my cousin’s husband, who Tom is close to, were the groomsmen. The junior groomsmen was my nephew. We also had a page boy and a flower girl. The bridesmaids wore long grey Jadore dresses that were purchased from Windsor and Lux. The groomsmen wore black tuxedos that were tailor made from Canady Tailor House in Phuket.
The groom…
Tom also wore a black tuxedo but wore a bowtie to be a little different to the groomsmen.
The gown…
I had a mermaid style dress with a very detailed bodice. It was designed and made by Suzanna Blazevic. I really liked dresses with detailing without it being too blingy and over the top, so that’s why I went with contouring. It was just perfect!!
Our photographer…
We used Inlighten Photography. We chose Inlighten because we liked the natural feel of their photos and Dean and his team were really friendly and made sure all our needs were met. On the day Dean made sure everything ran smoothly and was so fun to be around. I love the locations we went to and that our photos don’t look staged at all.
The bouquets…
I really wanted white flowers. I didn’t want them to look yellow or cream in the photos so I stuck with roses and some other flowers that kind of looked like peonies (I really wanted peonies but they were not in season at the time).
The reception styling…
Anna Wang styled our venue and I loved it. We had white wisteria hanging from the roof and a large arrangement of white flowers and greenery across the bridal table. On the tables we had large clear tall vases with orchids that had long stems. Clear baubles hung from the stems with candles in them. The tablecloths were white and the chairs were black. The wooden place names we had were silver to tie in with our colour scheme.
Our flowers, decorations and cake vendors…
Flowers for church and bouquets were from Floral Artistic Designs, Castle Hill; the I Do sign was from The Flowerwall Sydney; our flowers for the venue were from Anna Wang. There were a combination real and fake flowers. Seating plan sign ABF Signs, Penrith; the cake was made by Cake Studio; and the cake projection as by Karl Blake, Artopics.
The menu…
We had a sit down menu including:
Entrée – Sweet Pea Risotta and Sauteed Prawns
Main – Chicken and proscuitto & Beef Pommes-Anna
Desserts – Crème Brulee and Chocolate Fondant
Our bomboniere…
Magnetic Shots took photos of the guests during the night and guests were able to take a few home with them. When we go to our family and friends’ houses we see these magnets on their fridge. Everyone loved them and it is something that they can remember from our night. Rather than having place cards we had small wooden names made from Molossi. We spray painted them silver.
Memorable moments…
Our cake just blew everyone away. Something you have never seen before. We also left by boat instead of a car as there was a wharf just in front of our reception.
Our wedding soundtrack…
Bridesmaids entrance song – Thousand Years
Brides entrance song – Forest Gump theme song
Signing of the register – Micheal Buble, Everything
Communion song – Alleluia
Exit song- Beyonce – Love on top
All music at the church was instrumental. We had a cello player and a violin play from Something Borrowed.
Groom’s Parents Entrance Song – Joe Cocker, You Can Leave Your Hat On
Brides Parents Entrance Song- Micheal Buble, Sway
Bridesmaids Entrance Song – Beyonce, Run the World
Groomsmen Entrance Song – Jay-Z/Kanye West, Niggas in Paris
Flower girl/Page boy and Junior Groomsmen – Bruno Mars, Uptown Funk
Bride and Groom entrance song – Calvin Harris, Feel So Close
First Dance- Bruno Mars – Rest of my Life
Father Daughter Dance – Daddy’s Angel
M A R R I E D L I F E
Our honeymoon…
Niagara Falls, New York, Miami, Mexico and Las Vegas.
Our future plans…
Hopefully start a family and just enjoy life as a married couple.
In 40 years we hope to…
Happily married and healthy and have two happy and healthy children too.
Words of wisdom…
Tips on how to…
Enjoy the engagement?
You don’t need to start planning straight away, speak to your fiancé and work out your budget and what you both want for your special day.
Plan…
It may seem overwhelming at times and quite stressful but prioritise things and just work your way through that to do list. Everything doesn’t need to be done all at once. Get your bridal party involved as much as you can to help you out. Make sure you shop around and compare prices as you can save quite a lot if you have time to research. And most importantly HAVE FUN with it all!! It’s such an exciting time of your life and you only get to do it once….
Enjoy the wedding day…
Don’t stress over the little things and just enjoy every minute of it as it goes really fast.
Photography: Inlighten Photography / Videography: Instyle Video Productions / Hair: Dabarko / Makeup: Melissa Sassine / Gown: Suzanna Blazevic Couture / Bridesmaids Dresses: Windsor and Lux / Flower Girl Dress: Little Bambini And Friends, Merrylands / Groom, Groomsmen and Page Boy Suits: Canady Tailor House, Phuket / Celebrant: Father Kevin Bates / Ceremony Music: Something Borrowed /Wedding Bands: Affinity Diamonds / Reception Venue: Doltone House / Reception Styling: Anna Wang / Flowers for church and bouquets: Floral Artistic Designs / I Do Sign: The Flower Wall Sydney / Reception music: Suite Az / Cake: The Cake Studio / Cake Projection Artopics / Seating plan sign and name on shoes: ABF Signs Penrith / Bomboniere: Magnetic Shots and Molossi / Invitations: Artopics / Printing: Jay’s Printing Services