Marie & Mateo

We talk a lot about doing your day your way, but for Marie and Mateo? The way they did that was completely creative and so full of inspiration for you. “We turned the day upon its head, ” explains bride Marie. “Mateo and I were married at the registry in the morning, followed by some celebratory margaritas and Mexican bites for lunch afterwards. After freshening up and a costume change we then traipsed around the botanic gardens for photos.”

This is one that is an utter delight to share thanks to beautiful photography by Alex Stevens and it concluded with the most magic sunset ceremony, with the city lights in the background.

Intrigued? Wait until you see how it actually unfolded! It was just the low key, casual kind of day these two dreamt of, after meeting through a mutual friend. In Marie’s words “Mateo hails from Canberra and I called it home for a few years while at uni. Despite having mutual friends in Canberra, our paths somehow didn’t cross in the small bubble that Canberra is.

It wasn’t until that we’d both moved to Melbourne and caught up with a mutual friend who was visiting Melbs that we met. As we were both new to Melbourne and didn’t know anyone we decided why not hang out and explore this new city together.

Things went from there and we just never stopped hanging out! We continued to explore Melbourne together and countless other overseas destinations too. It was on a beach in Mexico that Mateo popped the question.”

Marie’s favourite part of wedding planning “Sitting down together and running through what’s important to us, and what isn’t. When we stripped it down to what mattered most, we knew the traditional format had to go out the window, and that’s exactly what we did. The day felt so us.”

“Alex our photographer was awesome” raves Marie. “She stood out to us with her atmospheric shots, the incredible use of lighting but also approachability. She was the only photographer we met and I think that says a lot.”

Richmond Rowing Club set the scene for the celebratory evening. “We chose the Richmond Rowing Club because of the incredible views, and with only 50 guests and 80% of them travelling from Canberra, we wanted to give them a healthy dose of Melbourne glory.”

The couple chose Urban Bunch to style the blooms for the day, Marie noting “As we’d chosen such a beautiful venue we kept the décor and colour palette restrained so to complement rather than compete. Greenery was sprinkled throughout as was touches of dusty pink, gold and white. Natural fibres were used in the napery.”

The 5 pm start meant we were able to mingle with our guests on the balcony and enjoy the sunshine and amazing views before easing into a 6.30 pm dinner” explains Marie. “Our relaxed theme continued in that the balcony doors were open to bringing the inside in, the tables were long with no seating plan and a shared menu that was absolutely delicious. Besides a quick welcome speech for our guests when we arrived, we skipped the other dinner formalities.”

The wedding cake? Designed by Cake or Die it was, in Marie’s words, “A decadent vegan mud cake that was served post-ceremony and also tied into the theme – white, pink, gold and its own little cacti.”

Let’s talk dinner! Ed Dixon By Cookes Food catered this celebration, to rave reviews! “Food was massively important to Mateo and I” explains Marie. “For us, it was always going to be the centrepiece of the tables, and so the shared menus really bought that to life. The incredible antipasto spreads, hearty mains and sublime sides not only looked incredible but tasted amazing.

The shared menu looked amazing on the tables, but also created that relaxed and sharing atmosphere. Seeing people passing plates between themselves and being able to choose what they like was exactly what we were after.

Our guests raved about how amazing the food was and how much there was too. We had quite a few vegetarians and vegans and they said they’ve never eaten so well at an event. The food can’t be faulted in any way.”

“Post dinner we hit the special time of day that is sunset and held our ceremony. We said our vows as the sun faded and the Melbourne skyline transformed and lit up. With the cutting of the cake afterwards, cocktail hour had arrived and the celebrations kicked up a gear.”

“We had a great little selection of vendors that all understood what we were trying to achieve on the day. They each did a fantastic job” says the bride.

 

Even the dance floor was done Marie and Mateo’s way. “There wasn’t the first dance, but chilled house beats from the likes of Flight Facilities, Caribou and Love Birds created a lounge atmosphere that was perfect for the occasion.”

Hooray! Thank you, Marie and Mateo, for sharing your story with us, what a joy it was! Thank you also to Alex Stevens for sharing today’s wedding with us!