Modern Cell Block Theatre Wedding

Luisa & Luke

I am so in love with the vibe of Luisa and Luke’s modern Cell Block Theatre wedding in the heart of the city. The couple chose to celebrate their marriage as they do their life – a big cocktail party with an industrial vibe with plenty of dancing and wine and that? That sounds pretty wonderful to me. Luisa and Luke chose Liz Ham to photograph their day.

Meeting in high school, Luisa tells the story of how she and Luke first came into each other’s lives. “We met in high school. We lived across the road from one another so met at the bus stop. Given we were shy and awkward teenagers it took our mutual friend Emma to introduce us.”

Louise Alvarez created the bride’s elegant long sleeve wedding gown. Luisa telling “I had my dress made by Louise Alvarez. I’d shopped for months and couldn’t find a single thing. Everything was too ‘fluffy’ and frou-frou. I’m quite petite so it always looked like I was playing dress ups. Louise was incredible and got it perfect right from the get go. I chose a very simple v-neck dress the colour was called ‘mocha’ from memory and looked different in different lights, the point was it was not the regular ivory, which I loved.”

Luisa and Luke got ready together and before their ceremony for photos around the city, with Luisa’s dad acting as their driver. Of their photographer, Luisa notes “One of my closest friends in the world bought me a magazine to get me in the bridal mood and I loved two particular wedding photos that were featured, turned out they were both by Liz! She was perfect. Very relaxed and did a lot of candid photos which was what we wanted, neither of us wanted many typical staged photos.”

In lieu of favours, the newlyweds asked their guests for donations to National Breast Cancer Foundation. Luisa explains “Luke lost his mother to breast cancer in 2004 and my father also lost his mother to breast cancer before I was born so instead of gifts we requested donations to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. We made sure to have a little table with a bunch of pink flowers and donation cards for people to donate on the date if they hadn’t previously and also to honour and remember those who couldn’t be with us.”

Luisa and Luke celebrated with guests at Cell Block Theatre, telling “A colleague of mine was married there and I fell in love with the venue. They’re so laid back, you have the venue for 12 hours and can literally do whatever you want. No noise restrictions either so we could have a live band. We had quite a few people coming in from out of town so being in the middle of the CBD was perfect as everyone could stay anywhere they chose and cabs or public transport was easy.”

Luisa and Luke worked with Honey Lane to plan and style the wedding, “Our events team, Honey Lane – could not have done it without them. I never had any wedding stress or running around because it was outsourced. Best thing I could’ve done – hands down I recommend them. So many weddings I have been I can recall the little dramas and stresses; I didn’t experience any of it so it was perfect!”

Luisa walked down the aisle to “La Vie en Rose by Louis Armstrong, it has been a favourite song of mine for years.”

A friend of the couple, Andrew Robinson officiated the ceremony, Luisa remarking “We aren’t religious so we just wanted it to be super quick and simple. We had done our photos before hand and spent the day together, and hung out with our guests as they arrived so the ceremony was literally a parting of the guests down the middle of the room and whatever we had to legally say. Our friend Andrew Robinson went through high school with us and was the celebrant so made it a lot of fun.”

Guests enjoyed a cocktail reception catered by Jah Bar, Luisa remarking “Colin and his team at Jah Bar (Spanish tapas restaurant on the Northern Beaches) catered as it is our favourite restaurant and it was heaven! SO much food.”

The couple chose a classic for their first dance, the bride remembering “Our first dance was to Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra. We didn’t rehearse anything or practice as Luke injured his foot a few weeks before the wedding so was wearing a moon boot until around 3 weeks before hand. We just did a sway type motion, after a few glasses of wine we were better than a pair of ballroom dancers!(ahem.)”