Newlyweds in Fitzroys gardens

May & Hugh

I love the sophisticated feel to this urban garden party wedding. From the bride’s knee length gown with matching cape, the amazing soul singer the couple hired to play their favourite song as they walked down the aisle together, the delicious food and colourful macarons. It’s a celebration to get you excited for long, beautiful days outdoors and Renée Stamatis was there to capture it all.

May tells their story. “We met at our friend Ed’s party, just as I was heading overseas. So much of initial contact was through silly intermittent emails. By the time I came back to Melbourne, Hugh had moved to Sydney. A classic tale of latent desire thwarted by a series of deferrals.”

Groom doing up bowtie

Net-a-Porter CapeMary Peda Wedding Makeup

Manolo Blahnik Wedding Shoes

Bride with cape

May wore a dress and cape by Valentino . She remarks, “I’m half Italian and chose my dress because it reminded me of nonna. It’s elegant but relaxed which is how we wanted our wedding to be. I also loved that it had a cape which I thought would be nice to hide under. I saw it on Net-a-Porter when it was well beyond what I would consider spending on a dress. Nine months later it showed up on The Outnet at an extreme sale price, just one in my size, and I ordered it without thinking. Bargain bin wedding dress! Luckily it fit.”

Bride and groom

Melbourne wedding

Melbourne wedding family

Bride in lace wedding capeBride wearing cape

Bride in dress with capeGroom in Paul Smith bue suit

Bride with jade bangle

Of their photographer, May and Hugh tell, “We first saw Renee Stamatis’ work when she shot a styled bridal shoot on site in one of our workplaces. We have an incredible hand painted wallpaper in that site that depicts a Brazilian bird jungle. It has been photographed many times. The colours, lighting and detail captured in Renee’s work were exquisite and really stood out amongst the many images we have seen of the same space. We knew she would be perfect to capture our summer garden wedding.”

Renee Stamatis

Melbourne wedding photo

May and Hugh chose Fitzroy Gardens (Lawn 21)  for their wedding, noting, “The ceremony and reception were combined into a continuous garden party in the Fitzroy Gardens. The lawn we chose is both open and secluded with a magnificent line of towering trees. We both love the Fitzroy Gardens and the feeling of being lost in the beauty of the nature.”

Dahlia Wedding ArrnagementDrinks at garden party

Wedding flowers

Cecilia Fox created the floral arrangements for the day, the couple noting, “The flowers by Cecilia Fox were amazing. She captured the colours and feel of the day we wanted almost intuitively because we only gave her the barest brief. We loved having a dream garden party surrounded by flowers.”

Cecila Fox

Cecila Fox Wedding Flowers

Guests at garden party wedding

bride and groom walking to wedding

Frank McComb

Bride and groom walking up the aisle

The couple walked down the aisle together to Donny Hathway’s version of Song for You, performed live by Frank McComb .

Wedding ceremony in Fitzroy Gardens

Flowergirl with braidHappy wedding guest

Jo Betz officiated the ceremony, the newlyweds noting “We wanted the ceremony to be meaningful but short. We had a short reading from T. S. Eliot and included three moments for Frank McComb to perform live. Having an incredible musician like Frank play was an indulgence we allowed ourselves in light of the fact that we were otherwise having a relatively short, low key wedding.”

Jo Betz Marriage celebrant

Jo Betz Celebrant

Congratulationg groom

Bride receiving hugs

Intimate fitzroy gardens wedding

Frank McComb WeddingGarden party wedding in fotzroy gardens

May remembers, “There was no dancing. Just garden frolicking. Frank McComb performed his version of Donny Hathway’s For All We Know at the end of our ceremony.”

Blakes Feast Caterers

Cecilia fox wedding bouquetsGuest at Fitzroy Gardens

Garden party wedding reception

Blakes Feast Wedding Catering

Guests enjoyed champagne and canapes catered by Blakes Feast. “Blake’s Feast, our caterers, were incredibly professional to deal with and handled everything beautifully.”

Bride and friends

Child wedding guest

Pink flower in wedding guest hair

Outdoor wedding in Melbourne

“Our son made our day. He ran up during our vows and up to the microphone in all of our speeches.”

wedding guest with sun hatWedding reception in Fitzroy gardens

The couple remark, “We made sure the ceremony and speeches were short. Partly this is because we didn’t want to bore anyone but we also wanted it to be something our two year old son could take part in and enjoy. We also wanted to acknowledge and include our families so it was important that, although casual, there was enough formality to be respectful to the people we love and who love us.”

Garden party wedding in MelbourneWedding speech Melbourne

Garden party wedding venue

Crying wedding guest

Blakes Feast Desserts

Semi naked wedding cakeBride and groom cutting cake

Along with a beautiful tiered semi naked cake by Innicka Dee Cakes, the couple also served up plenty of macarons from La Belle Miette, which they also gifted as favors to their guests.

Lady with big hat drinking champagne

Groom with sonGuest with champagne

La Belle Miette

Laughing guests

Guests with macarons

Newlyweds in Melbourne

Congratulations May & Hugh! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Renée Stamatis for sharing today’s wedding!