When their original ceremony venue shut up shop, today’s beautiful bride, George, stumbled across an inner-city flower store that completely matched the vibe she and Andrew wanted for their day. And marrying amongst the fresh flowers? It’s as absolutely romantic and dreamy as it sounds.

It was just the beginning of the fun for these two, the urban setting paving the way for a day of whimsy, of light and fun, of modern details and utter romance. The pair invited photographer Zoe Morley along for the ride.

Oh and take a minute, because I’m declaring this wedding-worthy of The Bridesmaid Issue. A month where we’re sharing all kinds of bridesmaids style surely has to include a bridesmaid in a stunning pale blue gown with hot pink bouquet, am I right?

It was across the pond where these two met, George and Andrew, crossing paths when Andrew was in England on a two-year visa. George fills us in on their tale which starts at a bar. “Bryony and I were in a London Bar in Bank called Forge, when Phil, Andrew’s friend came and sat next to us and started talking to us. Andrew then came over and asked if Phil who introduced himself as Flippo, was bothering us and we laughed and said no and then Andrew introduced himself to us as Andre. We spent the rest of the night hanging out together as a group at the end of the night both Bryony and I gave Phil our numbers as I was going through a ‘yes’ stage which meant I had no choice. A couple of days later Andrew messaged me and the rest is history.
On our first date for no reason at all I asked Andrew how much of what he and Phil had said to us was true, he told me that they weren’t graphic designers but in fact accountants and that their real names were Phil and Andrew, not Flippo and Andre along with some other exaggerations.”

The bride had long lusted after gowns by Georgia Young Couture, so of course she chose one, called the “Mezieres” gown, for her own wedding dress! “I saved Georgia as my last stop in bridal shops as I’d fallen in love with one of her gowns from pictures, however, I soon found out that when you go dress shopping that the things you love online don’t always translate in person. Even though I thought I knew exactly what I wanted I went into dress shopping willing to try on everything, the preconceived idea of my perfect dress from pictures got shattered as I fell in love with the complete opposite.
When I put on the Mezieres dress I skipped out of the dressing room and had this is my dress moment and then pranced around in it for the next 30mins. Once I found my dress for me it decided the ‘theme’ of the wedding in my mind.”

The bride finished her look with a vintage brooch owned by her grandmother. “My nan back in the UK gave me a brooch of hers which I wore at the back of my dress so that she was with me on the day – it really finished my dress off.” George also chose to wear her mother’s earrings, just as her sister had done on her own wedding day.

George and Andrew were married at Melbourne Flower Merchant, apt because they also worked with the team on their wedding flowers! George shares “We originally wanted to have our ceremony at Bang Bang – however, 6 months before our wedding it closed down, that meant a mad search for a new ceremony venue in the city that had a industrial/raw feel. I work over the road from Melbourne Flower Merchant so popped in one day to see if they would be able to accommodate our guest numbers and then that was a decision made.”

George and Andrew chose Sharon The Celebrant to officiate their ceremony, these two had one thing in mind for the official part of their day- to share their story! “The ceremony aimed to show everyone our love story if they didn’t already know, to break it down to the core and let everyone know that if they’re sharing the moment with us then there really important to us and the life that we lead. We had one reading which was E.E. Cummings ‘i carry your heart with me”

George opted to have her sister as her bridesmaid, wearing a pale blue gown from Ghost London. “Until we decided on my sister’s bridesmaid dress I couldn’t make a decision on flowers but as soon as we found her dress I sent her a picture of bright raspberry/pink flowers and that was the decision made. I loved my sisters look on the day, her blue dress with the fuschia flowers looked amazing!!” she tells.

The groom worked with Suit Shop Melbourne on his blue custom-tailored suit, while his two groomsmen chose suits from Institchu. 

The newlyweds loved working with photographer Zoe. “Zoe was great, especially as her little kitten went missing during our wedding – she took 10 mins to herself and then soldered on like a real trooper.”

Andrew popped the big question at Uluru, tells our bride. “Andrew took me to Uluru, as a surprise because he’d been working late for two weeks on a proposal, he said he’d booked it last minute – so not the case.

Proposal one was meant to happen while we were walking through the field of lights, but then the lights turned off and thwarted his attempt. Proposal two was going to happen, so I hear, during the sunset camel ride, but we didn’t get off the bloody camel.

By this time Andrew was getting hounded by my mum and sister being like ‘have you done it yet’ I even think Maddi even told him to ‘man up and just do it’.

Andrew’s final attempt was him waking us up early before we flew home to go look at the rock one last time – my response ‘I’ve seen the rock at sunrise, sunset, up close and from a plane, it looks the same and I’m bored and have had enough of the rock’ to which he told me to get dressed we’re going.

Off we went to the closest lookout point for the rock and there we stood – and there he got down on one knee the rest is a blur and the first thing he said after was ‘I don’t want to talk about weddings for at least 6 months now, glad that’s over’”

Warehouse venue Sketch was the pick for the reception festivities tells the bride. “Andrew choose Sketch, I wanted to stick to the industrial/raw theme I had for our wedding, in the end, he won out due to proximity, price and view and in the end the venue was ideal.”

Knowing their limits, this was not a DIY wedding, however, the couple did send guests home with potted succulent wedding favours “Andrew and I are great at outsourcing, even though we had a clear budget in mind for our wedding we still outsourced everything apart from our favours  on the tables which were potted succulents. We spent an afternoon buying and re-potting them for our guests.”

The toasts and speeches remain the couple’s favourite memories, George noting “Andrew did a toast at the reception that I thought was a great moment – “There are good ships and there are wood ships, ships that sail the sea, but best of all there are friendships and may they always be!”

And that wasn’t all!, cringes George. “My mum and dad did a joint speech and to ensure they embarrassed me completely they brought along my teddy bear Marmaduke all dressed up in a tux t-shirt. Marmaduke represented the moment that my mum knew that Andrew loved me, as I was prepared to leave him behind when moving to Australia. Andrew called my mum behind my back and got her to post him to Andrew, which meant that when I arrived in Australia he was in our apartment on my bed waiting for me. As you can imagine tears followed.”

Despite a last-minute bout of nerves, the newlyweds nailed their first dance, to Clean Bandit and Jess Glynne ‘Real Love’. “We wanted a song that really represented us as a couple and that we could have fun too” remembers George. “Andrew was all cool and collected while having dance lessons for the dance as soon as we got to the venue he freaked out and wanted to practice, practice, practice in the bridal suite at the reception venue – which meant no time for canapes. We didn’t put a step wrong surprisingly during the dance and I’d recommend doing a dance to any couple getting married.”

You know how much we love a wedding film, so we can’t wait for you to see George and Andrew’s! Captured beautifully by Iconic Pictures.

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A big congratulations to you both George and Andrew! What a joy it was to share your beautiful day! Thank you both and thanks to Zoe Morley for today’s stunning images!