Kristy and James

It’s a little bit rock and roll when your groom wears a purple shirt and black velvet suit and I think today’s newlyweds Kristy and James carefully infused their own personalities into their wedding day. A little bit vintage with an edginess to it and plenty of fantastic touches- including a homage to James’ love of music.

Kristy explains how she and James met. “I was in California on a Contiki Tour. I met James while he was working in a bar that I was drinking at with my Contiki friends. We met up the next day before I had to leave for the rest of my tour. We stayed in touch for the 2 weeks that I continued to travel. After spending another 4 days together before I left for Australia, we decided to give a long distance relationship a go! We continued to visit each other overseas until James popped the question 9 months later.”

Photos today are by Kelly Stephens. I love Kelly’s attention to detail of the day- she took care to cover the details and told the story of the day through her captures.

Kristy kicked the day off with dramatic black shoes. She explains, “I wore black lace style shoes that tied up around the ankle. I wanted more contrast to my outfit so I thought the black shoes would go well with the black feathers and my black hair.”

For her hair and makeup, Kristy used, “My Aunty Neita from Magical Makeover created the hair for myself and my bridesmaids. Not only did she do an amazing job of my bridesmaids hair, she also did a beautiful job of my Marcel Wave style. It made for a classic elegant look. wanted a full coverage with a vintage look and elegant style. I had been recommended Sam from Makeup By Sam by a mutual friend who has had makeup done by Sam before on photo shoot sets. Sam did a beautiful job of the vintage style makeup for both myself and my bridesmaids.”

Kristy’s mother put many of her own touches on the day – including Kristy’s wedding gown! Kristy explains ” My very talented mother hand made my wedding dress. We had originally started piecing together a different design, however I changed my mind a few months before the big day – luckily we had not bought the material yet!

The design I decided on was a strapless dropped waist dress. It had a mild sweetheart chest line and zipped at the back from top, to just under my buttocks. The bodice of the gown was made with a satin in an antique rose color, with an off white beaded lace overlay. My sister even hand beaded extra pearls and silver seed beads to the lace for a more antique look. We used a brooch as a holding piece for where the skirt meets the body. The train of the dress was made using left over tulle and lace pieces from the body of the dress”

Of their photographer, Kristy says, “Kelly’s creativity and unique ideas really showed well in the photos. She was very professional and fun to work with on the day.  Her posing ideas along with her photo editing really captured the moments beautifully. I think she did a great job of carrying across the vintage feel in the photographs.”

James had his jacket custom made from black velvet by Prinzi Collections. Kristy remarks ” James and his groomsmen attended the wedding in a black 60’s Cadillac Hearse which has been transformed into a limo.  We had black wedding ribbon attached to the front of the car which also had 2 skull heads attached.”

The couple held their ceremony and reception at Lyrebird Falls. Kristy says “I walked down the aisle to H.I.M- The Sacrament (disrythm remix).”

Kristy and James found their celebrant online, Kristy says “Mark Stewart from Celebrants R Us was the perfect celebrant for us. He helped us out along the way with putting together the ceremony/vows and helped make the day fun.”

Kristy’s mother also made the bridesmaid’s gowns which were accessorised with simple pearl jewellery and the same black heels as Kristy. Kristy explains “My mum made the bridesmaids’ dresses. I wanted black with lace as I think it looks very vintage and classy. We finished off the dress by making a ‘sash’ out of my wedding dress material for the bridesmaids to wear around their waist. I had shown mum examples of the style I wanted, we went through her dress patterns, found a similar pattern and away she went!”

The couple chose a three tier ivory and black cake. Kristy explains “The cake was 3 tiers tall. The tiers were different flavours, one was traditional wedding cake and the third was Red Velvet layered with cream cheese made by a bakery on Phillip Island. My mum and dad iced and decorated the cake. We used pieces of lace from my wedding dress as part of the cake decoration.”

Guests continued celebrations in a reception room at Lyrebird Falls.

For their first dance, it was really something special. Kristy remarks “James and I had picked out our song for our first dance right when we were engaged. From the start we wanted ‘First Day of My Life’ by Bright Eyes.

What made it even more special is that our groomsmen (James’ best friend from the USA) played and sang the song for us acoustically while we danced. I think this was one of the most special moments of the whole day.”

Congratulations on your new stage of life Kristy and James! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Kelly Stephens for sharing today’s wedding with us!