Piri & Michael’s Modern Waterside Wedding

Piri & Michael

Piri and Michael chose an effortless chic vibe for their modern waterside wedding. They said their vows by the water, before celebrating with guests at a feast inside the surf club. Most important though, were the special touches they included to make their day so very much theirs. They chose Leo Farrell along with The White Tree to capture the fun of their day.

To kick us off, Piri tells the story of how they met. “One of my best friend’s good friends was being treated by a hot occupational therapist (Michael) for an injury she sustained at work as a paramedic. He told her that he was going to the Future Music Festival that weekend, as were we, so she told us to look out for him.

When he has stubble he has a circular white patch of growth on his right cheek. We both thought it would be highly unlikely to bump into him in a crowd of so many, but we promised we would look out for the white face patch guy. And, low and behold, we did bump into him! At the end of the day he asked for my phone number, which he promptly lost (or had too many drinks to put it in his phone properly). Luckily though, he was seeing our friend again for treatment. He asked her for my number and after several phone conversations, about one month later we had our first date!”

Piri chose a gown by Mariana Hardwick , noting, “My dress was from Mariana Hardwick and I absolutely loved it! It was the right mix of both beautiful and sexy, making me feel incredible with it on. It had a strapless bodice with a boned corset to mid thigh and buttons up the back. The lace on it was very intricate and I got it modified to include some beading over the cups and sides to give it a bit of sparkle. The full thick skirt had several layers of differing lengths of silk organza and tulle.

It was the first dress that I tried on that I actually loved the look, feel and fit. Not only was it the right style for my body shape, but the girls at the Brunswick store from the moment I walked in made me feel like an absolute princess! The whole team are so incredibly professional and their passion for perfection meant that I knew I was in good hands. The end result was that I am so sad that I won’t ever get to wear the dress again!”

Piri and Michael chose Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club  for their wedding.

Piri walked down the aisle to “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri.

Felicity Kerr officiated the ceremony, the bride remembering, “We chose our celebrant Felicity Kerr because we knew she would be able to create the intimate/personal vibe we wanted to experience with our closest family and friends. We didn’t want so much the traditional ceremony, and we wanted them to be in the moment as much as we were.

Before the ceremony started Felicity asked everyone to put away their phones/cameras to help this and Felicity did a great job engaging everyone by sharing a story of how Michael and I met each other, what we have achieved together so far, how we feel about each other and about our hopes and dreams for the future to come.”

“We had two separate readings – one by two of our closest friends and also my grandma – we let them select them and they were a poem by Wilferd A Peterson titled ‘The art of marriage’ and from the Bible – John Chapter 2 verses 1 to 11 ‘The Wedding at Cana’ respectively.”

Of their photographer, Piri tells, “Our photographer was Leo Farrell. He is not only an incredibly gifted photographer but such a lovely person to work with. We loved his candid style, and from the moment we met him he made us feel at ease. He is incredibly professional and has a knack for capturing the moment. We absolutely loved all the photos he took.”

“Michael and I are crazy animal people. We have three pets – two dogs and a cat that we treat like children. It wasn’t appropriate that they be in the wedding physically so we wanted to make sure their presence was known and acknowledged. This was perhaps taken to extreme because not only were they featured on a giant flag on the flag pole during the ceremony, but they were also on each of the tables instead of numbers, and also embroidered onto the bonbonniere napkins at each place setting as well as on hats at the recovery the next day.”

“My mum is an absolute creative genius and she helped us so much in putting all the details together for the wedding. She was pretty much our wedding planner! For the place settings we had little puzzle pieces that said our guests’ names, and then there were instructions for them to write a little message to us on the back of them and then stick them on a board that makes up a giant circle so that we have a memento to keep afterwards. We made little cones that had our two dogs and cat dressed up in tuxedos and wedding dress for the flower petals, and each of the three long tables were assigned to one of each of our pets, so we had their pictures in colour on some cardboard so guests knew where to sit.”

Guests enjoyed a feast prepared by Sorrento Catering , Piri noting, “I must also say that the food was exceptional. We wanted a sit down two course dinner but with share plates and a grazing style, then roving desserts. We also had several dietary requirements to meet! Barry from the Sorrento Catering Company did a brilliant job and absolutely nailed the brief. Our guests still talk about the food! The hot chips for the bus ride home also helped to dampen some hangovers the next day (slightly).”

Piri and Michael hired a photo booth from In The Booth to help guests have a little fun on the night.

“For our first dance we chose Roachford – ‘Only to be with you’. This is a special song to us not only for the lyrics but because it was a song we listened to on repeat for the first year of our relationship. We did dance lessons for a good six weeks or so beforehand and learnt a routine. I would highly recommend it because there were many laughs had between us when we were learning! I must admit it though despite our endless practices, we managed to stuff up on the night, but we still had a great time!”

Rutherford Entertainment DJ’d away the night, Piri telling, “Our DJ, Cam from Rutherford Entertainment had everyone up on the dance floor – young to old! Our favourite part of wedding planning was having everything fall into place, and learning a dance routine together! ”

Piri and Michael chose The White Tree  to capture a film of their wedding day celebrations. Piri tells, “We used The White Tree, and were absolutely ecstatic with the result. It really helps to take you back to the day, and to witness all those special moments shared with family and friends, and to hear the beautiful speeches again.”

Congratulations on your marriage Piri and Michael! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Leo Farrell for sharing today’s celebration!