Laura and John’s Elegant Circus Inspired Wedding

I love the love story of Laura and John, it is beautifully sweet and the subtle circus inspiration running through the day (and mojito bar) appeals to the fun I love about weddings. Pair that with yellow socks and we have a winner!

Laura tells how they came to be. “We met in Kuala Lumpur in October 2007 (I was living there and John’s parents were living there and he was visiting from Perth with Ben. (Best man). It was very late and I was with my sister heading to a rugby match and John and Ben were just out. We ended up meeting and swapping numbers as they were there for another week and my sister and I were living there at the time.John and I just clicked and he extended his holiday and stayed on until he had to go back to the Oil Rig. I had never been to Australia before and had always wanted to visit. John asked me if I would like to visit on his next time off and I did. We spent 3 weeks together and when I had to go back to Kuala Lumpur it was sad and when we got to the airport he told me he loved me and he didn’t want me to be so far away and asked me if I would think about living in Australia and the rest is history.”

Natalija Brunovs- I Heart Weddings captured the fun, fresh wedding photos (so much colour and light!) that we’re sharing today.

Laura says, “Our wedding was elegant with a fun circus theme in yellow, turquoise and white.” Laura and John hired Cathrin D’Entremont Weddings as their wedding planner.

“I loved how it all came together, and the look and feel of everything was perfect even though we didn’t have a rehearsal, I hadn’t had a makeup or hair trail, tried any food, desserts or cheeses, I hadn’t met some vendors and if I had met any of them it was 2 weeks prior and was really hoping it would all piece together and look good out there on the day, and it did. One of the best things about the wedding is how it all came together even though it was all planned from London. Only having 2 weeks in Australia before meant a lot of running around and it wouldn’t have been possible without Cathrin D’Entremont Weddings (my wedding planner).”

Laura chose a gown by Pronovias while her bridesmaids wore pale yellow gowns by Monsoon.

The couple chose to meet before the ceremony, Laura explaining, “One of the best choices we made was to have a first look which was suggested by our wedding planner Cathrin. I think that we were all starting to get a bit nervous a couple of hours before the wedding. Having the entire bridal party meet in East Perth just before the wedding was great. I got to sneak up on John and as soon as he turned around I knew neither of us was that nervous any more. We managed to get some photos by our special tree that we carved our initials in years ago and have a couple of bottles of champagne and take some lovely photos of just John & I, Ben, Aaron, Briony, Naomi.”

Laura recalls, “I walked down the Aisle to Rainbow Connection by Weezer featuring Hayley Williams. It was all really pretty and everything was perfect and I was so calm. Then, just at the top of the aisle, I put my heel through the lining at the back of my dress haha! I tugged on my dad just and said ‘Stop! My heel is caught on the back of the dress’. It was quite funny and I had had a fair few glasses of champagne which had helped with the nerves. I think we managed to sort it out and pull it off quite well in the end. It was all OK and funny because I knew I had my dad. It was really emotional, a daughter can’t explain that feeling when they look into their eyes just as they give you away. ” Laura and John were married at Woodbridge House Guildford .

“For our group shot we decided to try something slightly fun that wasn’t us just standing there. We got 10 massive balloons which we gave to different people and took photos in front of Woodbridge House as we let them go.”

“When we were living in London John really wanted to get a hat from one of the traditional hat shops in London. He searched for ages for the hat and finally found it. It looked a bit like the one from The Blues Brothers. After the ceremony, at sunset, the photographer and videographer asked us to go to the jetty for some private photos in the sunset over the water.

John decided to get some photos in his hat so took it with us. As we just got to the end of the jetty I turned around to give John a kiss and as I lifted up my arms I knocked it and it fell down onto the jetty and rolled off into the water! We couldn’t reach it and I felt terrible. I knew how much he searched for that hat but he said it didn’t matter and we stood watching the sunset, on the jetty, drinking champagne, holding hands and watching it very slowly drift down the river, until it eventually went under and wasn’t to be seen again. It was really nice because the jetty was so far down no one else could see us and it was quite nice, just the two of us.”

Of their photographer, Laura says, “Natalija from I Heart Weddings did a fabulous job of capturing all the tiny details of our wedding and all the intimate moments. For the most part I hardly knew she was there so it’s been lovely to see the natural memories of our day. I’m very camera shy but I love the photos and how we’ve been captured.”

The Black Truffle created the cake of cheese and table of desserts! Laura explaining, “We had a couple of cool aspects with the food like Cheese Wedding cake (which looked so cute) which then made up a huge cheese board with all sorts of condiments. We also had 18 really cool magnums of Moet which were wrapped to make them look gold. Lots of people were just drinking them by the bottle and using them as a prop for photos. Most of them now have homes in my friends’ houses as decoration or to hold a candles!”

“Mary-Anne (my sister in law) helped me put together the pin wheels while we were staying down in Mandurah. It took all night, but once we got into the rhythm and got the technique down we managed to do them all. We had a few details at the wedding to give it that more laid back feeling fun. As it was more of a cocktail reception we wanted to keep people moving about around the dance floor and with fun things to do and look at.”  Flower Talk created the floral arrangements for the day.

ROC Candy
 created custom rock candy for the wedding, Laura tells. “I made the party favours the morning of the wedding with my Briony (Maid of Honour) and my sister, Naomi (Bridesmaid’s). I had collected all the bags and ribbon myself and ordered the candy from Roc Candy in Perth. We just put the together that morning and I loved them. They did colour matching, so they looked really good. They tasted great too. We had passionfruit, just perfect .”

“We had a mojito bar which everyone LOVED. It’s probably Jon’s favorite alcoholic drink. We had enough supplies to make 320 mojitos and I don’t think there was much left.”

For their first dance, Laura recalls “We danced to Earth Angel by Marvin Berry & The Starlighters (because it’s from Back to the Future and he loves all the movies…..And it’s just and awesome song). We didn’t really have and special dance planned. That would have made us much more nervous and we are much better at swaying. It was lovely.”

Congratulations on your marriage Laura and John! Thank you for sharing it with us! Thank you to Natalija Brunovs- I Heart Weddings for sharing today’s images!