Luke and Natalie

Luke and I were married earlier this year, in a summer garden party wedding. One of our main priorities when choosing the venue was to find somewhere where we could host everything in the one spot. We didn’t want to break up the day and had our heart set on the celebration commencing immediately after the ceremony. As most of our guests traveled from interstate, Sydney Harbour provided the perfect backdrop for us so the Gap Bluff Centre, Watsons Bay fulfilled the brief beautifully.

To add to the ease of the day my bridesmaids and I stayed across the road at Watsons Bay Hotel the night before. Meaning we got to bypass having wedding cars and instead enjoyed a short walk to the ceremony. I was a little eager to get there though so I had to be reprimanded by the chief for walking too fast!

I wore a dress by Collette Dinnigan which having quite a summer sun dress feel to it I felt suited our wedding perfectly. Our two bridesmaids wore two different dresses from Rose & Ruby and the groomsmen wore black and white gingham shirts with skinny black ties. Luke wore a black suit with a black and white gingham tie. Our two nieces were our flower girls and stole the show in white tutus and fairy wing tops.

The ceremony was, admittedly unexpectedly, our favourite part of the day. It was just the most incredible feeling walking towards Luke in the glistening sunlight surrounded by our amazing family and friends. As I walked down the aisle I gathered my bouquet from our immediate family members. They each held a small posy of daisies for me; it was such a lovely way to include all our family in the day and it was so nice having a moment with each one of them as I walked towards my misty-eyed groom! The daisy poses, my hair garland and bridesmaids bouquets were all created by Jane from Floreat Floral Designs, who came to my rescue just two weeks before the wedding!

Straight after the ceremony our summer garden party commenced! We had Pimms and lemonade, a beautiful cheese table created by a talented friend, garden games, picnic rugs, vintage chairs and an acoustic guitarist. We wanted to push pause on that moment – the atmosphere was exactly what we had hoped for.

We just had two long tables for our reception which seated our 90 guests. The beautiful wooden tables and vintage chairs were hired from Studio Neon. We opted to sit in the middle of one of the tables as we wanted to be right amongst everyone and we also wanted our bridal party to be able to sit with their partners. The table decorations consisted of mismatched teapots, jars and bottles which held flowers sourced from Sydney Flower Markets the day before (at 5.30am!) and vintage teacups served as tea light holders.

Dinner was a family feast style meal with large shared platters delivered to the tables which promoted a lovely chatty atmosphere. Our caterers were European Catering who I can’t recommend highly enough! In lieu of cake we had a sweets table with our favourite lollies, macaroons and a gelato cart was set up on the balcony.

Our first dance was to Real Love by Regina Spektor, danced barefoot on the grass under the moonlight as our guests looked on from the balcony. This kicked off the dance floor with a carefully edited play list that Luke had been working on for the previous six months.

We were very fortunate to have friends getting married two weeks after us who had similar, labour intensive ideas for their wedding. So we were able to do a wedding swap, they helped set up our wedding in return for us setting up theirs. Without their help I don’t know how it would’ve all been pulled together – so a big thank you to Sarah and Ben as well as family and friends who were recruited for the set up!

Photography by Chrissy N Photography

Ms Gingham says: I love the idea of collecting your wedding bouquet from your family as you walk down the aisle … what a great way to include special people in the ceremony. Thanks to Natalie and Luke for sharing their beautiful day with us.

Natalie says: “My name is Natalie. I grew up in Perth but have been living in Sydney for the last five years. I love long summer days, beautiful beaches and hanging out with my exceptionally cute puggle.”