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Claudine & Arjuna

Today’s wedding is a stunner – the Autumn Substation wedding was planned from afar, the location a bid to where the couple fell in love. The Substation, an iconic Melbourne venue set the scene for Claudina and Arjuna’s traditional wedding with a modern twist. The couple choosing Blumenthal Photography to capture their wedding day.

Claudine tells the story of how she and Arjuna came to wed. “Arjuna and I worked in different teams at Deloitte and went on the same training course together. It was only after we both moved to London over a year later that we started to get to know each other and realised there was chemistry. After a couple of weeks of dating, Arjuna told me he loved me; my response was “no you don’t” as it felt too soon. Shortly after, when I got sick from food poisoning, Arjuna took a day off to take care of me and made me his mum”s chicken soup and at that point, I realised that Arjuna was not only someone who knew how to make me laugh, but he is also a very sweet and loving person. From that point on, I could not resist his charms. Seven years on, we are now married and the rest is history.”

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Claudine chose a Pronovias gown with a beautiful hairpiece from Doloris Petunia.

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Arjuna chose a navy suit from Ted Baker and his groomsmen wore grey suits from Marks & Spencer.

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Claudine’s bridesmaids wore gowns from Whistles. Claudine remarks, “My bridesmaids did an absolute stellar job helping out before and on the day. They made sure that I was relaxed and were at my beck and call, running around and doing last minute errands for me. This even included one of the bridesmaids popping downstairs with rollers in her hair and wearing a bathrobe to do a coffee run. Needless to say, she got quite a few strange looks. My girls made me laugh and I could not have picked better bridesmaids.”

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The day started with traditional games.

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Of their photographers, Claudine tells, “Blumenthal have a beautiful and classic style. We were provided with approx 1,100 photos of the day which captures every moment – exactly what we wanted!”

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We unfortunately can’t share the newlywed’s wedding film due to music copyright, but they were raved about by Claudine regardless who says! “ Preface Films were our videographers. I corresponded with Rochelle who I found to be very committed to delivering the best product she could and responsive. Rochelle invested a lot of her own time to become familiar with the venue and set up for the day. Rochelle also put in extra time to make sure she captured all the important moments of the day and we are very happy with video Preface put together of our day.”

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Claudine and Arjuna live in England but wanted to marry in the city they had met, so they set about searching for a Melbourne wedding venue and settled on The Substation. Claudine explains, “I inquired about a lot of pretty venues but they all did not feel like ‘the one’. When I came across the Substation using Google, I fell in love with the look and feel of the venue.

As Arjuna and I live in London, we had to rely on pictures on the internet and asked Winnie, our wedding stylist, to scope out the venue. When Winnie gave two thumbs up on the venue, I was ecstatic and excited to have found ‘the one’. The Substation has dramatic high ceiling and soft red drapery flanking Georgian style floor to ceiling windows framed by original red brick pillars. The features of the venue are stunning and yet, the venue is also almost a blank canvas so Winnie was able to personalise the reception. Arjuna and I only saw the venue in person a week before our wedding and knew we had made the right choice. We could not wait for our day to come.”

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Winnie Q not only planned and styled the wedding but also created the floral arrangements for the day. Claudine telling, “Vintage & Blooms by Winnie Q, our wedding stylist, did an absolute amazing job. Whilst Winnie is relatively new to the Australian wedding styling industry, we think Winnie has definitely met her calling in life. Winnie has a passion for her profession, is 100% committed to her clients, is responsive and very organised, has great taste with a creative flair and an exceptional eye for detail. Winnie invested a lot of time to ensure that she delivered on what we wanted for the day and worked with us on our ideas. On top of that, Winnie is the most easy going and loveliest person!”

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For the processional, Claudine tells, “I searched for months for “that song”. As soon as I heard this particular song, I knew it was the one…. “How long will I love you” – by Ellie Goulding who has such beautiful tones and given that we hooked up in London, we wanted a British artist.”

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“We wrote our own vows for the civil ceremony and when it came the time to exchange our vows, hearing the words that were written from the heart made the ceremony all the more special to us. Whilst reading his vows, there were quite a few tears shed by Arjuna which moved not only me but everyone so much that there were quite a few happy tears in the crowd.”

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Greg Evans performed the ceremony, Claudine noting, “Our celebrant was none other than Greg Evans who is best known for hosting a match making show in the 80s “A Perfect Match”. As Greg had experience in the show business industry, we found Greg to be the perfect person for the job. Not only was Greg very professional and entertaining, but Greg helped us in personalising our wedding with our own vows, promises and introductions for the ceremony. One of our friends said they wanted to get married again (with the same partner) just to have Greg as their celebrant!”

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Inks Hearts Paper created the stationery on the day.

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Majestic Cakery created a four tier wedding cake decorated with fuchsia and orange blooms.

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An elaborate feast was catered by Crystal Palace. Claudine noting “We went with Crystal Palace (CP) catering for an Asian banquet for our guests which included a 10 course feast with unlimited wine. I corresponded with Peter and Lili and both provided excellent service. They were very responsive (despite the fact that I must have asked a million questions and changed my mind several times), organised and made sure that everything went smoothly for the evening. And of course, the food was delicious!”

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“We debated on whether to have our wedding overseas and looked at several destinations before we finally settled on Melbourne. On the day, just seeing all our our closest friends and family from near and afar (across the globe) attend our wedding and seeing everyone united for our special day made it all the more special and we knew we had made the right decision to have it in Melbourne.”

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Of their first dance, Claudine remembers, “Not only had we not previously slow danced together but we also did not rehearse as we ran out of time. In addition, we decided on “Loving you” but wanted Leah McFall’s version from the performance show “The Voice”. I remember when I first heard Leah sing the song, I just thought it was such a beautiful version of such a beautiful song. It was only a few days before the wedding that we realised Leah had not officially recorded the song but the only version available was Leah’s performance on the voice with the crowd cheering throughout. By then it was too late to change our song choice and I just couldn’t find another song I wanted as much as this particular song. As a result, the bridesmaids were asked to cheer and clap on cue to coincide with the cheering. Throughout the dance, Arjuna kept asking me “what now… what next.. what shall I do…” After the day, much to our surprise, someone did ask if we took dance lessons… maybe we’re just naturals or at least that’s what we would like to think we are.”  Henry Nguyen kept guests dancing all night long.

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A massive thank you to Claudina and Arjuna for sharing their wedding story with us! Thank you also to Winnie Q for sending this wedding our way and Blumenthal Photography for the stunning photography!