When your venue is as gorgeous as Curzon Hall, your flowers from Mr Cook are absolutely breathtaking, every detail you dreamed up went off without a hitch thanks to The Bridal Collective AND you have impeccable style like this Bride – you are one lucky lady. Seriously lucky. Not to mention this lovely lady also got to say I do to her adorable hubby, which probably makes her feel like the luckiest lady in all the land. Justin Aaron Photography captured every gorgeous moment of this picture perfect day, and it’s all waiting for you right here.
From the Bride…For me as a stylist it was very important to kick up my heels on my wedding day and not be fussing over the finer details. With that in mind I booked the stunning Curzon Hall. A venue with chandeliers to die for and vintage trimmings for days. It was the kind of space that I could just enjoy untouched and continually find new things to explore. Our wedding was definitely a relaxed family affair, that just happened to take place amongst this stunning backdrop.
The story of how I came across the venue still makes me giggle. Two years prior my then boyfriend had finished his first day of filming ‘Four Weddings Australia’ and came home talking about how beautiful his shoot location had been. By the end of the week he had brought me home a stone from their garden that read ‘Friendship’ (apparently he couldn’t find one with ‘love’ on it, hehe). This minor act of theft combined with the fact that he had accidentally scratched their floorboards with his camera meant that he wasn’t keen on taking me there any time soon.
Two years on we returned to the venue newly engaged, purely so I could see what all of the fuss was about. Immediately I was taken back by the grandeur of the front facade, however it was the quaint Enchanted Garden that summed up everthing I was after in a wedding. A small affair, with close family, fresh air and beautiful gardens. Our wedding was a sunny Spring affair during the day that turned in to a formal vintage dinner by night. I had chosen ‘Aubergine’ as the bridesmaids colour purely after seeing how beautiful the girls looked in darker colours. I’m a pastel pink kind of girl but when something just works you should always go with it. I then based my bridal bouquet around this palette and opted for something loosely structured to reflect the relaxed nature of the garden ceremony. The list of flowers in there is endless! Mr Cook had complete creative control over the textures and shapes once we had decided on the colour scheme.
Although as a stylist I usually like to meticulously plan all of my accessories to match there were a lot of family touches that I openly embraced and was so lucky to have experienced. For example, my mother presented me with her mothers locket with her initials still engraved, the day before the wedding. It has been in the family before my mother was born and having never met my maternal grandmother it was something that I treasured and thought of throughout the day. My paternal grandmother had also given me her antique watch which amazingly complimented the locket, and just like that I threw all of my planned bridal jewellery out of the way. My mother in law also made our cake which was a beautiful gift and gesture. In place of the ‘throwing of the bouquet’ I presented mine to the grooms Mother as a small thank you for creating the cake.
We had our family in mind for the bomboniere. Choosing to donate funds to breast cancer research in honour of two family members who have battled the desease in the past. Guests were also given ‘pink ribbon’ cookies to signify this. Our photographer really captured the emotions and feel of the day candidly which was a style of photography we actively sought out.
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Photography: Justin Aaron Photography | Floral Design: Mr Cook | Event Design + Planning: The Bridal Collective | Civil Celebrant: Lillian Lyon | Ceremony Location: The ‘Enchanted Garden’ at Curzon Hall | Reception Location: The ‘Agincourt Room’ at Curzon Hall | String Quartet: Carinya Strings | Hair + Makeup: Abbey Love | Invitations: Alexandra Swords | Bag: Olga Berg | Bridal Gown: Halo Designs | Shoes: Diana Ferrari | Veil: Belles and Beaux Newcastle | Bridal Earrings: Swarovski (a gift from the groom) | Reception Dress: Rachel Gilbert | Reception Earrings: Samantha Wills | Necklace + Earrings: Family heirlooms from both Grandmothers | Bridal Nail Art: Hello Darling | Bridesmaids Dresses: Mori Lee | Bridesmaids Earrings: Lovisa | Bridesmaids Shoes: Betts | Grooms + Groomsmen Suits: Spurling Bondi | Cake: Grooms Mother | Bomboniere (pink ribbon cookies): The HoneyBread Factory