Joy & Chris’ Grounds Of Alexandria Evening Wedding

Joy & Chris

Joy and Chris chose an evening wedding at favourite Sydney cafe The Grounds of Alexandria for their wedding day, choosing to celebrate their marriage in a way that felt informal. Much more like a party than a wedding with plenty of good food, dancing and a nod to Joy’s love of felines! The couple chose Mark at Gold Hat Photography to capture their easy going wedding day.

The newlyweds tell the tale of how they met. “Joy and Chris met in a bar in Sydney where he proceeded to beat Joy at table tennis despite desperately trying to lose – she’s really that bad at table tennis!”

Joy chose Nelder Jones  to design her wedding gown, telling, “We were very lucky that it didn’t feel like we had ‘vendors’, but new friends who helped us to create the most wonderful evening. I was planning on wearing a dress I already had, but after popping into Nelder Jones on a whim, I was inspired to have my dress made. They more than met my expectations and created a dress so beautiful I almost didn’t want to wear it for fear of ruining it. Once it was on, I didn’t want to take if off because it made me feel so amazing.”

Chris wore a navy suit from Arthur Galan, Joy remembers, “Chris is known for leaving things to the last minute and didn’t see why things should change on his wedding day! He picked up his suit on the morning of the wedding, decided to buy a new tie at 1.30pm and borrowed a belt from a neighbour when he realised he didn’t have one that matched his suit.”

Joy and Chris met by the harbour for a first look and photographs as the sun set.

Of their photographer, Joy and Chris tell, “We really struggled to find the right photographer, but we clicked with Mark and he really felt like the right photographer for us. He exuded a calmness and professionalism that made us feel he would not only be a great photographer, but the kind of person we wanted to spend the day with. It turns out we were spot on. Mark fitted perfectly into our day – from his dapper attire to his laid back sense of humour. But most importantly, we love the photos.”

Joy and Chris chose The Grounds Of Alexandria for their wedding, explaining, “We spent our evening at the Grounds and had our ceremony in the garden before moving into the roastery for a shared feast and dancing. The Grounds is a phenomenal venue with fantastic food and wonderful staff. It’s already such a unique venue, but our wonderful events co-ordinator, Anthony, worked with us to personalise the space to make it feel even more special.”

Joy and Chris note, “Joy is a well-known crazy cat lady and since their cat, Bruce, couldn’t be there in person (well feline), Chris created four life-sized Bruce cut-outs to dot around the venue. Everyone got involved in making sure Bruce felt part of the evening and he even kicked on to the after party.”

The couple dotted bicycles throughout their decor telling, “Bicycles were our theme and were on our invites and place cards. We also had a wonderful stamp created by terbearco from Etsy that we used on the envelopes, menus and had blown up to look like chalkboards for above the bar. A friend also lent us a beautiful decorative bicycle that we adorned with heart shaped fairy lights – it fitted in perfectly with the venue.”

The couple walked into their ceremony together, remembering, “We walked in together to a wonderful rendition of ‘Friday I’m in Love’ by The Cure played by Sam McNeill.”

Sophie Coombes  performed the ceremony, the newlyweds remarking, “Many of our guests commented on what a warm tone our celebrant, Sophie Coombes, set. She was wonderful and took the time to get to know us and offered lots of welcome suggestions to help us create an intimate and inclusive ceremony.”

Joy and Chris describe their wedding as, “Less wedding, more party with great people and awesome old school house tunes.”

Flour and Stone created an array of wedding cakes!

Joy and Chris tell, ” To match the laid back, inclusive feel of the evening, there wasn’t a traditional first dance. Everyone kicked off the dancing to Happy by Pharrell.”

Congratulations on your marriage Joy and Chris! Thank you so much for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Mark at Gold Hat Photography for sharing today’s wedding!