Alana and James
There is a rich sense of romance to Alana and James’ Italian style Abbotsford Convent wedding- the couple, wanting to honour Alana’s Italian heritage – from the favours to the flowers, the dancing and the music. Each element came into play to create the warm family driven feeling the couple wanted for their day. They chose Jessica Prince Photography to join them on their day and capture their memories.
Alana tells the story of how they came to be. “We have been together since high school, I went to an all girls school and James an all boys school but the two schools would do some activities together. In 2004 the schools came together for Rock Eisteddfod and that’s where James caught my interest as a strapping young 16-year-old backstage boy!”
Alana wore a beautiful gown by Maggie Sottero, she tells, “My dress was a Maggie Sottero with layers of mocha silk and a lace overlay. It took me only a few shops to find it. I had asked my family and bridesmaids to come along and they all started crying when I put it on, I knew instantly that this was the dress.”
“A memory I will have with me forever is the moment I saw my Dad for the first time in my dress, hair and makeup done. I stood in the lounge behind the door as Dad stood with Mum on the other side, as Mum opened the door Dad’s eyes swelled with tears and his smile grew ear to ear. Everyone burst into tears as Dad’s emotion spread through the room. This is a moment we will never forget.”
Good Grace & Humour created the floral arrangements for the day, the bride gushing, “Our florist Megs was also a superstar. She worked on making our hanging arrangements whilst pregnant and got all of the many bunches of eucalyptus hanging looking beautiful in a short time frame.”
The couple chose Abbotsford Convent as their wedding venue, explaining, “The Abbotsford Convent captured our hearts from the day we walked into the courtyard. It encapsulated our Italian theme perfectly, the raw brick, large space and all in one location were what originally drew us to the Convent. We didn’t want our guests to have to travel between ceremony and reception and having it all in the one space was fantastic.”
The bride walked down the aisle to Sam Smith “Latch”.
Tash Webb officiated the ceremony, Alana remembering, “The ceremony was all about the love that we share, we decided on a very romantic style ceremony with some jokes peppered in. Our celebrant spoke about our wedding parties and we asked one of our friends to write a piece and read it. Their reading was breath taking and we heard it for the first time on the day. We wrote our own vows and there didn’t seem to be a dry eye in the house. Very emotional and loving ceremony! ”
Of their photographer, Alana tells, “Jessica Prince was a fantastic photographer, she captured the day exactly as we wanted. Her photography style means she documents the day rather than interrupting you to pose. This meant we never really saw her and enjoyed our day without worrying about the photos. She did a practice shoot with us before the wedding which helped a lot with our nerves in front of the camera. Jess was also very prompt at sending us a few photos we could share a few days after the wedding. When we received the photos Alana burst into tears of joy, the photos were just perfect. People told us as long as you have 1 nice photo you will be happy, well Jess got 360 beautiful photos, we couldn’t be happier!”
The Italian flavour was evident throughout the little details of the reception – right down to the favours. “We made our bonbonniere ourselves, they were little bottles of Limoncello to align with our Italian theme. We got our bridal parties and families together for a big day of peeling lemons. We threw a BBQ and made it a day. It turned out perfectly sweet and delicious!”
“We always wanted our wedding to have culture. Alana’s family is Italian and we both love the Italian way of living so we decided to bring a few elements into the wedding. After the ceremony all the guests had drinks and canapés in the courtyard where a piano accordion played, he played all the classic Italian songs with the family singing along. We then decided the bridal party were to enter into the hall dancing to the tarantella. When we arrived all the guests followed us to the dance floor where we made a circle and danced, danced, danced. It really set the scene for a fun night of dancing!”
The couple chose a mashup for their first dance, Alana remembering, “It was hard trying to pick a single song because we have been together so long we have so many songs that represent us. One day we were thinking a nice slow romantic song, then the next we wanted fun. In the end, we mashed up our own mix of 3 songs: 1. Tina Turner let’s stay together 2. Walk the moon – shut up and dance 3. Brooke Fraser – something in the water. Three songs that accurately represent our relationship love, fun and loyalty.”
Congratulations on your marriage Alana and James! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Jessica Prince Photography for sharing today’s celebration!
Join the conversation