If you’re anything like me, a wedding gown adorned in beautiful embroidered flowers, is always going to make your day and today’s gown, designed by Angela Osagie is exactly what golden daydreams are made of.

For Sarah and Brent, who chose The Beautiful Collective to capture their day, this was a wedding that was about the beautiful tones of Autumn, about family (the couple’s daughter Audrey practically outshining her parents!) and in the bride’s words about utterly “romantic, rustic and relaxed” wedding day style.

Who knew that one day at work would lead Sarah to meet her future husband? Sarah tells the story of how these two came to be. “We met at work. I sat next to Brent and was new to my industry so he was a huge support to me. It didn’t take long to figure out we had a pretty strong connection and started dating shortly after.”

And of course, with daughter Audrey being a big part of the couple’s lives, she just had to be included when Brent popped the question. “We have a daughter who was four months old at the time. Brent and Audrey picked me up from an appointment in the afternoon one weekend in December. He asked if I wanted to go for a walk in the Botanical Gardens. This was something we did regularly so I didn’t think anything of it. When we got to a spot we had a picnic at before Brent, with Audrey by his side, got down on one knee and proposed. It was so lovely to have our baby with us and made it that much more special.”

The groom & groomsmen worked with tailor Michael Vlassis on Woolcott St on dapper custom-tailored suits.

That amazing embroidered wedding gown? It’s the work of Sydney designer Angela Osagie. “My dress was one of my favourite things about our wedding” notes Sarah. “I found Angela (Angela Osagie Bridal) during one of my best friend’s dress fittings, she was having her wedding dress made and I was there with her during a fitting. Angela had another dress made out of the same fabric as mine hanging up and I was absolutely mesmerised by it.
My girlfriend insisted I try it on and I fell in love. I told Angela my ideas for a wedding dress and what I thought suited my body shape and she created my beautiful gown.
Angela is truly something special and has a way of understanding exactly what you want. I am so lucky I found her that day and could not recommend her enough.”

Camperdown Commons turned out to be just the venue these two wanted for their day, Sarah sharing “We met our friends at Camperdown Commons for lunch the previous year. We had only just started to look for a venue and nothing had jumped out at us. As soon as we walked into the restaurant, Acre, we could instantly envision what our wedding could look like there. Brent and I did not want the traditional setting of small tables with a set alternating drop menu and a long bridal table that is traditionally at the front of the room. We wanted everyone to sit together, including the bridal party, with a very generous amount of delicious food that everyone was welcome to.
The room had the rustic romantic vibe we were looking for and after speaking with the event management team we leant we could also get married onsite in the courtyard directly off the restaurant, in front of their farm where they grow their produce. It was perfect and we locked it in almost straight away.”

The bride walked down the aisle with her father to a piano version of Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years”.

Sarah and Brent chose Coral Kortlepel to officiate their ceremony. “We didn’t want a long ceremony, short and sweet. Again, keeping with the light romantic feel we didn’t have any readings simply read our vows and exchanged rings, our daughter, Audrey, took off with the rings so that was a little amusing when someone had to go and find her when it got to that point.”

The couple made sure to include sentimental items. “We pinned our wedding rings onto the back of our daughters dress with a kilt pin that is my grandmothers” remembers Sarah. “My nan could not be with us as she is in the late stages of Alzheimer’s so this one not only nice to have a part of her there but was also just as special to have our little girl, who was only 1 at the time, walk her mummy and daddy’s rings down the aisle.” Daughter Audrey dressed in a gown made by the bride’s mother from offcuts from Sarah’s wedding gown creation.

 

Sarah and Brent loved their chosen photographers. “Haley and Darren from the Beautiful Collective are incredible and exceptionally talented. We wanted our photos to capture us organically, without being staged. One of the first things I said to Haley when we spoke was I wanted photos to capture colour, due to the colours in my fabric. Finding a photographer who can capture colour and light well was really important to me as the photos are the only thing you take.”

 

Sarah and Brent chose Rainy Sunday to style beautiful rustic style floral details for the day, with plenty of greenery. “Frith is another part of our wedding I am forever grateful for” remarks the bride. “It was actually the staff at Camperdown Commons that recommended her as she had already done many of their previous events and wedding, so she knew the space really well. She also knows how to make flowers into masterpieces.
I met Frith at the Commons one day and simply gave her a piece of my fabric, and that was it. I put my full trust into her and she could not have done a better job. The only guidance I gave her was what feel I wanted the room to have and then gave her full reign.
She created floral pieces that hung from the roof with fairy lights woven in to give us the dreamy romantic feel.”

Tradition? These two embraced it! “We had a pretty un ‘traditional’ wedding. We cut the cake straight away, to get that part done and dusted. We all sat and ate together and just tried to have a big celebration with good food, wine and company.”

The first dance didn’t quite go as planned, not that Sarah minded. “Our first dance – the music kept cutting in and out which would have many other brides in a panic. We embraced it and it turned out to be one of the best moments of the night as our guests began to sing our song, Crazy Love. It was absolutely magical having our friends and family singing to us under sparklers.”

“We had two first dance songs, one after the other. The first was “Crazy Love” by Van Morrison. This was a significant song in Brent’s mum and dad’s wedding and as his dad is no longer with us we thought it would be a nice touch to have our first dance to this song. The second was “My Girl “by The Temptations, the idea here was its a bit of fun and everyone can come in and dance with us.”

An utterly big congratulations to you both Sarah and Brent! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us! Thank you also to The Beautiful Collective for today’s beautiful captured moments!