Inside our summer wedding: luscious blooms and romantic setting
It's official. Vincent and I tied the knot in December at a beautiful ceremony, held at Quat Quatta in Melbourne. We had the most perfect day getting married surrounded by our families and loved ones! After 8 months in the planning, Vincent and I tailored a day that worked perfectly for us. Here is our big day in pictures:
I found wedding dress shopping to be one of the most pleasant experiences of the whole wedding. Even though it seemed overwhelming at first with so many designers, styles and silhouettes out there; after trying on a few gowns from various boutiques, it didn't take me long to make the decision to go with a couture designer and custom create my gown from scratch. There is such a big difference between machine-made and hand-made - and I am all about the details!
The moment I met Ines and Mario from the Crocé & Colosimo Couture I knew I found the perfect team to make my dream gown! Ines and Mario are well sought-after designers in the industry - featured in the Foxtel TV Show 'Meet the Frockers' and are chosen designers for many celebrity brides!
I knew I wanted a transformation element in my dress (for a wardrobe change) with an edge of femininity. I was greatly inspired by the Grace Kelly-styled Dior wedding gown that Miranda Kerr wore when she married her Snapchat-founder husband Evan Spiegel. Ines and I took our ideas to the drawing board and quickly sketched up the design. In the end, we landed on a fit-and-flare silhouette and a detachable outskirt with a long train, embellished with intricate French laces on the top while keeping the skirt plain - it was absolutely perfect and everything I ever wanted for my wedding gown!
It was also a very special moment when Mario came out to dress me on my wedding day to make sure everything was perfect! The whole creative process and fitting service provided by Crocé & Colosimo Couture were 10/10 amazing!
Getting dressed by Mario from Crocé & Colosimo Couture; IG: @crocecolosimo |
Wedding gown with outskirt - worn during the wedding ceremony |
Wedding gown without outskirt - worn during the reception |
I have always been a huge fan of Jimmy Choo, especially his stunning collection of wedding and evening shoes! His shoe designs are timeless but most importantly, they are comfortable too - I lasted from 10 in the morning until 11 in the night, even I was impressed!
I wanted a design that would work with both my wedding gown and Chinese tea ceremony outfit, and I couldn't be happier with the option I went with - a pair of ROMY 85 Platinum and Flamingo Ice Glitter Dégradé Fabric Pointy Toe Pumps. The glitters were surprisingly not loud; they were elegant and wedding-appropriate; the hint of pink gradient also brought out the red from my tea ceremony dress, which I also wore at the after-party. The shoes also paired seamlessly with Vincent's black pair of DERBY shoes in burnished leather from Boss.
SHOP (exact pair & similar designs):
I don’t wear much makeup day-to-day and wanted my makeup to be as natural as possible for my wedding. I know warm nudes compliment my complexion whilst still giving depth and tone. My make-up artist, Beatrice Wang from Claxy, did an amazing job keeping things as natural as possible whilst making sure everything is budge-proof. My makeup held up for the whole day with minimum touch-ups, which was quite impressive considering I have oily skin.
I had previously done a trial with Beatrice so she knew exactly what I wanted in terms of my eyes, and was also totally understanding when I wanted to do certain things different like my brows. For hair, we had tried 3 different styles and it was obvious that a loose up-do suited me the most and shaped my face the best. I didn’t want to look back and regret doing too much with my make-up and hair, so we created a look that I loved whilst still feeling totally like myself.
Hair & Makeup by Claxy; IG: @claxymakeup |
The Chinese Tea Ceremony (敬茶) is a tradition that Chinese couples go through when they wed. We had a tight schedule but made sure that we could fit the tea ceremony in the morning.
It is a tradition for the couple to give tea to the elders in the family and receive red packets; and for the mother-in-law to give the bride gold jewellery for good luck and prosperity. Our tea ceremony was truly a blessing with Vincent’s 90-year-old grandma flying all the way from Malaysia to join us.
I decided to not go with a traditional Chinese outfit (旗袍) but still wanted to wear red for my Chinese roots. I ended up wearing a design from an Australian label, Keepsake The Label, and couldn’t be happier with the outfit!
SHOP (similar designs):
I am very lucky to have the most awesome bridal squad ever! Katherine and Priscilla stood by me, laughed with me and went above and beyond to make sure the day was perfect!
It was important to me that my bridesmaids were comfortable and happy with every aspect of their looks on the day, so I pretty much gave them free rein. They picked the dress design between them from Forever New; shoes from Carvela Kurt Geiger; and I arranged for customised robes and accessories for them. I still can’t get over how stunning they both looked in the blush and rose gold attire. Their hair and makeup were also done by the talented makeup artist from Claxy, with colours and hair accessories complimenting my look.
SHOP (similar designs):
Flowers are absolutely the highlights of my wedding! When I booked the venue, I knew I wanted to decorate the space with lots of fresh blooms, and my talented friends at Bespoke Botanics had much bigger plans and what they created was more than my wildest dreams!
The flowers were wild and perfect in shades of white, blush and red, cascading down the entire wall on the dance floor, and filling every corner around the venue. The altar was lined with fresh white Singapore orchids draping down to create the most beautiful backdrop. I can still remember how it felt to see and breathe it all in for the first time - it was heaven!
The bridal bouquets were made of beautiful garden roses, dahlias and peonies; they were delivered to my hotel room along with the buttonholes for the groom party and dads, corsages for the mums and collar flowers for my dog who was my ring bearer.
Bespoke Botanics did such an amazing job turning the venue into an ocean of flowers and my guests were in awe. At the end of the wedding, the guests were gifted the flowers and bouquets used for decoration. They all thought it was a nice touch to be able to take away a centrepiece of the wedding and enjoy the beautiful blooms for longer.
Cascading flower waterfall created by Bespoke Botanics; IG: @bespokebotanics |
Wedding celebrant by Christine; IG: @christinecivilcelebrant |
You just gotta love a vintage two-tone Rolls Royce Silver Dawn - it makes such a classic wedding car and went really well with the style of my wedding.
Our lovely driver from Triple R was so kind and experienced. He picked up my parents and me from the hotel, drove around the beautiful Albert Park and escorted me safely from the car into the bridal suite. The service he provided was outstanding; he was even giving the photographers tips on the best angle to shoot the vehicle.
Wedding ride by TripleR Luxury Car Hire; IG: @triplercars |
Ok, I was a little nervous about this one. Vincent and I consider Loki, our chocolate Labrador, as family, and wanted him to be part of the big day. We wanted to give Loki the ring bearer duty for our ceremony, but we weren't sure how he will cope with being around a big group of people and loud music. I ordered a special wedding dog collar, in Tiffany blue, and a ring attachment for him to carry our wedding band securely on his neck.
Luckily Loki acted like a champion, happily strutting down the aisle with a big smile on his face and delivered the wedding bands successfully. I will cherish this memory forever and am so glad he played such an important role on our wedding!
For our wedding food, we wanted festive and give our guests lots of options, so we provided cocktail bites, roving options for the main and sides, as well as a whole dessert table full of little desserts, including cake popsicles, chocolate pyramids, cake squares, macrons and mini doughnuts. They were prepared along with my strawberry and buttercream wedding cake by Pretty Sweet Cake Design.
The creative Moonshot Balloons also created an awesome balloon garland to frame the dessert table. The desserts were a big hit with the children (and adults) at the wedding.
Balloon garland by Moonshot Balloons; Wedding cake & desserts by IG: @Pretty Sweet Cake Design |
Quat Quatta provided the most beautiful Victorian-era architecture and landscape for our ceremony and reception! Because we did a lunch reception and the venue was so close to the St Kilda Botanical Gardens we decided to go there afterwards when the sun is still out for another photo-shoot, and it was the best decision!
The St Kilda Botanical Gardens offered the most stunning backdrops for our photos. From the Rose Garden to the Glass House and lush lawns and palm trees, every corner we turned had a romantic and unique setting.
The advantage of doing a lunch reception is that you will have time for an after-party in the night, and that is exactly what we did! There are tons of good restaurants and bars around St Kilda, and we found the most relaxing place upon my best friend's recommendation, right by the beach.
We kept our after-party an intimate event with just family and our closest friends. Captain Baxter, offered a great tapas menu and a huge range of beverage options.
Vincent and I felt extremely lucky to have had the most perfect wedding and got to celebrate with the most loving bunch of people! The day couldn't have gone any better and I already miss it so much! From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to everyone who helped make our big day so special and memorable!
For more ideas and tips on how to plan for your wedding, check out the previous posts in my WEDDING series, here is the link.
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1 comments
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