Kim and Christopher

I’m quite taken with the splendid wedding I have to share with you today – regular readers know I am never worried about rain on a wedding day. I think it makes for the most wonderful atmosphere. We haven’t had many wedding days where the rain becomes such an integral part of the story though, so today you’ll have to read how Kim & Christopher turned their rainy day wedding into something even more beautiful. If that doesn’t stop you in your tracks, perhaps Kim’s gorgeous style will, or the way they incorporate their own cultural heritage into their wedding day!

Kim recalls how she met her husband, Chris. “The first time we met was through a work friend when I was actually leaving the company. I remember a classic moment on my  last day, when Chris got out of the building lift and said ‘Well, see you…never.’ Cue lift doors closing. The funny thing is that he has no recollection of this!

A couple of years later we ended up working together and were friends for a while before we got together. So depending on who you ask, we’ve known each other for either 6 or 8 years!”

Photography today is by Matt Reed. I love Matt’s candid work and the way he tells the story so wonderfully through his lens – the mood and energy and the moments of today’s wedding were so important and Matt captured them all!

Kim and Christopher held their ceremony and reception at Flying Fish. Kim says “Holly and the whole team at Flying Fish were absolutely wonderful up to and on the day.  They were an absolute joy to deal with, and flexible to accommodate our needs. The overwhelming feedback we got from the guests was the high quality level of service, friendliness of the staff, and impeccable food and wine. There were several instances where they went over and above to make our day special and we are just so appreciative.”

Check out that storm cloud…

Kim wore a strapless ballgown from White One. Simone Cozens did the girls hair and makeup, Kim says “She was a joy to have around on the morning of the wedding and as you can see from the photos, she did a fantastic job!” The bouquets and buttonholes were styled by Vicki and Kikki at The Flower Store. “Lovely to deal with and delivered wonderful flowers.”

The ceremony was planned to be held outside but Mother Nature had other ideas. Kim says “The heavens opened up as the kids were walking down the aisle, just before the bridesmaids were set to go. The girls and I just looked at each other and burst out laughing. We ended up running for cover and sheltering under the wharf building while the guys moved the wedding party under cover. The girls and my Dad ended up getting into the restaurant via the kitchen so they got to inspect the produce on the way in! 😉 It just goes to show, some of the most unexpected thing can make for a fun twist of events.”

Music was carefully chosen, Kim walked down the aisle to ‘Hoppipolla’ by Sigur Ros, the register was signed to a John Lennon cover of ‘Real Love’ by Regina Spektor and ‘I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)’ by Stevie Wonder. When the couple was presented as husband and wife, ‘Touch the Sky’ (instrumental) – Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco was played.

The ring cushion embroidery was done by Kim based on an old French embroidery book she had. Kim’s mum in law sewed the cushion together with cording and ribbon.

Kim loved working with celebrant Robyn Pattison “I loved our fantastic celebrant who put the personality and organisation into our ceremony, especially in adverse circumstances! For all the wedding planning we stewed on, we never worried about the ceremony as Robyn put us at ease that whatever happened, it would be a success. And she more than delivered.” One final accessory completed Kim’s look. She explains “We spied a stunning Chanel brooch on a trip to Melbourne last year. I customised the brooch as a hair comb to wear on the day.”

Kim’s walk down the aisle was one of her favourite memories. “After such a chilled morning, the nerves just hit me for six walking down the aisle. As soon as I saw Chris, I burst into tears. Hearing the words of our vows that we’d carefully thought about and written in months before, reaffirmed in person, was a favourite memory. That and seeing Chris’ best mate, his brother and my brother grinning at me over Chris’ shoulder the whole time was wonderful.”

Kim made and styled many of the elements of the day. She remarks “I had the best time doing DIY. When else do you get to plan such a big party and go nuts with the styling? We planned the wedding over the course of a year and for the first 6 months I let my imagination go, scouring the web, looking at pretty pictures, gathering lots of ideas and playing around with them. At about the 6 month mark, I drastically culled and refined these ideas to a few key ones that were achievable and within a reasonable budget.

The flowers for (the little) girls were a Martha Stewart tutorial I saw on her show once. They are made from crepe paper, floral tape and wire, and doubled in size for a fun effect.”

Chris’s favourite memory also included the aisle. He recalls “I figured I was doing fine, I was saying my vows loudly – just like Robyn, our celebrant, had told me to do. It was only when we exchanged rings that it was pointed out to me (again by Robyn) that my hands were shaking. Favourite memory was seeing Kim walking up the aisle, and having her blubbering through most of the vows. It was also great to have my nieces and nephews as the flower girls and page boys. Funniest memory was seeing my eight year old nephew lounging about on a couch during the ceremony, like he was watching the Sunday football.”

Kim’s bridesmaids wore their own gowns and accessorised with earrings from Samantha Wills. The groom and groomsmen wore suits from Roger David with bow ties from Beau Ties Ltd.

Kim wore earrings from Samantha Wills with a purple crystal to match her stunning shoes.

After photographs, the bridal party joined the guests for a relaxed luncheon. Kim explains “Seeing the guests enjoy a relaxing time over great food and company was gratifying for us – that had been the intention for their wedding experience all along. We also got to enjoy time with them which was wonderful for us.”

The reception was styled simply but beautifully by Kim. “The table decorations were a mix of milk bottles, glass Chinese tea pots. We filled these with fresh white chrysanthemums from the markets. Table numbers were old wine bottles with letter pressed number tags tied around the neck using thick twine.

For the kids’ table, I had fake grass with flowers, fairies and dinosaurs strewn throughout, and activity books and crayons to keep them occupied.”

Kim added beautiful elements herself. “For the wishing well, we decided on a beautiful glass jar that we could reuse for other things post wedding. Once again, I pulled out the recipe for crepe paper flowers that we had used for the flower girls, halved the size of the flowers and this time taped them together in an arrangement that wrapped around the lid.

As a surprise for Chris, I also had a digital portrait done from a photo of one of our favourite moments on our last holiday. The style lent itself well to the clean look of our wedding. I contracted Jennifer Schell on Etsy to do this portrait, then stuck it in an Ikea frame. Too easy. We now have it hanging up at home.”

Kim also made the invitations (and had them letterpress printed by Anay Bravo in Mexico) and the seating chart with the help of her brother. “The seating chart was a labour of love by my brother who took up the challenge of learning calligraphy and painstakingly hand wrote each name – we were so chuffed with the end result. I slapped on a simple bentwood graphic, reused the invitation font and we were done! The seating chart was presented in an Ikea frame on an easel kindly lent by a friend.”

The bride wore purple heels from Alexander McQueen. For the reception, Kim changed into a short Willow gown.

Kim says “My approach to DIY was DIY styling rather than make everything from scratch. Still, we ended up doing some crazy stuff – we had items and materials shipped in from Mexico, the US, China and locally. For sustainability purposes, items we purchased where possible were to be reusable post wedding.”

Kim wore jewels from her family. She explains “In traditional Chinese culture, the bride receives gold jewellery from close family on her wedding day. We twisted this and borrowed my Mum’s wedding jewellery and a watch that Dad had given Mum in the 80’s.”

The multicultural aspect of the wedding day was incorporated in a way that suited Kim and Chris. Kim explains “One of the traditions we decided to keep was the Chinese Tea Ceremony. We did away with the traditional garb and kept the essence of this ritual – the kneeling and pouring of tea as a showing of respect to close family elders. In all the inevitable madness of a wedding, this was a nice relaxed moment with each of our close family.”

Following the tea ceremony, cake and desserts were served. The couple cut a cheese wedding cake by Sogna at Formaggi Occello.  Kim remarks “The cake platters were from Chris’s mum.The cheese wedding cake was presented on a large cheese board for the cutting of the cake. We borrowed a bunch of beautiful cake platters from Chris’ Mum to present the cheese and accompanying fruit and bread on.”

Later in the afternoon, everyone relaxed on the deck in the Autumn sun with dessert canapes and wedding cheese.

Congratulations Kim and Christopher! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us on Polka Dot Bride! Thank you also to by Matt Reed for sharing today’s photographs!