I couldn’t think of a more romantic setting for a wedding ceremony than a library – imagine saying your vows surrounded by beautiful words – words of history, words of days gone by, words of love stories. Emma and Justin’s ceremony location couldn’t be more beautiful or more apt for their beautiful wedding day.
Emma tells their story. “We met at work in 2007. Justin would always offer to go across the road to get me coffee and I would always say no because I don’t drink it and I thought he was just being polite. Meanwhile I would follow him whenever he went to the kitchen so that I had an excuse to talk to him. Eventually we figured things out at the work Christmas party.”
The photographs today are by Daniel K Cheung who has captured such beautiful moments and imagery.
Justin kicked of the day by wearing a suit from P. Johnson Tailors . His groomsmen wore suits from Peppers Formal Wear.
The floral arrangements were styled by Butterfly Philosophy Floral Design and featured the couple’s favourite – succulents. Emma explains “We both love succulents and wanted to incorporate them into the wedding in the bouquets and table settings. Elaine at Butterfly Philosophy did a fantastic job working them into the wedding and fitting our brief, which was ‘vintage but a little different’.”
Emma chose a tea length gown from Culture Bridal Couture (which was altered by Sherry Bridal Couture.) She added a flower in her hair made by Percy Handmade. Emma’s bridesmaids wore gowns from Fleur Wood.
Emma and Justin were married at theState Library of NSW Emma explains, “We wanted to choose venues that had a special significance to us. We picked the State Library of NSW because we would often walk past it together on our lunch breaks, and we wanted a venue with classic architecture without having a church wedding.”
Emma and Justin chose celebrant Robyn Pattison to marry them. Emma recalls, “Our celebrant Robyn delivered a warm, engaging and personal ceremony that shared many familiar and unfamiliar stories with our guests. I got so caught up in the ceremony I may have even done a little zombie impression when Robyn mentioned that we like to play zombie-shooting games on the Playstation. Not every bride can say they did a zombie impression before exchanging vows!”
Emma remembers “We didn’t have a first dance, but we did have a string quartet playing Cee-Lo Green’s “Bright Lights Bigger City” as we walked back up the aisle as husband and wife!”
Of their photographer, Emma says “Our photographer went to great lengths to find out who we are as individuals as well as a couple so that he could convey our love story through his work. His ability to relate to his subjects (us) really came through, and the photographs surpassed our expectations. ”
Emma and Justin celebrated with guests at The Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay. Emma explains “We chose The Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay as a reception venue because we love the food, service and décor, and we have enjoyed many meals there together.”
Emma says “To continue the literary theme in our reception, each guest had a wedding favour (which doubled as a place card) of a wooden scrabble tile holder featuring assorted vintage scrabble tiles spelling out their name.”
Congratulations on your marriage Emma and Justin! Thank you for sharing your story! Thank you also to Daniel K Cheung and Robyn Pattison for sharing today’s wedding with us!
From start to finish, everything about this wedding, this glorious couple, and everyone who worked together on it, was wonderful. I’ve never seen a more in love groom, or a happier bride. I did a little squeal at the end of this ceremony – I was so excited about it ! Thanks to absolutely everyone for the huge team effort that made it such a pleasure to be a part of
Robyn xxxxxxx
100% agree! Emma and Justin really made everything so much easier for all of us. Big hi five to all the vendors who helped make this day amazing for the couple and for us, the vendors~ Amy xxxxx
There’s not one thing about this wedding that I don’t LOVE! Such gorgeous styling, bride’s dress is STUNNING and the photos in the train station are perfect. Congratulations to Emma and Justin and to all the very talented vendors involved!
Beautiful wedding! I am looking for scrabble tiles and racks for my guest’s name places for my November wedding. Just wondering where the bride purchased hers from? Were they from a shop in Australia, as I’d like to buy local..?
Hi Katie. I bought the scrabble tiles and racks from various sellers on ebay. I started off buying in bulk and then bought individual letters as I needed them. Given the numbers of certain letters in each standard scrabble game, some letters are harder to come by than others!
Thanks Emma! One more question, were they new or used? I have found a seller on Etsy that lets you buy them individually (0.25c a letter) and that way I thought could order just the ones we need. But as they are ‘vintage’ I worry about what condition they will look like – yours look so nice and fresh!
(My partner proposed to me by putting the ring in our Scrabble bag, without me seeing, during a game and when I put in my hand to pull out my letters I pulled out the ring….)
Katie, that’s such a wonderful engagement story! The tile holders and most of the scrabble tiles were used. I was picky and only used the ones I liked. There were lots of rejects in the batches I ordered in bulk, but I found it was a more cost effective way to get started.
I just love these bouquets!! So unique and so pretty, I’ve never seen bouquets like these before. Spectacular!
Love these photographs, looks like such a beautiful wedding.