Tamara and Andrew’s City Rooftop Wedding

Tamara & Andrew

There is something about the city I find utterly romantic. I’m not sure whether it’s how you’re keenly aware of your own story in amongst the hundreds of thousands of people, the tall buildings, the architecture or if there are the stories that the buildings, the backdrops hold within their walls. Tamara and Andrew’s city rooftop wedding is one of these romantic tales. The wedding, captured by Maho and Pea, takes place in South Melbourne and is carefully considered every step of the way.

Tamara tells the story of how she and Andrew came to be. “We met at work 13 years ago but started seriously dating 6 years ago. We had both been interested in each other over our friendship but our timing always seemed to be off, things fell into place at a day at the races after I got back from a couple of years living in the UK.”

Tamara made the invitations herself, with a little help! She explains, “I designed the invitations and had a lot of help from my mum, my sister and my brother’s girlfriend putting them together. I then used a similar design for the menus and place cards on the night.”

Florist Ivy and Eve created the floral arrangements for the day, Tamara remembering “Jess from Ivy and Eve did an amazing job of the flowers, particularly because I wasn’t all that decisive in what I wanted. She was so lovely to chat to and very patient, going through lots of ideas with me and making sure I’d be 100% happy with what we chose.”

Tamara chose a lace gown from Linda Gorringe Couture .”My dress was from Linda Gorringe, after two days of shopping at 10 different stores with my Mum and sister, I went back to Linda Gorringe to retry it on and I just knew it was the one. I also got my gorgeous headpiece and earrings there as well. I designed my shoes on Shoes of Prey.”

The groom and groomsmen wore suits from Formal Red. Tamara telling, “Andrew bought his suit from Formal Red. We also got the groomsmen’s suits there as well. One of our Groomsmen wanted to buy his suit and the others were hired, they did a great job of matching them up even though they weren’t exactly the same suit.”

The couple met before the ceremony for photographs, Tamara remembering, “As we were having the wedding and ceremony in the one location, we decided to have the formal photos beforehand. We met down at Treasury Gardens for our ‘first look’. It was really great getting a few moments together before the rest of the day unfolded. After some photos in the garden we headed to The George Hotel, which was a lot of fun and very relaxed and we actually ran into a few friends there who were coming to the wedding.”

Of their photographers, Tamara says, “Matt and Peta from Maho and Pea did an amazing job of our photos. They had taken a friend’s wedding photos and after a chat over coffee we booked them straight away. It was one of the easiest and best decisions we made. Not only are they fabulous photographers but they are also such nice easy going people they made being photographed a breeze.”

Tamara and Andrew chose one venue for their ceremony and reception – Luminare . Tamara remarks, “We wanted a venue where would could have a great setting for both the ceremony and the reception and Luminare in South Melbourne was perfect. It has an amazing sky deck which overlooks Port Phillip Bay, where we had the ceremony and the loft style reception building has another deck with fabulous views of the city. Luminare is managed by The Big Group whose food and service was absolutely impeccable. Jocelyn from the Big Group did an amazing job of helping me pull together everything at the last minute.”

Tamara walked down the aisle to “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri.

Tamara remembers, “The ceremony itself was also very funny. Andrew’s Best man fainted just before our vows were about to start. During our vows Andrew used our nicknames which shocked everyone (especially me and the celebrant Monique) but made them laugh. Then during the signing of the registry instead of the music I’d chosen playing, the ipod kept skipping to some dance music. By that stage I thought there was nothing else to do but laugh.”

The bridesmaids wore floor length black gowns. “We got the bridesmaids dresses from Swish in South Melbourne. I didn’t intend to get long dresses but the girls all loved them and they all looked fabulous in them so that’s what we went with.”

The couple chose Monique Duggan to perform the marriage ceremony. Tamara tells, “Our celebrant Monique. We left choosing what we wanted until quite late and with Andrew’s Mum passing it was a job we found quite hard and very emotional. Monique put everything together for us and did an amazing job of helping us express what we wanted to say.”

“The day was full of laughs with a few little hiccups along the way. 40 of our guests got stuck at Crown waiting for taxi’s for over 45 minutes and were still there 10 minutes before we where supposed to walk down the isle. Crown helped out though and got there private cars so it was all OK.”

One of the highlights of the day was the speeches, Tamara remembering, “The speeches were all brilliant. My sister, Andrew’s best man, my dad and Andrew all did a fabulous job of keeping everyone laughing and still having some very heartfelt touching comments.”

The couple included special touches to remember family members who had passed. Tamara remembers, “Andrew’s parents have both passed away, his Mum unexpectedly six weeks before the wedding, and we wanted to honour them both while still making sure there weren’t too many tears and everyone enjoyed themselves. I wore one of Andrew’s Mum rings and Andrew wore his Dad’s watch and cufflinks on the day. We also had the venue set up a credenza with some photo’s, candle, placecards and their favorite champagne and beer glass (with some champagne and beer on ice too). Our celebrant Monique did a great job of mentioning them in the ceremony without making it too tearful.”

Of their first dance, Tamara tells, “We danced to James Blunt ‘Bonfire Heart’. I wasn’t that keen on getting up to dance but knew everyone would want us to. I had told my bridesmaids they had to get up very quickly and join in. We just did a bit of an unrehearsed shuffle but Andrew threw a couple of spins in there, which I just had to go with.”

The celebrations continued long past the lights at Luminare dimmed, Tamara explaining, “We loved having all our family and friends at an amazing venue, with the bay views and city lights, to celebrate our day and party the night away with us. Even kicking onto Crown afterwards.”

Congratulations on your marriage Tamara and Andrew! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Maho and Pea for sharing today’s wedding with us!