If I could pack up my two boys and move right into these photos I would. The wedding is so dreamy I could really, really spend the rest of my days sitting in this beautiful sunshine, eating that delish cake, and celebrating with the gorgeous couple. Studio Impressions Studio has thoroughly convinced me this is my happy place.
From the beautiful bride… I would probably describe our wedding style as simple but romantic and elegant, with little vintage touches. Rey and I wanted to have a down-to-earth wedding that’s intimate and relaxing, while still having that classic, elegant feel to it. The important things for us was to get married and honour our Christian faith, and just hang out and spend the day with our most special people in the world.
Our Christian faith is very important for us, so it was such a special privilege to be able to honour God through a holy matrimony service where we could reflect on what our wedding means and thank him for his amazing love for us and our families.
We absolutely loved the part where we honoured our parents. We had a moment during the ceremony where we said a few words to our parents – how much we loved and appreciated them – and it was such an emotional moment for Rey and I and our parents. We never really got the chance to really say (and publicly say) how great and loving our parents were, that we appreciated all the sacrifices that they’ve done for us, and that they were perfect. It was such a beautiful moment.
We loved that we could enjoy practically two weeks of celebration. A lot of our family members came earlier to help prepare for the wedding and they stayed for a couple of days after the wedding. So it felt like a mini holiday! It was incredibly wonderful to spend time with them and to see them having a great time. We were very thankful that our families got along very well and it was just awesome that we could do wedding stuff and lots of things together.
All these things really reminded us of what were important for us and what was our wedding is all about: Our faith, our family, and our friends.
I didn’t expect Rey to have such a beautiful vow! A couple of days before the wedding, he mentioned that he hadn’t prepared his vow and would just do a nice short and simple vow. So I didn’t expect that he’d put a lot of thoughts into his vow. His vow was beautiful and his words really moved me.
I didn’t expect that I would cry so much. I was thinking I would cry a bit because of certain expected moments during the day (and mind you, it would be one of those gorgeous cries – just few tears that I could graciously wipe away from my face). But, nope, that didn’t happen. Instead, I was bawling my eyes out and broke into such an ugly cry with awkward sounds, snots and all that.
The top things that made our wedding day special were:
1. Rey. I’m very grateful for such an amazing fiancé. Rey was very supportive and loving during our wedding planning phase. Although he said up front that he wasn’t very good in event organising and handling wedding stress, he really did his best to love and support me and gave me awesome feedback about our choices.
2. Our family and close friends. We didn’t really see our day to be just all about us. We see our wedding as a celebration of our friendships and family as well – how much they mean for us. We felt very special to have such beautiful people who shine bright lights into our worlds. So, we see it as a very special thing for us to be able to share our happiness with everyone who came to our wedding. We ended up with 48 people and it was absolutely amazing to be able to talk to everyone, laugh, cry, and experience the day together.
3. Great vendors. We were very happy with our choices of vendors and they really made the day special. I wasn’t worried about anything and could thoroughly enjoy the day! Cathy (our venue manager) was fantastic! She made it very easy for us to plan the logistics of the day and she was just such a genuinely beautiful person. She looked after us and our guests very well. Aurelie (our photographer) was beautiful and she’s so much fun. It was so easy to talk to her and she really listened to us. All of us felt comfortable around her which means our emotions were captured naturally on the photos. Gabe was such a great helper to Aurelie and often got down and dirty to take photos from different angles (e.g., down the bushes or the creek haha). We loved how comfortable we were around them and our families told us how lovely they were and that they made them feel comfortable as well. They’re so nice and friendly to our guests and I loved how well they worked together. Eileen (Rey’s sister who did our invitation and prints) was such a great help. She and her team handmade our invitation and all our prints and there’s a lot of work put into those. Matt (our videographer) was excellent. He’s so funny and he’s got such a nice eye into taking the emotions of the day into great video footages.
Gosh, I can keep going with this list, but I’m so grateful that I’ve got such incredible people who helped making our day as beautiful and special as it could be. It warmed my heart to see them working together and, you know, most of them didn’t try to bother me for little things on the day. They figured things themselves or asked someone in our family. After the wedding I realised things like, oh they did figure out how to link the video into the projector screen or wow I didn’t ask for these but they prepared them for me.
A wedding is already beautiful and perfect on its own. I often had to remind myself that a wedding is beautiful and perfect regardless of the pretty décor, venue, food, or expensive bridal gown. It’s a celebration of love and all a wedding needs is two people in love, saying their honest vows, and surrounded by their loved ones. So, my advice to other couples would be really take time to think about what’s important for your wedding and what the whole day means for you. Don’t let the image of a perfect wedding (e.g., the image in your head, pretty pictures from the Internet, advertising, etc) influence or distract you from what is really important.
Also, I learnt to make sacrifices for my family and my fiancé and they were all worth it. No-wedding-talk day once a week is very good for both of your sanity.
Photography: Studio Impressions Photography | Floral Design: Hyde Roses | Wedding Dress: The Babushka Ballerina | Cake: Ann's Unique Cakes | Stationery: Blooming Days | Ceremony Venue: Homestead Ballroom At Canungra Valley Vineyards | Reception Venue: Homestead Ballroom At Canungra Valley Vineyards | Shoes: Rene Caovilla | Rings: Tiffany & Co. | Bridesmaid Dress: Zimmermann | Decor: Supplize Décor Hire | Earrings: Glamadonna | Hair & Make-up: Particulart Hair & Make Up