Stealing a quiet moment after the ceremony is pretty darn romantic and these newlyweds are just the proof. Relishing their new titles with a Flowermee bouquet and a farmers market coffee break, Adrian Tuazon-McCheyne was behind the lens to capture each sweet moment. Reunited with their guests the party that ensued at Hare & Grace is evident with every joyful image in the gallery here.
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From The Bride…When I first ventured out to look for my dress I tried the usual trek down High St in Melbourne and couldn’t find anything that suited me – it just kept looking like I was wearing a fancy dress costume. My mom and I decided that I should have something made for me instead. I’d seen Kyha’s work on a friend’s dress, so I headed in there and met with her. We were both equally excited about the concept, so I knew I’d found the right person.
The dress was all about the details – I loved the natural fibers – silk, tulle and organza, the layers of tulle and pistachio lining, which were accentuated by the mullet hemline, the pistachio buttons on the side, the pockets (also pistachio-lined) were probably my very favorite bit of all because they’re practically a prerequisite for all of my dresses (though I never did end up putting anything into them except my hands, because I decided it wasn’t the day for live-tweeting).
Getting into the dress on the day was hilarious. Kyha had told me it was going to be tough, but those buttons were seriously challenging. My mom helped me out and we had a good laugh about it. Because it was a short dress, it meant I never had to worry about hitching it up or sitting down. The seats of our “wedding car” were pretty poky, so luckily I didn’t have too much fabric to deal with.
We wanted to keep the headwear simple and elegant. I always knew I wanted to have some sort of veil – because how often do you get to wear one of those!
My jewelry was basically made up of the same pieces I’d wear day to day + a killer pair of mm mom’s diamond earrings from New York. A rose and white gold bangle from local Milawa artist DBAN that Nick had bought me after a weekend trip there – and kept for my first birthday that we were together (we’d only been dating a couple of months, and when I said it was too extravagant a gift, he’d said it was “an investment piece”).My engagement ring, which was designed and made by Kozminsky jewelers, based around my grandmother’s color changing sapphire. The Tiffany Metro wedding band – which I absolutely loved because it’s subtle and simple and makes sense on my slightly chubby child-like fingers. I loved that I hadn’t changed my jewelry style for the day. I wanted to just look like me – and I love that each of the pieces helped add to our story. My engagement ring is probably the most sentimental piece.
It’s wedding season in my friendship group at the moment, and I didn’t want to burden my friends with yet more bridesmaid responsibilities, so instead I had a group of some of my closest girl friends come and get ready with me in the suite beforehand, but they could wear and do whatever they wanted. They’re each so different and unique, and I think giving them carte blanch meant that their individual personalities could shine through.
I left so much of my wedding planning to the last few months, and at one point thought maybe it’d be better to get a planner to do it. Thankfully, we stuck to our guns and just did it all ourselves – we enlisted people who were amazing at what they do and told them to just do what they thought would work, and it seemed to come together fairly well, really. My friend Dominique is a TV producer, and she took over planning/coordination duties on the day. She made sure everyone was where they needed to be and that everything ran smoothly – it worked perfectly.
Our friend Charl is an incredibly talented designer, so he worked on our invites from a “brand” perspective. We told him we wanted food themed invites, on tea-towels as we wanted an invite that could be reused and not thrown in the bin. Being a friend, he knew we loved word-play and puns, so he integrated that in as well.
We spent the same amount on the tea towel and printing as we would’ve on fancy paper and letterpress, but it means our loved ones can make use of them to this day.
We wanted the wedding itself to be super stress-free, so menus were just the usual Hare & Grace ones, and name cards didn’t exist because we left people to sit where they wanted on long barn tables. We loved that this meant we could eliminate the headaches of table arrangement and people could make new friends on the day. In fact, some of the people who sat together on the day have become lifelong friends since.
Kathryn has a unique whimsical eye, and I told her to just choose the flowers that looked good on the day. We integrated edible micro-herb pots into the arrangements, so that the whole feel was very “urban food forest”.
Hare & Grace has an amazing ceiling installation by Joost Bakker that worked back in perfectly with the flowers hat Kathryn created. Everything felt very natural and organic – people just assumed that the ceiling installation was part of our wedding design.
We wanted our ceremony to be in the same place as the reception so that guests didn’t have to be shuffled around.
I love that we got married in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD. Being entirely disorganized, I left trying to find a chuppah (canopy) to the last month, and they were all hire out. However, the symbolism of a chuppah is anything that could be stood under or a canopy. Nick’s dad came to the rescue, building us a frame using recycled wood, and then we draped that with an old curtain from my parents’ place. It actually turned out being far more symbolic this way, with both families literally coming together to help create our first “home”.
We love Ray’s food, and the venue is so quintessentially Melbourne, with its bluestone bricks, surrounded by high-rises. We also love the interior installation by Joost Bakker. Ray designed a menu that reflected my Eastern European heritage, serving canapés like cauliflower blini with local Yarra Valley caviar. Jess (the venue manager) and Ray helped make our event incredible. I wanted to leave the food up to the chef instead of micromanaging.
Nick and I love Tad’s chocolates, and so I asked him if he had ever made wedding cakes. He hadn’t, but was willing to make ours his first. We sat down and looked at images and brainstormed until we came up with a concept – again, keeping that playful food theme. Our cake’s flavor was tempered dark chocolate cabbage leaves with gluten free chocolate almond cake, cherry coulis (my BFF Julia Taylor made the coulis the day before) and fresh cherries. I absolutely adored the cabbage leaves – the cake looked more like a sculpture than something edible!
I grabbed dad for a spontaneous “father-daughter” dance during one of the DJ’s Boney-M offerings, and we tore up the dance-floor with Georgian dance moves, and the rest of the family, including Nick joined in, complete with kicks and cossacks. Nick and I decided we weren’t going to have a “first dance” – instead, we wanted to sneak onto the dance floor and party with everyone else. We went to some intensive classes with Arsen Kishishnian, because Nick’s a perfectionist and didn’t want to hit the dance floor unless we had some serious technique. Our “bridal waltz” though, was very special – it was “Stay Close To Me” by The Impressions – because it’s from the album we used to play when we first started dating and cooked dinner together.
I absolutely LOVED working with Adrian. He found ways to capture true and authentic moments in a beautiful way. He sees the beauty in simplicity and knows how to make anyone comfortable in front of a camera. We wanted to feel like we were having all of our loved ones over for a dinner party and oh – we got married too! Our style was effortless and modern romantic, I suppose.
Photography: Adrian Tuazon Photography | Videography: Purple Ribbon Weddings | Floral Design: Flowermee | Wedding Dress: One Day Bridal | Cake: Cioccolato Lombardo | Stationery: For The Love And Money | Reception Venue: Hare & Grace | Groom's Attire: Harrolds Melbourne | Celebrant: Jason Tuazon Mccheyne | Entertianment: DJ Baitzy | Veil: One Day Bridal