Corinne & Stuart

Today’s wedding is a beautiful one- taking place at one of Sydney’s iconic venues Vaucluse House, The bride wore a gown her mother created, the groom’s mother did the flowers, and their two year old son acted as the ring bearer. It was truly a handmade, family affair and one that is incredible to look at!

Corinne tells the story of how they met. “We met at high school when I moved to Australia from Singapore. We went out for a few months then but went our separate ways for several years after school while studying and traveling. But we always stayed close friends. Then 8 years ago we decided to give it another go and haven’t looked back since. In that time we’ve lived in Japan together, traveled through Europe and Asia and 2 years ago we had a baby boy “Jai”.   It just seemed like the right time to get married.”

Photographs today are by At Dusk Photography. I really loved the relaxed, easy feeling of the photographs. They are beautiful captures of a happy day.

Corinne and her bridesmaid’s hair was styled by Amelia Axton with makeup by Maria (Maria Make up).

Corinne wore a wedding dress made by her mother. She explains “I designed my own wedding dress and my mum created it. It has a lace floral bodice in different tones of ivory, white and champagne with a sweet heart neckline and a 2 layered flowy silk chiffon skirt with with ruching on one side. All the fabric was purchased from Tessuti Fabrics “. She added shoes from Zomp and Stuart’s grandmother’s pearl necklace. Corinne’s bridesmaids wore cream strapless, pleated gowns from French Connection.

The couple chose Vaucluse House for their wedding. Corinne explains “We wanted our wedding to have a vintage garden feel and when we came across Vaucluse House one afternoon while going for a walk with our son we thought that was the perfect spot. We love the lawns outside the historic house and the big tree under which the ceremony was held. Right next door is the the gorgeous tea rooms with beautiful stained glass windows and a big terrace that was perfect for our intimate dinner party and outdoor dancing.

Our wedding was on 16th December 2011, we have a lot of family and friends that live overseas so choosing a time around Christmas made sense as they could come to Australia and spend Christmas and New Years with us. Also we knew we wanted a warm sunny day so December was perfect.”

Grace Ensemble played sweet tunes during the ceremony.

Stuart and his groomsmen wore dark grey dress pants and vests from Roger David sans ties for a relaxed feel.

Corinne recalls, “I walked down the aisle to “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong played by a string duo. It was the perfect song for a wonderful day.”

Corinne and Stuart were married by Beverly Corlett. The couple’s two year old son Jai acted as ring bearer.

Corinne remembers, “After the ceremony we walked back down the aisle to “All You Need is Love” played by the string duo while everyone blew bubbles. It was perfect; we had done the official part without too many tears and were excited to celebrate with our family and friends.”

Of their photographer, Corinne says “It took us a really long time to find a photographer that we loved. We are both very interested in photography ourselves and the photos were an important part of our day. We met with many photographers and 4 weeks before our wedding a friend who is also getting married soon suggested we meet Chris from At Dusk Photography. His work was absolutely stunning and his photos told a story. We booked Chris and were so happy with all of the photos that he took of our special day. ”

The floral arrangements were styled by Stewart’s mother. Corinne explains “My mother in law who is a retired florist did all the gorgeous bouquets and flower arrangements with lots of daisies and purple hydrangeas which are my favourite flowers”

Corinne and Stuart decorated the reception themselves. They used recycled paper to create “bunting” seating charts and place cards tied with lace around the cutlery. They decorated the area with hundreds of tea lights and hung cream coloured paper lanterns outside.

Guests were seated at a U shaped table. Corinne explains “We wanted a small, intimate garden wedding that was relaxed and fun. We had a ‘u’ shaped banquet set up during dinner which made it feel like everyone was sitting at the same table sharing the experience with us”. Birdcages with vines, blooms and lights were hung from the ceiling.

The table decorations were handmade. Corinne remarks “For the table arrangements we asked our friends and family to collect random little glass jars for the little flower arrangements which were all placed on a lace table runners. We also had little jars with daisies hanging off a wooden wall behind the dessert buffet and strung photos of us with pegs on rope along the wall.” Fresh Catering catered the event, providing scrumptious, delicious food and a bouquet of decadent sweet treats in lieu of a wedding cake.

The couple hired Jazz Fever to play music for the reception. For their first dance, Corinne says “We danced to “Let’s Do it, Let’s Fall in Love” by Ella Fitzgerald played by our jazz band. It’s not the typical song for a first dance but we both love this song.”

The night ended with dancing under the stars. Corinne recalls, “After all the dinner and speeches were over everyone danced outside under the lanterns and it was perfect.”

Congratulations Corinne and Stuart! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us! Thank you also to At Dusk Photography for sharing today’s images!