Romantic Cargo Hall Wedding

Sam & Chris

Everything that could be romantic, is romantic in this romantic Cargo Hall wedding. From the bridesmaid’s reaction when they saw the dress, the bride’s face as she walks down the aisle, the special first look, the wonderful speeches. Every bit of the day fell into place just as it should be. Laki Sideris was chosen to capture it all.

Sam spills the details of how Chris popped the question. “We both returned to our hometown of Newcastle on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christmas with family and friends. Every Boxing Day, I have drinks with a few girlfriends to celebrate the festive season. This particular Boxing Day, two of my best friends arrived early in the morning to kidnap, blindfold me, and drive 30 minutes to a spot by the lake that Chris had set up with flowers and petals to propose. Chris proposed, I said yes, and then we celebrated with champagne and a few close friends in the park! Little did I know he had been designing my ring with a local jeweler for over 3 months.”

The bride wore a gown from Rachel Gilbert, noting, “My dress was from Rachel Gilbert – It was part of their new collection and quite different to their other styles, but I absolutely loved it! Finding the perfect dress was a bit harder than I first anticipated as I was after something that wasn’t the traditional strapless, tulle number. My bridesmaids live in both Newcastle and Adelaide, so this made it even more difficult, with me putting deposits on two other dresses before I found the one. Even though I had a dress on order that the girls had all seen it still didn’t feel right.

One day I was out shopping by myself and stumbled across my dress and bought it on the spot (cancelling my other orders). I decided that it would be fun to keep my new dress a secret, and that I would surprise them with it the day before the wedding. I managed to keep them in the dark about it, only sitting them all down the day before the wedding to break the news. The fact I could hold such a big secret for such a long time was fun – the feeling when I could finally show them while we were all together was amazing! We all ended up in tears jumping up and down with excitement. Will never forget that moment!”

“Chris and I decided to break tradition and meet up before the ceremony. It was our little secret, with only the bridal party and photographer involved. We hung out on the rooftop garden for an hour or so drinking champagne with the bridal party. It was such a fun part of the day and helped nerves. By the time we were about to get in the car to head to the ceremony, I was ready to race down the aisle to be with him again!”

Sam remarks, “The vibe for the day was relaxed and laid back; it was more like a party than a formal reception. As for the theme, we liked to think of it as garden romance, with a bit of tequila thrown in!”

Sam and Chris wanted a garden ceremony and chose Fitzroy Gardens. “The Fitzroy Gardens were magical.”

For the processional, Sam tells, “We had been thinking about possible songs for quite some time, and then one Friday night we were out for dinner, and ‘Follow the Sun by Xavier Rudd’ came on. Once we heard it, there was little decision making required. We never wanted anything that was a “traditional” wedding song or too gushing. I think that we got it spot on!”

Matt Finch officiated the ceremony and the bride? One of her favourite moments happened in the middle of it. She tells, “One of the funniest moments was on the wedding day when my my poor sister thought she had left my vows in the car. I had been asking her all morning if she had the vows (as I planned to read through them one more time in the car) and it got to the point where she quite animatedly told me in no uncertain terms that YES, she had the vows.

It was only when she was standing at the alter, and the celebrant made reference to the upcoming vows that she realized she had left them in the car. You can almost see that exact moment when her face dropped. A few panicked whispers and my bridesmaid’s husband realized something was wrong, and secretly made his way over and was told that yes – the vows were in the car. A mad 400m dash (in between each tree of course) and he returned just as the celebrant whipped out his ipad, much to the amusement of all three bridesmaids! Crisis averted. Still, Chris and I saw nothing!”

Kathleen from Wedding Dayz styled and organised the occasion, Sam remarking, “She created the most amazing ceremony and reception setup, and ensured the whole day went smoothly from a logistical perspective. She really made our day what it was, and we can’t thank her enough. I will never forget walking into the reception thinking I was in a Pinterest dream.”

Of their photographer, Sam remarks, “Our photographer Laki Sideris was great! He was like a photography ninja! You wouldn’t even realise that he was there and before you knew it he had taken a whole host of snaps of the moment. Once we got the snaps back we were so happy with the results! Laki did a great job and all our photos are so natural and depict the day as it was! He was also one of the last people to leave the reception – I think that he wanted to party on!”

“One of my favourite details was the gold glitter dipped feathers that my sister made. They looked amazing!! ”

Sam and Chris chose Cargo Hall for their reception, noting, “The reception venue Cargo Hall, South Wharf was amazing! We moved to Melbourne two years ago and knew we wanted to get married in the city. We both walked along South Wharf many times, however, one day Cargo Hall had an open day. Once we saw the inside, we knew it was perfect!”

Chris tells, “We weren’t going to have a first dance, but Sam decided last minute that we would so she could have a daddy daughter dance. Towards the end of the speeches, we sent the best man running to the DJ to pick a song. The DJ chose ‘Love me Like You Do’ by Ellie Goulding. This was the same song the girls had been playing as they arrived at the ceremony so Sam was pretty over the moon with that!”