Alannah and William
William and I have known each other since we were little children. After years of friendship, William finally plucked up the courage to ask me to be his girlfriend and soon after he asked me to marry him. I was only seventeen at the time so I respectfully declined; he was such a gentleman though and he was willing to wait for me until I was ready. Exactly three months after my 21st birthday, he proposed.
William was really adamant about the ring, he wanted something that he knew would make me happy and a piece that I would adore and would be an heirloom. He found a cushion cut diamond and with the help of Gus from Diamond Emporium, they were able to create a piece that is stunning and unique.
My engagement ring’s old world charm is actually what inspired our wedding theme. We wanted soft romantic textures with baroque accents reminiscent of the Renaissance era; for us it was really more about how we wanted the day to feel and what emotions it invoked. Our beautiful stationery by Lure Invitations captured the mood perfectly. Ultimately we wanted our guests to have a wicked time!
Our entire bridal party stayed at the Meriton Apartments which was so much fun; we had the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner there the night before. The boys had their own ‘bach-pad’ and the girls and I were able to have our sleepover with matching pyjamas and champagne.
I chose an Allure Bridals Couture ball gown with Chantilly lace and English netting; the belt of the dress was so pretty with mother of pearl and Swarovski crystal accents. I decided to pair my beautiful dress with a cathedral length custom-made veil of English netting. I kept my jewellery very minimal and decided on a custom-made Stephanie Browne hair piece and earrings.
For shoes I wore a pair of Chantilly lace heels from Italy. I had searched high and low for the perfect pair of shoes and couldn’t quite find what I was after, so I decided to chance it and order these online! I was not disappointed – they were beautifully made with exquisite materials. They matched perfectly with the soft lace on my dress.
For my hair and makeup, I chose Peta Winter Bridal Hair and Samantha Chidiac Makeup Artistry. I began following their work closely on Instagram and fell in love with their style; upon meeting them, their passion and professionalism was simply infectious. Peta and Samantha captured exactly what I had visioned for the girls, my Mum and myself.
I had my sisters and my best friend as my bridesmaids. I knew what I had in mind for the girls to wear – I wanted a colour that I hadn’t seen before in a full length dress with a beaded bodice. After a few weeks of searching, I fell in love with Australian formal dress designer Jadore. The dresses were a beautiful greyish-mauve colour – they looked so beautiful!
William and I are always surprising each other. So not only did we decide to spoil each other, but we decided to spoil our bridal party with gifts they could use on our wedding day.
William loves DC comics and in particular, Batman. He had absolutely no idea but I arranged a Bat Mobile to pick him up and take him to the wedding venue, he was completely stunned. The Bat Mobile even had fire rockets!
My bridesmaids walked down the aisle to Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’ which was covered by the Vitamin String Quartet. I love Coldplay and really love how poetic the lyrics of the song are. Even though we chose the instrumental version, I still had the lyrics in my head which really helped calm my nerves. I walked down to ‘My Turning Page’ by Sleeping At Last. This was a song William and I chose; for us it was simple, soft and romantic, the lyrics speak of how love can change one another for the better and this resonated with us. Music was a very important element for our wedding day, William and I spent month’s carefully putting together playlists with our DJ/MC John of Pro Dj’s Australia.
William and I are both half-Filipino, so having some of the traditional Filipino wedding customs were important to us. Known as the symbols of marriage, the veil symbolizes the presence and protection of the lord in the marriage, the cord symbolizes the couple’s bond and the coins symbolize mutual support for other another as well as the 13 Foundations needed for a successful marriage.
We decided on the beautiful historic Oatlands House in Sydney to be the backdrop to our fairytale romance. With its beautiful manicured gardens, Georgian inspired architecture and old world charm, autumn at Oatlands House is simply breathtaking. The grape vines were beautiful shades of rich reds, browns and copper which are accented by the pretty setting sun providing a warm rich background perfect for photos.
Styling our wedding was a village effort – I had spent months refining my ideas on Pinterest, drawing inspiration from other weddings, we had multiple suppliers which helped our vision become reality.
Luke and Lina of Circle of Love Weddings arranged the floral and decor for the ceremony. We wanted a soft backdrop as well as an arch which the Rose Garden at Oatlands House didn’t have. To achieve the desired look, we went with a white timber arch with ivory drapery, a crystal chandelier and a double floral header and other floral accents. The floral tiebacks were soft pinks, ivory and white.
John Emmanuel of Luxurious Events provided the flowers for the bridal party and the centrepiece arrangements for the reception. I wanted fluffy bouquets with dusty miller as it’s my favourite foliage. For the reception tables, we used soft mocha table linens overlayed with a champagne organza and alternated centrepieces with crystal candelabras and large floral arrangements.
Maggie from Fresh Creative Styling was wonderful with the decor styling for the reception including the signing table which included family wedding photos, some of which were over 100 years old! Jessica Nohra from The Wedding Company provided the welcome frames, seating chart and wishing well. For the baroque accents, I found some white frames from ebay that were spray painted gold. I distressed them slightly and designed the table number and sign inserts.
To surprise our guests we had Zaffet Lebnen perform for our grand entrance, William and I felt like royalty, it really set the mood for the evening with dancing, laughter and celebration!
We really wanted to create an intimate romantic and enjoyable day for our 70 guests; we wanted everyone to enjoy themselves as we celebrated the next chapter of our lives together. For our first dance, we chose John Legend’s ‘All of Me’ featuring Lindsay Stirling; we even had low-lying fog which made it even more heavenly!
The lovely Julie of Razzle Dazzle Cakes created the most decadent sweet masterpiece I have ever seen; not only was is a visual delight but it was absolutely scrumptious! It consisted of red velvet with cream cheese filling, white chocolate and raspberry swirl and buttermilk chocolate with white chocolate filling.
We ended the night with dancing and a sparkler send off. It was the most romantic, wonderful day and magical, whimsical night; we could not have asked for a better day and we wish we could live it all again.
Ms Chinoiserie Says: What a wonderfully romantic day Alannah and William; your planning and attention to detail captured the special magic that you wished for!
About Lana1709: I am 24 years of age and have known my husband since I was six years of age; our mothers have been good friends since they were in their twenties. We have been together for seven and a half years and we own five Pomeranian dogs. I work in the public sector and he’s a rigger. Our wedding was just after our eight year anniversary! I would say I am someone who loves to plan to make plans to plan – I am always throwing parties for friends, organizing parties or planning parties. Lots of fun!!
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