Sarah & Barry

Sarah and Barry held their beautiful wedding at Melbourne brewery Mountain Goat, captured by the ever lovely Lucy Spartalis, but not before a tea party and surviving a torrential downpour with friends! We seem to be the landing place for rainy day weddings- which to be honest I love because rain on your wedding day is about as awesome as it gets..or  least every single couple with rainy wedding days we features makes it so!

Sarah kicks off the post with the story of how she and Barry came to be. “We met through an online dating web site!! After our initial contact we realised that we actually only lived around the corner from each other in Port Melbourne! Our first date was a bit crazy… and Barry ended up meeting my entire friendship group (including my sister and brother in law) when we happened to turn up at the same pub… slightly intimidating for the poor boy… but he won them all over!”

Sarah wore a strapless gown by Martina Liana.

Fowlers Flowers created the floral arrangements for the day, Sarah remembering, “They sourced the VERY LAST vintage roses of the season in Vic! Literally… we had to work very carefully with our hair roses as they were super fragile. The most beautiful roses I have ever seen… muted pink and coffee/mauve.”

The couple met for a pre ceremony tea party, Sarah explaining, “Before the actual ceremony we met at our favourite cafe (Pearl Oyster Cafe (03) 9480 2500)… as I was leaving the house the weather changed suddenly from a beautiful sunny (but chilly) autumn day to black skies followed by a monstrous torrential down pour!! Needless to say I was a little stressed! We sat it out and were running 20 mins behind time to get to the cafe.

My dad was super sweet and so concerned about my dress getting dirty/wet whilst trying to get into the car, I’ll never forget it! So we finally arrived and as the weather had changed so rapidly the windows on the cafe had fogged over… I could see Barry peeking out… and then he drew a big heart on the window!”

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“The cafe owner, Ange had arranged the room full of kitsch decor, vintage pieces, fresh flowers and bite size morsels for us to devour before we headed off to get married! I loved having our little tea party… It was just so special and intimate and the most perfect chance to be with our families before we were pulled away to see all our other guests!! I would recommend this to EVERYONE!”

After a spot of tea, the couple headed off with their photographer, Sarah remembering, “We then decided to brave the elements and went for a wander around the streets to get our pics with Lucy! As we were waiting to cross the road a tram came past, suddenly throwing up a huge wave of water from the most recent down pour… it was hilarious! We all ran for the curb squealing and narrowly missed being drenched… people on the tram waved and a lot of drivers beeped to wish us as we scooted across the road with our umbrellas in tow 🙂 It was a lot of fun!! Although I lost a hell of a lot of body in my hair!!! Note to other brides… rain = flat hair!”

The ceremony and reception were held at  Mountain Goat Brewery, Sarah telling, “We moved onto Mountain Goat where we held the ceremony and continued immediately into our reception, catered for by Ed Dixon Food Design. Mountain Goat is a large warehouse space with a brewery onsite, red brick exposed walls, high ceilings and industrial fittings galore. They were simply awesome!

Sam was my go to person and she made everything so easy for me. They are very easy going and open to have the entire place kitted out exactly the way you want it… Sam and her team worked hard between the ceremony and reception to rearrange furniture and move a few key pieces to totally change the lay out and feel of the large open warehouse space.”

There were a few DIY touches, Sarah explaining, “I was keen to have a photo table with the wedding cake so I organised all of those, my sister did the lovely white flower wall hangings and also the heart decal on the floor where we officially got married. Barry works in graphic design as a finished artist, so naturally he wanted to do all of the stationery (engagement, wedding, order of service, gift table sign, thankyou cards). I took the cute photo that we used for the invites of a miniature vintage bride and groom cake topper… we also made our own envelopes for any monetary gifts that were super cute and got lots of comments!”

The couple had a beautifully sweet one tier wedding cake. Sarah tells, “My gorgeous friend Selena made our wedding cake – a lumberjack cake with the softest vintage pink butter icing.”

Sarah and Barry did make the most of other’s handmade goods for their wedding day! Sarah telling, “I bought quite a few things from Etsy! Maro Designs is where we bought our photo props! Great selection and all made in hand cut felt! Really cool! Ay Mujer is the shop where I sourced our hand cut Mexican wedding garlands… absolutely beautiful product… so pretty and a great vintage look! We also used Paper & Pip – this lady creates really cool stationery designs, sent as a pdf so you can print them yourself… we had her design a monogram logo for us to incorporate in our stationery.”

Of their caterer Ed Dixon Food Design, Sarah remarks, “We had marvelous service, so much attention to detail. They designed an 80% vegan menu for us without skipping a beat… the food was divine… people are still talking about it one year on!” Vegan guests also enjoyed vegan cupcakes from Mister Nice Guy Bakeshop.

Of their photographer, Sarah remarks, “Lucy Spartalis was our photographer. I can not put into words how wonderful, fantastic and drop dead gorgeous she has been! When we first met I knew I had chosen well as we were all on the same page  and looking through her portfolio I immediately loved her aesthetic. Lucy and Alastair captured us… just us… and in such a way I hadn’t really seen before! We booked her for a full 10 hour day and I’m so glad she was there to share it with us. My favourite pics are the ones of our wedding dance, Lucy climbed the stair case and shot the pics from a height to get the most amazing effect. ”

For their first dance, Sarah recalls, “We danced to ‘One day like this’ by Elbow. They are one of Barry’s favorite bands and we saw them live a year or so before our wedding… that song was the high light of the gig and we will always remember it! Our first dance was magical! We decided to use one of the big industrial down lights as a spot light and danced right under it. I told my sister (bridesmaid) to bring everyone else in after the first verse. We had all of our dearest friends and family around us,then some how we all merged into a circle, then we were in the middle and all around us were the beaming smiles! It was so much fun, I remember smiling so much my face hurt!”

Congratulations Sarah and Barry! Thank you for sharing the story of your wedding with us! Thank you to  Lucy Spartalis, for sharing today’s beautiful images!