With an abundance of fairy light and flowers and endless touches of whimsy, Alice and Geordie landed on the most beautiful Sydney autumn day for their classic Sydney wedding. Choosing one venue that flipped from ceremony to reception, and adding plenty of sweet whimsical touches (like hand-carved bookmarks) to reflect their personality, the day came together with beautiful photography by Society Photography.

Geordie and Alice’s story begins when Alice was just 21. She fills us in, “Geordie and I met when I was 21yrs old and we were either on a bus or waiting for a bus. Geordie was a friend of the guy I was seeing at the time and I instantly remember feeling like Geordie was a pretty special and interesting person. He was all grungy with floppy hair and a really lovely smile and I think we spent most of that night just chatting and getting to know each other – purely in a friendly way. From that moment on we were excellent friends and would constantly hang out, go to the movies and brunch together. I pretty much had a low-key crush on him since I met him but we were such excellent friends I didn’t want to do anything to ruin that.

I mean, until early 2017 when we both found ourselves single and decided to try on what a relationship with each other would feel like and did a really bad job of trying to hide that from our friends.”

Another Sydney spot – the beautiful Chinese Gardens of Friendship (which happens to be one of Alice’s favourite spots) turned out to be the perfect place for Geordie to pop the question. “We had plans to go to the Orchestra that evening and then Geordie suggested, “oh why don’t we make a day of it and go to the Chinese Gardens and out to dinner that night?” I was instantly suspicious.

On the day he was so nervous and was trying to hide the bulky ring box in his jeans by covering it with his hands. When he proposed I squealed (which I wasn’t expecting) and then burst into tears (which I was kind of expecting). He later told me that he wanted to propose at a pagoda-type place in the Chinese Gardens but when we got there it was crowded and there was a crying kid and the vibe was off, so we walked a little further down the way and found this lovely secluded area with a “mystic rock” and that’s where he proposed. I instantly started crying!”

Geordie and his groomsmen wore navy suits from Sydney tailors Montagio Custom Tailoring. Remembers Alice  “Geordie had been a groomsman in a friend’s wedding before and he had his heart set on a custom suit from where he got his suit done for that previous wedding, Montagio Mens Suits Sydney. Customising it so it was exactly what he wanted was a great call for Geordie as the tailor made sure that the suit was special and that he would stand out. Geordie went with his groomsmen and with the father of the bride for the suit fittings – the father of the bride also got a custom-made jacket and Geordie got a say in that as well.”

Alice found her beautiful gown at Peter Trends Bridal. She shares “Being a plus-size bride I was pretty nervous about wedding dress shopping and I feverishly researched every place we would visit to make sure they could accommodate my body type. I was underwhelmed by the first few places we went until my mum told me about a place she walked past one day called Peter Trends Bridal. I looked online and fell in love with one of the dresses in their ‘curve’ collection. It was exactly the vibe that I wanted, floaty and whimsical and romantic, with some lovely floaty tulle on the arms (which was one of the areas I wanted coverage). Everyone at Peter Trends was amazing to deal with and I would highly recommend them to any Sydney-based brides looking for an alternative style dress.

I wore the pearls that my mum wore when she married my dad as my ‘something borrowed’. I also had some lace from both my mum’s dress and my grandma’s dress sewn into the floral pattern as ‘something old’. It was lovely to honour the women that came before me and made me who I am.”

The couple met before their ceremony for a first look, Alice noting “We did our first look and photo session before we had our ceremony which was such a good idea – because then our ceremony was later in the day and afterwards we could just relax and enjoy being in a room of everyone that we loved so much. The day itself is such a whirlwind – it’s difficult to remember any stories that jump out!  The first look was a really special moment for both of us. It helped take our nerves away and made the whole pressure of the day lessen.”

“Dave and Lara from Society Photography were FANTASTIC” gushes Alice, “I could not recommend them more – they made us both feel so relaxed and at ease on the day and they got all the moments that we wanted. Dave brought such fantastic energy and vibe to the getting-ready shoots and Lara was amazing, staying for the bulk of the ceremony and getting those shots of everyone in action. It was such a big day and they were both so wonderful at getting everything that we needed. We both love how all the photos came out and we will cherish them for years and years to come.”

Alice’s wedding day advice? “Don’t lose sight of the big picture. Things will undoubtedly go wrong, but don’t focus on that – focus on the fact that you get to marry your love! Also, your energy sets the tone of the entire day – if you bring joy and happiness to the proceedings then your friend and family will feel that too.”

The couple wanted one venue for their day and they landed on Zest, The Spit. “We wanted the ceremony and reception to either be in the same place or close by so people didn’t have to travel much between the two locations. Zest was the first venue we saw and we were completely blown away by the beautiful views, the gorgeous interior, the excessive fairy lights and the overall vibe. The team at Zest were wonderful and could accommodate us having our ceremony and reception in essentially the same space, which was amazing.”

Alice walked down the aisle with both her of her parents to the Delta Goodrem cover of ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’, originally by The Darkness.

The couple wanted their ceremony to be short and fun, choosing Marry Us Gary to officiate. Alice noted “Our celebrant (Gary) was amazing and also gave us some fun suggestions – like doing a scissor, paper, rock to see who reads their vows first (which I won!). Neither I nor Geordie are religious so we didn’t want any readings during the ceremony, but Gary did do a nice rundown of our story.”

The flowers were such a focus of the day, styled beautifully by Krysta Smith Floral Artistry + Event Design. “Our florist, Krysta was stunning” raves Alice. “The flowers were truly everything that I dreamed of. I love plants and nature so much, and while it bummed me out not to have an outdoor wedding, all the flowers and greenery was like I got the best of both worlds.

Krysta and I worked together on the feel and vibe of the flowers keeping that romantic whimsical feel to it. The flowers were to be pale pinks and greens with pops of burgundy to match the bridesmaid dresses. Krysta also decorated the arch and had flower runners down the aisle, which she also repurposed to become centrepieces on the day. The flowers not only looked and smelled amazing, but then Krysta also came back to tie up and divide up the flowers for our guests to take home at the end of the day!”

In a nod to the couple’s love of a good book, each table was named after one of their favourite authors.

“Tying in with the whimsical romance of the day, our bonbonniere was a custom wood-engraved bookmark for each of our guests” explains Alice. “We wanted to make sure to include something that people could use in their everyday life and look at it and think of the day. The message on each bookmark said, “thank you for being a part of our story”.”

For their first dance, Alice and Geordie chose an old favourite. “Our first dance was to an acoustic cover of ‘I Only Want to Be With You’. We danced by ourselves for about 30 seconds and then all our loved ones joined us on the dancefloor. This wasn’t a hugely important element to us but it was lovely to share it with (our guests).”

Congratulations on your marriage Alice & Geordie! What a special story to be able to share. Thank you both and to Society Photography for today’s beautiful wedding!