Janina & Ramon

Oh, how there were flowers at Jacinta and Ramon’s classic white wedding at Milton Park. Bunches and bunches of beautiful white flowers that adorned every surface, that hung from the ceiling, adorned the tables and greeted guests to a magical flower filled celebration. It was the perfect way to celebrate a beautiful, traditional day in the stunning Southern Highlands.  A day that was beautifully captured by Nigel Unsworth Studios and that we are delighted to be able to share with you today.

Janina and Ramon were set up on a blind date by a friend before Ramon proposed to the bride to be on a tropical island. Janina reminiscing “Ramon proposed in Noumea when Ramon flew me away for a week to give me a break from my demanding job.

We were walking along the coastal walkway, under a beautiful starlight sky after having a romantic dinner and Ramon stopped by the water on a wooden park bench. While we were watching the moonlight reflection on the water, he got down on one knee and pulled the ring out and popped the question, all to the applause of a beautiful local crowd watching on. I said yes straight away.”

Alexandra Penton styled the bride’s and bridesmaids’ hair, along with the bride’s makeup while Anne Hassarati did the bridesmaid’s makeup. The bride noting “My makeup and hair stylist (also styled the bridesmaids’ hair) was AMAZING! So professional and so lovely to work with.”

The bride chose a gown designed by Martina Liana from Fashions by Farina adding an overskirt from Peter Trends for the ceremony. She explains “I wanted to have two looks – a traditional ball gown style gown for the church followed by a fitted ‘fit and flare’ classic sweetheart strapless design for the reception. The overskirt trend was the perfect pairing for this having two looks with only having to buy one dress.
The girls at the store were amazing. Being short, the dress needed quite a bit of modification on the hemline with the lace to ensure we kept the lace pattern at the bottom – otherwise, it would have looked like an all lace dress (which was not what I wanted). They were amazing in making the lace style appear the same.”

The couple were married at St Francis Xavier Church, Historic Berrima – right around the corner from where the groom spent his childhood, The bride tells “The ceremony was a traditional Catholic ceremony with no Mass. It was located at the historic St Francis Xavier Church in Historic Berrima (where Ramon spent much of his childhood years). The church is a gorgeous sandstone building so we only added the floral arrangements to the pews and special family candles at the altar. We had Macarthur Strings quartet playing classical wedding songs for our guests prior and throughout the ceremony.”

Macarthur Strings played Pachelbel’s Canon In D as Janina walked down the aisle.   Of their photographer, Janina tells “Nigel is incredible – he is extremely talented and I have not seen any other wedding photography style like his.
Nigel’s work blends creative and artistic pieces with a candid and effortless feel capturing the full emotion of the day. He was so easy going and relaxed and still managed to get so many incredible shots in the time that we had – he didn’t miss a thing.”

The stunning country estate of Milton Park  set the scene for the reception, Janina telling “We chose Milton Park because we used to frequent the hotel during long weekends, with Ramon having grown up in the Southern Highlands. When I saw the place for the first time during a visit, I just knew it was the place we would get married. It was great for a “destination” as our guests could stay at the hotel and not worry about travelling back to Sydney.
The best part about Milton Park are their gardens – it was great we were able to have early reception canapes and garden games in front of the oldest beech tree in Australia – and the guests were able to stroll through the gardens and take in the sights during their stay at the hotel.” 

Guests gathered in The Orangerie for the reception, tells the bride. “I loved the whole set up and feel of the reception and the highlight was walking into the room for the first time seeing all my family and friends smiling and cheering and my wedding dream come to life – it was just breathtaking – particularly when it got dark and the fairy lights and candles hanging from the willow tree outside could be seen through the windows

We ensured the décor complemented the country style of the Southern Highlands and added elements to give it that whimsical country feel – loose flowers, low table arrangements, white floral arrangements and low candles around the room, fairy lights and barrels for the outside area and garden games.”

Ramon and Janina worked closely with Diane Khoury to plan and style the day, noting “Diana made my wedding dream come to life and did pretty much all of the details. She ensured the night ran smoothly and it truly felt like all I had to do was turn up on the day. She is so professional and elegant and on the night she blends in like she’s not there yet she is onto of everything, every timing of an event, every detail – words can not express how valuable she was leading up to and on the night of the wedding. Without even meeting her face to face till the wedding day, she made my wedding dream come to life.”

John Emmanuel created the lush floral decor for the day, Janina tells “The floral theme was white flowers and loose green leaves with candles that created the magical whimsical feel.

We wanted l understated elegance. The colour palette white flowers with green leaves and gold if we needed to use colour. We chose it because Milton Park already boasts such amazing scenery and gardens, we didn’t want to take away or overdo it by having more colours – we found the simplicity of white complemented the venue perfectly.”

A traditional Polish tradition with a Peruvian twist (a nod to the bride’s culture) kicked off proceedings, with a game including shots of pisco and water, salt and bread presented to the newlyweds, whoever picking the pisco declared the head of the marriage,

   

Janina and Ramon chose James Morrison’s “You Make It Real For Me” for their first dance, noting “the dance was not choreographed and was a traditional style with the bridal party joining midway through, followed by the guests.”

Dancing was on the “must have” list for the bride, who tells “I wanted to make sure everyone was dancing and having fun the whole night. I  enlisted the help of Brown Sugar – one of the best Sydney bands in the business – they were the best thing of the night and really made it that much more fun and interactive. They also did bring a DJ for when they were having a break and our first dance song and exit songs.

We also had flip flops/thongs for our female guests and the bridal party – given we had the most amazing band we wanted to be sure that the ladies’ feet did not hurt when they were dancing.”

A beautiful film of the day was captured by the team at Soda Films

Congratulations on your marriage Janina & Ramon! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us! Thank you also to Nigel Unsworth Studios for sharing today’s celebration!