In a vibrant celebration blending tradition with modern touches, Dareen and Petar’s joyous & soft-hued wedding celebration was captured by Love & Other Photography. Joined by family and friends, they created a fun-filled party infused with cherished customs (and kept out the ones that didn’t ring true to them!). The couple tells us about their wedding, which was a beautiful blend of romantic touches and modern elegance…

We met in a nightclub – the type of nightclub neither of us would step into these days! The proposal was a full 360 in Noosa where we shared our first holiday together. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and then went to the beach where we had previously shared how we really felt about each other during our first trip – that’s where he got down on one knee and proposed!

We wanted our wedding to be like a big gathering/party. We kept out a lot of the traditional things that didn’t resonate with us as a couple (cake cutting, bouquet throwing, and some other small things), and included plenty of Jordanian and Macedonian music as part of our traditions.

The groom wanted a casual summer look to be comfortable all day in the heat. He opted for a cream linen suit Menz Mode with Alexandar McQueen sneakers.

The day was a beautiful 23-degree sunny day. In the morning my family celebrated with traditional Jordanian drums and a live singer and my partner’s family celebrated with traditional Macedonian music and dancing before we met at the venue to continue the celebrations.

I knew I wanted a ceremony dress and an evening dress but something classic that I could look back on in years to come and still feel like it looked wearable, so when I enquired with d’Italia we came up with a beautiful pearl solid dress with a split accompanied by a tulle skirt to slip over the top for the ceremony. Designing and having the dress made was so fun! Probably the most fun part of wedding planning.

Acacia Ridge Winery is one of the most beautiful venues in all of Victoria. The setting is breathtaking and the photos just don’t do it justice. The staff on the day were all fantastic and the inclusions were also great.

I’ve been to plenty of weddings where you’re traveling all over the place for the ceremony and then the reception, usually with a big gap between the two. We wanted to eliminate that. I also didn’t want my female guests waiting around in high heels to be seated so we opted for a beautiful venue that could cater to all those things.

The venue was so beautiful in itself with flowers growing all over the place so I didn’t need to do much to style it. We chose to do single flowers in mini vases on the tables – the inspiration was as colourful as the venue was, and then with a big feature piece during our ceremony – a little more traditional, we opted for white.

I walked down the aisle to “Can’t Help Falling In Love” by Kina Grannis.

We had Paul from A Stand Up Celebrant for our ceremony and he was fantastic at putting our story timeline together. He created plenty of laughs but didn’t go so overboard as to remove the sentiment of the day. There were also lots of tears and lots of giggles, exactly how I envisioned it.

Love & Other Photography were absolute legends! We had 2 photographers and 2 videographers to ensure we captured the pre-wedding parties at each of our houses and I’m so thankful we chose this option because I loved watching the parts I wasn’t included in on the day.

One of my favourite moments of the evening was during my father-daughter dance. We played ‘Youll Never Walk Alone” by Gerry and The Pacemakers which turned into a serenade from all of our guests.

I find first dances a little awkward so we just slow danced together and laughed at how awkward we felt. We danced to “Is This Love” by Luke Burr.

My advice is to take your vision and run with it – everyone is going to have an opinion but at the end of the day if you do what you originally wanted you’ll have no regrets.

Thank you to Dareen & Petar for sharing their stunning day, to d’Italia for sending it our way, and to Love & Other Photography for their glorious photos and wedding film.