THE BEGINNING
My bride and groom have very colourful and dynamic personalities combined with South American and Middle Eastern backgrouds. The team and I at Jason James Design were thrilled to create the design and styling for their wedding and wanted to produce a series of installations that reflected their personalities and embraced the fun of both cultures. It was a truly memorable and unique experience – and was nothing short of fabulous! I was also given a great deal of creative freedom by my clients which helps when developing such a unique concept! Influenced by the sheer scale of the Great Hall at Sydney University, I knew that what we designed had to compliment and speak to the beautiful existing architecture.
THE DESIGN
The overall design concept was to bring to life our couple’s colourful culture through a series of unique, and dynamic installations that guests could interact with. The design direction for the floral installations involved a custom designed 12 metre truss structure positioned over the bridal table with a modern fusion of cascading ferns, roses in oranges, pinks and reds, as well as hydrangea accents.
A mass of custom designed green trees created a rain forest effect at the back of the venue which was offset by the beautiful sandstone walls.
Terracotta hexagonal tiles, hand painted table numbers and hand written tags in custom calligraphy were attached to pears; together these details helped expressed the concept.
The cake consisted of three bespoke hand painted cakes, which were embellished with individual gold leaf geometric shapes taken from the invitation and menu graphics. The cakes were positioned on an oak timber table with a gilded gold mirror to reflect the floral garden running through and around the cakes.
THE PLANNING AND INSTALLATION
The team and I spent two months working on a detailed concept presentation outlining all of our couple’s requirements. During this concept stage we meet with many suppliers to discuss all of the design and concept requirements.
As there were several custom designed pieces, we had to draw on our interior design expertise to create the appropriate documentation for suppliers and quoting. We presented our vision to our client for review and she absolutely loved how we merged her vision with our aesthetic voice.
The next six months consisted of a series of meetings with client and suppliers to finalise all the details and begin the construction of the tables, metal frame structures for the florals; many props we ordered from all over the world.
During this process we always present prototypes, quotes and models to our client to ensure they are happy with the direction of their wedding; this also allows them to see the concept come to life throughout the whole process. The weeks leading up to wedding involved our team finalizing and signing off on all samples. This included the prototypes of the hand painted tiles we used for table numbers, calligraphy samples for name tags, final floral selection and colour palette choices. We visited several factories to view and approve our custom designed structures, table linen and furniture pieces.
Installation involved 48 hours of hard work, no sleep and a team of 50 people consisting of designers, assistants, florists, lighting technicians, builders, caterers, carpenters, painters and cake artists! This was an extremely detailed design and we were so blessed to work with an incredible team of suppliers who understood the design and were able to help execute our vision.
MY FAVOURITE DETAIL
My favorite detail was our custom designed floral arch over the bridal table. When we first presented a sketch and floral samples to our bride she cried happy tears and the same happened when she first walked into the Great Hall on her wedding day. We love to play with custom pieces for our brides and in this instance it was great to play with scale, colour and take a different and dynamic approach to what a bridal table can look like.
Images by Shayben Moussa via Jason James Design
Ms Chinoiserie Says: Just beautiful Jason; how wonderful to have the creative freedom to produce something so memorable; the flowers themselves are magnificent!
About Jason James Design: We seamlessly merge design, art, form and function to create unforgettable events and brand experiences. With Jason as Creative Director and Event Designer, we specialise in the composition and construction of bespoke events, luxury corporate activations and opulent weddings.
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