Gregory and Meg

Greg and I met nearly 9 years ago after our mutual friends were married. Every weekend we’d see each other at our friend’s house and romance soon blossomed. In 2010, just after we purchased our own home, Greg told me he was lucky enough to have won a trip to Peppers Craigieburn for the weekend. (Best cover up ever!) After a 3 hour pampering session and wonderful 3 course meal, Greg asked to go for a walk under the stars. It was there under the stars he asked me to be his wife and the rest is history!

Being one of those super organised people, and knowing for a long time that Greg was the ONE, organising the wedding was a piece of cake! Within the month I had booked the reception venue and church. We had our ceremony at Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel, Manly and the reception in the stunning new ballroom at Curzon Hall.  It was a traditional Catholic Ceremony but we also included members of both our families in the traditional Filipino ceremony. I found my shoes from Wittner and accessories from Peter Lang.

Just like we met, the rest of the choices for the wedding were rather serendipitous. My sister and I had, on the spur of the moment, decided to have a look at some bridesmaid dresses and the first one we saw as we entered the store was the perfect colour and cut for my girls. It was a dusty lilac sweetheart cut maxi. My dress was the Odessa, by Maggie Sottero from Abbey Bridal and it was the first one I tried on, again after a spur of the moment decision by my Mum and Sister to check out the Dymocks Building on our way to the John Mayer concert. It was perfect and the beautiful veil had everyone talking for months after the big day.

Greg and the boys wore pin striped charcoal suits from Wetherill Park Bridal Factory and we had the boy’s ties made to match the girl’s dresses. Thank goodness for our photographer from JDJ Photography for showing the boys how to tie their ties on the day!

Next was the cake, I came across the talented Faye Cahill when planning our engagement party. The ballroom at Curzon Hall is lined with the most beautiful damask walls and so I decided I wanted to carry that out in the stationery and unity candles by Jhoosh Designs. As Faye is the master of all things beautiful she was able to design a cake that pulled all the elements together, including a similar brooch to the one on my dress.

With all this black and white damask, and beautiful muted purples, I had to have the vibrant injection of colour to spruce up the ballroom. My florist Dee at Awesome Blooms, did a fantastic job with the textured hues of pink, purple and white which also highlighted the bridesmaid dresses. She and Greg even surprised our mums with beautiful bouquets and me with a massive bouquet of roses. It’s hard to find someone who loves their job as much as Dee and the love was evident in the end result. Thanks so much Dee!

As we all know, a wedding takes a lot of planning and there is always this pressure to be perfect. The weather is one thing, however, that no matter how much you try, you cannot control! Being married during one of the rainiest years ever, El Nina was as kind as she could be. It rained all the way from the Intercontinental to the church, it rained just as we finished photos at Shelley beach and it poured after we finished photos at Curzon Hall. Our photographer JDJ Photography did an utterly AMAZING job ensuring we didn’t get soaked and worked quickly to get some stunning photos and kept us smiling despite the grey skies. The photos don’t even really show that it poured!! Even though it rained, the moment I stepped into the car from the Intercontinental, then walked down the aisle (to Pachelbel’s Canon D) flanked by my parents, towards my soul mate, best friend and love of my life (yes I’m welling up with tears as I write this) the day was perfect as was the love that bound us together.

The celebration continued on at Curzon Hall with lots of dancing (our first dance as man and wife was to Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t got You), eating (to the wonderful harp music by Sylvia Legowski), drinking (so merrily that at one point someone found the MC mic and started singing) and laughing (making our Love tree grow with words of wisdom and posing at the Photobooth). We had some beautiful personalised rock candy from Designer Candy as our favours.

Greg and I love to travel and learn about different cultures. So to bring a piece of us to the wedding we named each of our tables after the word “love” translated into some of the languages of the countries we had visited. We had these printed on little triangles to match our invites with another quote about love, and on the other sides, listed the guests on the table and the menu.

I also collected some frames and family portraits and had little quotes about different kinds of love, like that between grandparents and their grandchildren. All Greg’s grandparents have passed away and I only have my mum’s mum left, so it was like them sharing our day in spirit.

So my advice? Surround yourself with great people. They make the day as easy as possible and make the memories last forever! Our wedding was such a perfect day to be remembered for the rest of our lives!

Photography by JDJ Photography

Ms Gingham says: How stunning is that cake? The theme was carried through so beautifully but without going over the top at all. Thanks to Meg for sharing her and Gregory’s day with us.

Meg says: “Greg is in the army and can be away for work for extended periods so we have always said that no matter what distance or bad posting we get each day is beautiful because we share this love for one another that will transcend any distance.”

Want more? Check out Meg and Gregory’s Contiki European Honeymoon here.