Cheryl & John

The rooftop ceremony, the buzzing dance floor,  the stunning flowers were all part of Cheryl and John’s dreams for a “Modern, Simple and Elegant ” wedding day. The duo making sure they hired wonderful vendors who they trusted to bring their beautiful modern elegant Melbourne wedding day to life. Cheryl and John chose Beck Rocchi to capture their day.

John surprised Cheryl in Europe with a proposal, the newlyweds remembering “We met many years ago through mutual friends. We have been dating for 8 years before he proposed. I was on a family trip to Italy and Paris and unfortunately, John said he couldn’t make it. He was actually planning a secret trip to Paris to surprise me there. He managed to arrive in Paris three days before us and surprised us in front of Musee d’Orsay! He ended up purposing a few days later, in the drizzling rain at the gardens of Versailles palace, when I least expected.”

Miss Aimmey styled the bride and bridesmaid’s hair and makeup for the day, Cheryl noting “We were very blessed to be able to work with many great vendors.”

Cheryl chose an off the shoulder white gown designer by Toni Maticevski. She explains “I saw the dress on Instagram and instantly fell in love with it. It was a make to order piece so I took a risk and preordered it without trying. It arrived 5 months later and it was perfect and I did not to alter one bit of it!”

Cheryl and John enlisted the help of The Details Co to style their day and  Badlands & Co  to create the floral arrangements. Cheryl explains “I was quite particular with the look that I wanted for the flowers. I wanted them to look modern, nothing traditional and filled with greenery. It was to be soft, pretty and lush with white, cream, blush and green tones. Peonies were something I wanted, however, it was unfortunately not in season for the autumn, so my florist, Kimberley from Badlands & Co suggested David Austin roses. We also used lisianthus, hydrangea, orchids, Queen Anne’s lace, dahlias and tulips. I wasn’t very knowledgeable with flowers but Kimberley knew what I was trying to convey and she styled the whole venue with such beautiful flowers. I was so in love with the flower arbour!”

Cheryl and john chose The Deck, Circa The Prince for their wedding, “We wanted to have our wedding at a venue that could cater for both the ceremony and reception. It had a beautiful timber rooftop deck and a marquee as well, just in case the weather was not great on the wedding day. The venue was modern in design and was just enough for the number of guests we had. We loved the fact that we could have a bigger dance floor in the marquee on the rooftop. Circa is also famous for their quality of food, which was an important factor for us.”

Cheryl chose “Spend my life with you” by  Eric Benat Ft Tamia for her walk down the aisle.

Richard Bryant officiated the ceremony, of which the bride recounts “The ceremony was relaxed, fun and intimate. Luckily it wasn’t raining as expected and the wind calmed down during the ceremony. We wrote our own vows and signed our wedding registry right after the vows.”

Of their photographer, Cheryl remarks “I loved Beck’s work even before I got engaged. At the start, when I contacted her, she was booked on the wedding day, which was upsetting! Luckily, months later, Beck contacted me back and said she was now free for my wedding day. Beck was fun and carefree, really made us, including the bridesmaids and groomsmen more relaxed in front of the camera and to have more fun throughout the day.”

The rooftop was filled with flowers, ready for the party to begin. Fun details were handmade by the bride and her bridesmaids, Cheryl explaining “I didn’t have a guest book but the bridesmaids and I DIY’d a photo guest book instead. We bought some white photo frames, hammered some nails down onto two sides of the frame and tied twine strings across and attached wooden pegs on it. So our guests was able to take polaroid photos, write some notes on it and attach it onto the frame.”

Guests took home tea favours. “For the wedding favour, I wanted to give something that represented us. So I went to Lupicia, a tea shop, where sells various tea leaves. I ended up purchasing a beautiful green tea called Kotobuki and the bridesmaids and I packed the tea leaves in individual test tubes and attached it with a hand written calligraphy (note).”

Cheryl notes “There wasn’t a particular favourite part of the wedding planning but we felt very loved as so many of our family members and friends spent their precious time to help us make the wedding planning a lot less stressful and smooth, especially on the wedding day.”

DJ Pogz & DJ Awie from Kayumanggi Entertainment kicked off the dance floor with the first dance “In A Rush” by Blackstreet. Cheryl remembering  “The dance floor and a great DJ was definitely something was very important to us both, as we love RnB music and dancing. We hired a dance floor placed it outdoors, under the marquee, so that our guest could step out from the reception area and enjoy dancing in a spacious area. I had Lily from The Details Co to come and help us set up all our signages, our photo guest books, the table chart, guest name cards on the table and the wedding favours on each table.”

A big congratulations to Cheryl and John on your marriage! Thank you for taking the time to share your stories with us! Thank you also to Beck Rocchi for sharing today’s beautiful celebration with us!