Ev & Brad
Ev and Brad chose every element of their day to represent them. They stayed together the night before the wedding, they chose a venue that felt intimate, felt like them, they added touches of Japan – the place where they were engaged and even, not being the slow dancing types, chose a fun upbeat song for their first dance. Justin Hill Photographer captured a day that was so perfectly “Ev and Brad”.
Ev tells the story of how they met. “We were introduced by friends at a bar where we enjoyed a night of fun and made a connection. We moved in the same social circle for a few months and then Brad went overseas and by the time he returned, we both knew that we were meant to be together.”
The couple decided to make their morning start together, Ev remembers. “We broke all rules on the day and stayed at the Park Hyatt together the night prior. It was so nice waking up together on our day and then my sister arrived and we drove Brad home and her and I went out for breakfast before going to our hairdresser to get our hair done. We were back at the hotel by midday for the make-up artist and for the photographer to arrive.
I then had two friends come and get ready with us who were not in the bridal party. My parents then arrived an hour before the ceremony for photos so the whole afternoon was super relaxed and chilled. It was such a fun afternoon getting ready and I believe the less the circus the more relaxed the whole experience is. It doesn’t need to be stressful. My dad was there (he had been unwell for a long time and at times we thought he may not make it) and that was one of the most special parts of the day for me.”
Ev wore a hairpiece made by her sister with a beautiful gown from Lisa Ho . She tells, “I wanted a simple dress and saw this online and fell in love with it straight away. It was the only dress I tried on and it seriously took about 10 minutes.”
Ev and Brad chose Dianne Tanzer Gallery for their ceremony. Ev walked down the aisle to Ingrid Michaelson’s “The Way I Am”.
The couple were married by Helen O’Connor. “We were married by a celebrant who was in tune with who we were as people and that was reflected in the ceremony. There was a lot of natural banter between us and the guests throughout the ceremony, and lots of laughter. We asked a good friend to surprise us with a reading on the day and she chose a reading from Paulo Coelho. Our celebrant read The Apache Wedding Prayer by Albert Maltz.”
“We had our celebrant do a Tibetan bowl ceremony. The celebrant played the Tibetan singing bowl and while she did this she asked all the guests to silently send their wishes, thoughts and prayers for us to take into the future. It was amazing. Guests afterwards said they had goosebumps with the singing bowl.”
“My sister made some gorgeous tissue paper flowers (balls) which we had hanging off some tree branches in the gallery. We made our own invitations as well, which were a cherry blossom theme – our ode to Japan.”
The newlyweds chose to celebrate at the now closed De La Santos, Fitzroy. Ev explaining, “We wanted to stay true to ourselves and have the wedding reflect who we are. It was a small and intimate wedding and involved people who were important in our lives – mostly friends. We got engaged in Japan so cherry blossoms were the only constant throughout. The atmosphere at the reception was relaxed and quite informal and guests were able to mingle quite freely. There weren’t any real formalities, we wanted people to be relaxed and to enjoy themselves, because that’s who we are. ” Ev’s cousin made the wedding cake for the couple.
Of their photographer, Ev remarks, “Justin was great on the day. He is a really friendly guy and so easy to get along with. I had a sick father at the time and Justin was great in directing people and moving them along so that we could get my dad some rest in between the ceremony and reception. He was always around but never in our face. He was originally due to finish up with us at 9.30pm but was still around at 11pm when the reception finished which I thought was so nice of him and he went above and beyond there. We LOVED our photos, they were absolutely stunning!”
Of their first dance, Ev tells, “Our first dance was to Home by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros. Neither of us is known for our slow dancing skills so we wanted something fun and upbeat to take the spotlight of our dancing abilities.”
Congratulations on your marriage Ev and Brad! Thank you for sharing your day with us Thank you also to Justin Hill Photographer for sharing today’s wedding with us.
I love small intimate weddings