For some of us, a browse for daily inspiration and tips for beauty is part of our routine (sometimes perhaps, an over-indulged past-time!). From the hot tips on where to buy the latest season trends to getting that designer look for less, Drop Dead Gorgeous Daily is the perfect one-stop shop for all things beauty and fashion.We certainly love it here at Polka Dot Central!
So when we were able to sit down with the gorgeous Kate, the talented women behind this must-have blog, and hear all about her laid-back Melbourne wedding, we were super excited! Her advice on how to deal with the joining of literal “opposites attract” is heartwarming and, I’m sure, something quite a few of us can relate to!
Tell us about your Wedding!
Before I tell you about my wedding I feel the need to add a little caveat.
My husband and I are like chalk and cheese.
We literally have the exact opposite taste in everything. And while we have figured out how to balance that with most of our day to day bits and pieces, when it came down to having to compromise on the “dream day” we had both been imagining for years (yes, surprisingly my hubby had a dream day too!), things got a little tricky.
I wanted an intimate ceremony on a beach in Thailand with only our closest friends (and a few elephants… why not right, it’s Thailand!), he wanted the big white church wedding with everyone he had ever met in attendance.
I wanted to wear a blue dress, he was pretty sure I should wear white. His mum just assumed we would be married in a church; my Dad likes to quote Charles Darwin. You get my gist.
So needless to say what we ended up with was absolutely nothing like the “Big Day” that either of us had always hoped for, but in the end I think it was much, much better.
We were married in a teeny little chapel in Melbourne’s Docklands (it was the only church that would let us have a civil ceremony!), and our reception was at a rowing club further up the river which overlooked not just our city (our love of Melbourne is one of our few common loves), but also the place (ahem… bar) where we first met.
Food wise we choose a mis-matched menu of all our favourite morsels, and then for dessert we asked the ladies in our life to bake some of our favourite treats (thanks Mum!).
Ultimately our wedding was low-key, while still ticking all the formal boxes, and while I am still a little sore about the lack of pachyderm involved in the proceedings, I think it was perfectly us and that’s all the matters.
Photo by Niki Photography
What was your most memorable moment (or moments!)?
My favourite part of the whole day was actually when we got in the car at the end, and it was just us (and the cupcakes I had smuggled out…). We spent the car ride to the hotel stuffing our faces, comparing stories, laughing and just really soaking up what had been such an amazing day.
That and when my brother sang Hallelujah while we were signing the registry, he has the most beautiful voice and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house!
If you could change one thing, what would it be?
I won’t say elephants again (but you know I want to). I think there are two main things I would change if I could. Firstly just the timings of it (if only you could have a test wedding first!), I think we should have had the ceremony an hour earlier (we had it at 4), so we could have had more time at the reception. Either that or to have done the photos beforehand so there wasn’t that gap in between.
The second thing is I wouldn’t try and do so many things myself. I was hell bent on not having the reception at a “reception” venue, because I didn’t want it to be just the same as everyone else’s (roll eyes here). But what this meant was having to organize every single little detail, down to the cutlery, the lights, the microphones, the ice etc..
And I just really didn’t have the time or mental space. I think it’s good to let the pros take charge of those little things because there is just so much to do (way more than you would ever imagine!). And even if you do it to try and save some money (which was definitely a factor), by the time you calculate the actual time it takes to organize everything, and all those little costs you don’t even think about, you probably don’t really save that much.
Who are your favourite vendors?
I loved our Photographers – Luke at Luma Photography, our hair and make-up girls – Zoe O’Meara , and also the church – The Misson to Seafearers, Docklands.
What advice do you have for others planning their wedding?
Try and marry a man with the exact same taste as you… it really just makes things so much easier . Or if you can’t do that, be sure to marry someone who you are going to be able to sit back and laugh about the whole craziness of it one day. That’s what I did.
So many thanks to Kate for sharing her gorgeous and personal wedding, I loved the nautical details and the shots on Melbourne’s famous streets! To keep up to date with beauty tips and tricks, get informative guides to purchasing, and much more, check out Kate’s fantastic blog, Drop Dead Gorgeous Daily. Like the name says, it’s ok to look daily!
Ah! So beautiful – that last picture is just amaze. x