Siobhan & Michael  

I love the mix of old and new at Siobhan and Michael’s elegant Sydney yacht club wedding. The bouquets of marsala and peach speak to the trends of the season, while intricate details like Siobhan’s beautifully beaded gown are all about times gone by, beautifully captured by Emma Hampton . I can’t wait to share this gorgeous day with you!

Siobhan tells the story of how they came to be – and it involves champagne glasses! “We were set up by friends of ours (who ended up being a bridesmaid and groomsmen in our wedding party). They had tried (unsuccessfully) for months to introduce and had nearly given up when Mike was hosting a champagne breakfast on Anzac Day and Andrea asked could she invite me along. She told me “if you don’t come I will never try to introduce you to anyone again and you will end up an old spinster” ha-ha so I agreed to go (despite LOATHING set-ups). Mike asked if I could bring some extra champagne glasses as he didn’t have any. We had our first kiss that day and that was it. The champagne glasses never left the apartment. A year later I moved in. Three years later we got married. J”

Lisa Gowing  created Siobhan’s gown, the bride remembering “I bought my dress from Lisa Gowing, Woollahra. I had seen the dress on Pinterest before I was engaged. My mum and I were holidaying in NYC and she said to me one night “when you get married I would like to buy your dress”. So, for fun, we looked on Pinterest for dresses I might like. A month later Mike proposed so I booked an appointment at Lisa Gowing to try on the Millicent dress. It was the first and only dress I ever tried and it was just perfect.”

Simone Forte styled the bride and bridesmaid’s hair and makeup, the bride remembering “My make-up artist Steph was also wonderful. She was so calm and kind to everyone and made my bridesmaids and I look picture perfect. She was super flexible with when my trial was and what time to arrive on the day and just made everything feel calm and exciting all at once. My hair stylist Normie also did an amazing job of making everyone’s hair look 100 times better than we could have imagined.”

Siobhan and Michael chose Blackburn Gardens  for their wedding ceremony, noting “Our ceremony was at Blackburn Gardens. The gardens are just beautiful, full of gorgeous colours and in one of our favourite parts of the world. With Mike’s family travelling all the way from the USA we really wanted to have somewhere with a harbor view and close to our reception. It was perfect.”

The bride walked down the aisle to Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good”.

Rebecca McLaurin officiated the ceremony, the newlyweds remembering  “We wanted our ceremony to be relaxed, happy and full of love. It had all of this and more. We had our nieces and nephews in the bridal party and they were so cute and unpredictable and made the ceremony funny and lovely. We had two readings, one read by Siobhan’s big brother Michael (Song of Solomon) and another by Mike’s big sister Kate (Eskimo love). We chose the readings for their simplicity and focus on love and marriage.
The very best thing about our ceremony by far (with maybe the exception of Mike’s face as Siobhan walked down the aisle) was our friend Rebecca McLaurin being our celebrant. She made us both feel relaxed. She made people laugh. Most of all, she made us feel loved. She was perfect.”

Of their photographer Emma, Siobhan remarks “Emma was amazing! So easy to deal with and organised. She was super chilled in all the chaos of getting ready (I had 4 bridesmaids, 2 flower girls, 2 ring bearers, plus my mum, dad, brothers, aunty and cousin all in the hotel getting ready with me). I don’t even remember seeing her after the official bridal party shoot just after the wedding, yet she was EVERYWHERE and captured all of the most spectacular photos I have ever seen. She sent a few pics within a week of the wedding and the whole package within the month. We love them ALL. She is seriously amazing.”

Reception celebrations kicked on at Royal Motor Yacht Club.  Siobhan remarking “It epitomized everything we wanted in a venue. Stunning views, outstanding food, BIG dance floor. We had looked at 5 or 6 venues before stumbling across this venue and the minute we walked into the Hamptons style room we just knew it was exactly what we had been looking for, even without us knowing really what we were looking for. They had style packages including in our package that matched just perfectly with our theme and we knew we didn’t want to have the biggest party of our lives anywhere else.”

Siobhan and Michael wanted amazing music at their wedding and Slide McBride  fit the bill. “Slide McBride are the best wedding band in the world!! They made everything so fun. Slide has the best range in any musician I’ve ever seen. He was my sisters band at her wedding 10 years ago and I didn’t want anyone else to play at our wedding. He was even better than I remember. Every single guest without fail has commented on how fun he was.”

The newlyweds chose Fank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight” for their first dance, noting “We are both old souls and often dance to this song in our living room. When it came to choosing a wedding song we didn’t even consider anything else. This was our song.”

Congratulations on your marriage Siobhan and Michael! Thank you for sharing the stories of your day with us! Thank you also to Emma Hampton  for sharing today;s beautiful celebration!