John and Nichola
We decided to have an instagram hash tag (#johnandnicholacheek) so our loved ones in far away places could see the day as it happened too. We love that it showed the wedding from different people’s views.
We also decided early on that before the ceremony we wanted some fun snacks while people arrived and got settled. I loved the idea of popcorn and fairy floss carts, John took a little convincing but came around in the end. After the wedding he told me how much of a success it was and that he was glad we had gone with them. I found the machines to hire on Gumtree and I managed to find a place that had both machines so they did a package deal! This included everything needed plus delivery and pick up. They were a private seller, just a young couple and they were great.
My Aunties were lifesavers not only did they go to the venue early on the day to set up flowers and decorations but they also served the guests popcorn and fairy floss as they arrived. We could not have done it all without the help of family and friends.
I managed to keep pretty calm and level headed through the wedding planning process, but once My dad, my bridesmaids and myself were in the 1952 Jaguar mark VII on or way to the wedding I did freak a little. I’m not great at public speaking or being in front of lots of people and the thought of it was a little nauseating: What if I stuffed up my lines? What if I fall flat on my face down the aisle? What if I forget John’s middle name? What if it rains in the middle of the ceremony? All these crazy what if’s flying through my head at 1 million miles per hour. Then I Skyped My Grandparents from my iPad in the car. They were over in England and unable to make it over, which was quite upsetting as I am very close to them… big mistake, the minute I saw them I burst into tears. My makeup needed fixing before anybody had even seen me. We had organised for them to watch the ceremony via Skype so they could be part of the day. I have to say it did almost feel like they were there, and I’m really glad we were able to do it.
Our flower girls were John’s (and now my) nieces Poppy, Daisy and Emily. They looked gorgeous in their dresses which were from nextdirect.com, they were all different yet the same fabric ad colour. So adorable.
As we arrived at the venue I remembered something a lady my mum and I had met the day before while bying flowers had said to me, she said “not everything will go as you planned on the day, you have to be ok with that and know that no matter what, it will still be your most perfect day”. Suddenly remembering that, I did feel calmer and better about everything. This was my wedding day and I was about to marry the greatest person I know, the love of my life, John, and it would be perfect even if I did forget my fur wrap, and my shoes were covered in mud and I got the name wrong, it would still be our most perfect day.
I walked down the isle to ‘Hoppipolla’ by Sigur Ros. When John and I first started dating we were watching a concert they did on dvd, and I remember John mentioning that this song had always seemed like the perfect song for somebody to walk down the aisle to. It stuck with me I guess and it then became the only song I could picture walking down the aisle to. We both love that song.
We wanted to keep the ceremony short and sweet. Our celebrant Esther welcomed everybody gave a little wave to my skype present garandparents, then read our chosen ‘verse’ which was ‘we’re all a little weird’ by Dr Suess. Then came the legal stuff and the bits we had to repeat. I was very nervous by this point, and you guessed it, I said the name wrong! I said Robert John Cheek instead of John Robert, and even worse I didn’t even realise, but thank the universe for Esther who quickly made a little joke about me marrying John’s grandad and repeated the name which I then said the right way, phew. Then we exchanged rings, I cried a little and we were Husband and Wife.
Suzie from Riverside at woodbridge was putting on a cheese board spread for the guests and the bar was opened while John and I had our wedding portraits taken. She even made us up our own mini version in a picnic basket with a bottle of champagne. She really does go above and beyond. We love her.
Our close friend Brendan from Boneyard Brewing over in Melbourne had offered to brew us a couple of different beers and supply the beer for the night as our wedding gift and our other good friend Alex designed the labels for the bottles. They were so amazing, the beers went down a treat, everybody loved them and the labels. One had John on the label the other had me on it and had everybody giggling and talking as they asked for either a John or a Nichola. We really can’t thank them both enough.
After the picnic and photo fun with Loren from nectarine photography (who was amazing! She is so lovely and made us both really comfortable, and we could not have imagined better wedding photos), we had nothing left to do but party with our loved ones. And it was a blast! There was great food, beer and wine, good music, and lots of dancing and laughter. We really just wanted everybody to have fun and we’re pretty sure they did.
The food was all done by Riverside at Woodbridge. We had decided on a variety of mini meals served through out the night instead of the sit down dinner as we thought it went with the relaxed feel we were hoping to create. We also wanted everybody to mingle and dance throughout the night.
The Food was Amazing! People are still commenting on how yummy and how much there was when we see them now. Suzie was more than happy to include vegan options and a majority of the meals were gluten free too, which was great to cater for all different tastes and such. In the end we had ten options of food and more than enough for everybody to try each, from arancini balls, to mini pork and gravy rolls to lime and chilli chicken and rice mini meals, it was all scrumptious.
We had decided on an amazing cake topper we found on etsy through a seller called Melabo of a unicorn headed bride and a Deer headed groom. This sent me off into a bit of a cake fantasy land and suddenly I was imagining my ideal childhood cake… layers of fluffy cloud looking cake with rainbows and sparkles all over it. I quickly realised John probably wouldn’t be super keen on the idea, but I proposed it anyway and surprisingly it wasn’t a No. He was happy for the cake to be cloud like but said no to the Rainbows and sparkles. I was more than happy with the compromise and we snuck a bit of sparkles in there anyway. We found a Cake maker who seemed to get what we meant and after a few weeks of emails we had our red velvet cake covered with clouds (and sparkles) organised. Custom Cake Designs were amazing. We could not have been happier with how the cake looked and it was so amazingly tasty.
We also had a sweets table which was filled with slices of our yummy wedding cake and the best cupcakes in the world. They are our longtime favourites, from Kustom Cupcakes Perth. They have Amazing flavours like gluten free Oreo, Salted Caramel filled, Peanut butter cup, snickers… yum. They are to die for. They also offer custom orders and delivery.
Also on the table were so many yummy macarons from Maison Saint-Honore, with flavours like pistachio, mango, rose, cookies and cream and my favourite Salted Caramel. These macarons are the best I’ve come across so far, they are perfect. They too offer delivery.
We had a very quick thank you speech that John gave, to thank Suzie, Esther, Loren (who had stayed longer than she was supposed to and even helped taking Polaroids in the photo booth we had made with some fabric, hats and props and our Polaroid camera) and everybody else who helped make our wedding the magical day it had been. Then we had our first dance. It was to ‘hope there’s someone’ by Antony and the johnsons, which we both love, its such a beautiful song.
From that point on it was all drinks and dancing and just general merriment, the whole day went so fast its crazy, but it really was our most perfect day.
Photos by Nectarine Photography
Ms Gingham says: I really feel so happy for Nichola and John! We’ve been so lucky to have Nichola write about her planning and now her wedding, so we feel like we know them! Congratulations!
Nichola says: “I’m Nichola, I’m 27 and I live in Perth with my amazing fiancé John and our kitty Whiskey. I work in an arts & Craft store, as I’m a huge fan of the afternoon and also studied art & design. When I have time to spare I love to ride my bicycle or go for a roller skate with my lovely girl friends, we just like having a laugh and a wine and talking about movies, music and shows we have come across, or checking out new bars and exhibitions and we all have our own styles and personalities. In the end (as cheesy as it sounds) I’m just an ordinary girl with a love of fun, laughter & lovely things.”
Catch up on Part 1 of Nichola and John’s cheeky little wedding here!
awsome wedding photos