Erin and Tyson’s Modern Church Street Enoteca Wedding

Erin & Tyson

Oh Melbourne, your weddings are always super cool without trying too hard! Erin and Tyson’s gorgeous day is the epitome of a Melbourne wedding. Classic, a little modern, a little elegant and a whole lot of style!

Erin explains how. “Tyson and I met in January 2009. Our first meeting was a totally random event and took place in Tyson’s appropriately named best friend, Burke’s backyard. We had our first date two days later and have pretty much been inseparable since.”

Photography today is by Jessica Tremp Of Brown Paper Parcel Photography who’s vintage style provides such a different take on traditional wedding photography.

The special stories went right down to the smallest member of the bridal party, Erin remembers. “Our wedding party was made up of close friends and family which included Tyson’s nephews Ethan and Blake as our page boys and my nieces Chloe and Ava as the flower girls. It was important for us to make the kids apart of the day. My niece Chloe had suffered a stroke earlier in the year and it was one of her goals to be my flower girl and to walk down the aisle unaided which she did on the day. This was a moment that my family and I will always remember.”

Erin chose a strapless Rachel Gilbert wedding dress while her bridesmaids wore sea green Thurley gowns.

Church St Enoteca provided the perfect backdrop for Erin and Tyson’s ceremony and reception, Erin tells, “We had a few specific thoughts when it came to looking for a wedding venue, firstly we wanted somewhere that had an art deco feel, the food had to be amazing and we both liked the idea of having the reception at a venue other than a reception centre. We had eaten at the Church St Enoteca a few times before getting engaged so we knew the food was fantastic, and we both liked the intimate feel and art deco features of the restaurant. We were also keen on the fact that we could hold the ceremony in the ‘gallery’ space at the restaurant, which meant guests didn’t need to go from the ceremony to a separate reception venue. The gallery space ended up providing the most amazing, warm atmosphere for the ceremony as the small space meant all our friends and family were huddled around us, sharing the moment with us.”

For the walk down the aisle, the couple found their musician on Youtube! Erin recalls, “We wanted something a bit different when it came to music for the wedding ceremony and though a ukulele player would be cool. Finding a ukulele player in Melbourne proved to be harder than you would think so it was a stroke of luck to find Rob on YouTube (Rob Clifford ) Tyson is a massive Pearl Jam fan so I walked down the aisle to ‘Rise’ by Eddie Vedder, expertly played by Rob and sung by his mate Josh. Rob and Josh also performed ‘Black Bird’ and ‘I Will’ by The Beatles during the ceremony.”

One funny story of the day was a little debacle with the ceremony. Erin tells the story.  “The priest who was performing the ceremony was scheduled to have a hernia operation the week before the wedding. Unfortunately at 8:20am on the morning of the wedding the priest left Tyson a voice message to say there had been complication and he would not be able to make it to the ceremony and they would send a replacement. Let’s just say the replacement priest was a little off his game on the day, calling Tyson Pierce and almost forgetting to exchange rings. Luckily this meant there was no time to focus on nerves and we both found the whole thing hilarious. It also gave the guest something to talk about. Thankfully the original priest ended up making a full recovery.”

 Erin remarks “We both wanted the wedding to be low key, unique and to represent us. The most important thing for us on the day was being able to share the moment with our closest family and friends, enjoy good food, good drinks and most of all a good time.”

Palace Props  provided big LOVE letters for the couple’s backdrop. Erin notes, “I didn’t want to get bogged down with added props at the wedding as the venue looks so amazing as it is but while trawling through some wedding inspiration blogs I came across a photo of 4 large individual L O V E letters. After some more research I eventually tracked them down at Palace Props and ended up hiring them to use as a back drop for the ceremony. Rob from Palace Props had actually just made some new letters from marine grade ply wood, which fitted in perfectly with the venue.”

Of their photographer, Erin says “I first heard about Jess’s when a work friend of mine, Linda (Linda and Luke’s Rustic Rainbow Wedding) showed me her wedding photos. Tyson and I had been lucky enough to be invited to Linda and Luke’s wedding and I loved the way Jess had captured the fun and unique atmosphere of the day. We were both blown away by the casual, vintage feel of Jess’s photos. Neither of us wanted unnatural, posed wedding photos that would make us feel uncomfortable on the day. Once we had met Jess we were sold as she made both Tyson and I feel relaxed and at ease.”

As for DIY? “I designed all of the wedding stationary (save the dates, invites, rsvp’s, table number, menus etc) and had them printed at a local printer. Our Save The Date’s even included a coloured pencil for the guests to ‘pencil us in’. We also wanted guest favours that could double as place settings so we found small glass orbs and made them into terrariums. Tyson spent days leading up to the wedding date creating small succulent terrariums that had the guests name on the tag. We were rapt that all the guest, except three, had taken their custom made terrarium at the end of the night.”

The best part about the day? Erin says “Finally something that I really loved about the day is was how easily everything flowed. Besides the hiccup with the priest in the morning we didn’t have any other issues. Leading up to the wedding day was quite a stressful time, which is something I\’m sure most brides and grooms experience but the actual day was fun and stress free. Hair and make-up during the day was relaxing and easy. Erin and Michael took photos in a laid back and calm way which meant we weren’t stressed out or self-conscious. The staff and overall service at the Church St Enoteca was brilliant and very accommodating, we didn’t get bothered at all during the night. All our guests commented on what a great time they had and this was great compliment to us both and everyone who was involved on the day. I can honestly say we both had a wonderful time, which was over much too soon.”

Flowers of Canterbury created floral arrangements for the wedding. Erin explains “One detail that got left to the last minute was flowers and we didn’t organise them till the week of the wedding. Cobi at Flowers of Canterbury created some lovely, casual posies’ and button holes for the wedding party which really suited the laid back feel of the day. We also wanted some colourful arrangements for the tables, which Cobi arranged into large glass jars.”

Erin loved, “The guests who traveled and played a role in the wedding also helped make the day memorable. Tyson had relatives fly all the way from England to attend the wedding. We also had a few friends travel interstate and my 90 year old nanna also came for the ceremony. My god father Con was fantastic on the night in the role of MC, having someone who knows us both so well was great and made the reception feel a little less formal.”

For their first dance, Erin tells “Anyone who knows me knows that I refuse to dance. Tyson on the other hand doesn’t mind dancing, and convinced me that as he had ‘done the deb’ in high school so I would be fine if I just followed his lead. On the night we danced (I shuffled) to our favourite song ‘A Million Years’ by Alexander Ebert, which isn’t a song that most people know and added to the intimate feel.”

Congratulations Erin and Tyson! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us! Thank you also to Jessica Tremp Of Brown Paper Parcel Photography for sharing your wedding day with us!