To kick off our latest issue, we’re looking at Evie and Holden’s dream wedding at Crystal Palace & Courtyard in Carlton. With Evie wearing two dreamy gowns, Holden with his western accessories, and so many details hand-crafted by their loved ones, this intimate wedding is a true celebration of all forms of love. Captured by Weddings By Andy, Evie and Holden have no shortage of incredible pics from their gorgeous day!

In a tale as old as time (or as old as 2012 when the app was released), Evie and Holden met on Tinder! A few casual dates later, their connection fizzled out as Holden ghosted Evie. Flash forward a few years, and Holden hit up Evie to play Words with Friends – and now the rest is history!

Their proposal didn’t quite go to plan, with Evie accidentally spoiling the surprise by seeing the box and Holden being too excited/nervous that he couldn’t wait even 24 hours after picking it up to propose! “It was just at home when I was in my robe with wet hair. I could tell he was keeping a secret about my Christmas present and wanted him to gift it to me early, then I saw the ring box and said ‘no no no, not like this!!’

Holden had this big plan to take me to the beach and do this whole ruse, skipping rocks, picking up a rock, but it’s the ring box, etc. But the poor thing, he had been paying off the ring for so long and finally picked it up and couldn’t even wait 24 hours before proposing; he was so nervous,” she shared. “We went to the beach the next day and staged a little selfie photoshoot to send to friends and family, so we had a nice shoot together.”

Their home base for the day was the beautiful Crystal Palace & Courtyard in Melbourne’s inner Carlton. It was the perfect space for their dreamy wedding – somewhere they could have a party with a ceremony in the middle! “It is so tastefully appointed, and the mix of vintage and modern elements makes it really unique. The courtyard is beautiful and lush, and the inside feels very grand, but the whole venue is super inviting and approachable. The ladies there were incredibly helpful and accommodating.”

Holden looked handsome in his green-plaid suit from Politix. He’d gotten it 25% off and finessed the finer details with Roger’s Alterations in Bentleigh to ensure a perfect fit. To finish his look, Holden wore a pair of leather cowboy boots from a vintage warehouse and a bolo tie with a snazzy little banjo frog! “It just didn’t seem very ‘him’ to wear a traditional tie and dress shoes.”

He had his brothers and friends in his wedding party, each wearing their own dark suits. Evie had Tamika in her wedding party, who wore a stunning blue and green body-con dress. “I just wanted her to feel comfortable in whatever she chose.”

Evie wore two incredible dresses throughout the day, the first being this gorgeous canvas flower detail dress from Fashion Brand Company. She finished off both looks with simple white heels, pearl jewellery from Wander + Lust and a Swarovski bracelet gifted from her mum. “I went this route for two reasons, I’m incredibly picky and had a very certain vision of what I wanted to look like, and the idea of trying on multiple dresses in front of people and having to stare at myself in the mirror over and over again sounded like an emotional and sensory nightmare. I do not enjoy trying clothes on in the shop, so this felt like that, on steroids.”

Weddings By Andy captured the day alongside Evie and Holden, listened to their exact wants and executed their vision perfectly! “His candid shots are so special; he captured some amazing and memorable moments in the crowd. He worked around our desire to do as few staged photos as possible and got the family photos done in a flash,” Evie explained. “He had to wrangle so many cameras; we had digital, film, Polaroid and Super 8 all on the go, but did it so easily. Everyone at the event thought he was great, so friendly and easy to work with.”

The top five things that made their dreamy, intimate wedding so unique were:

“1. It was relatively small (about 60 people including us), which is what we wanted.

2. We made the wedding playlists together, which was really fun, and it was great to hear the music during the day.

3. We decided to be present before the ceremony to greet everyone instead of hiding away in a tower. It was really lovely to be able to see people and speak to them before the ceremony. It was also special to be able to be with Holden. I basically had no nerves by the time I had to walk down the aisle because I had seen and spoken to my family and friends and had Holden by my side.

4. My dress and my veil were incredibly special to me. Before I walked down the aisle, Tamika said, ‘Oh my god, this is the best you’ve ever looked.’ and I had to agree.

5. I think a lot of the DIY aspects were special to us. We didn’t want to feel detached from the whole process; it really felt like OUR wedding.”

Her ceremony look was more dreamy, with a custom-made gown by Vicky from Vassi Bridal Couture through d’Italia. “The experience of having a custom dress made was really gentle and easy. Not having seen the completed dress on my body until a few days before the wedding was certainly nerve-wracking, and I was beginning to regret my decision, but it turned out so well. It was a nice experience to be able to build the dress from nothing, with Vicky’s expertise, and tweak it to exactly what I wanted. It was important to me that the dress felt flowy, light, and complemented my body and features.”

While flowers aren’t Evie’s expertise, it is her mum’s and friend Nic’s! They created this dreamy white lily bouquet. “Basically, I sent my mum a Pinterest board of flowers I like, and she and Nic dealt with the rest. They did an exceptional job, I was so happy. My only real request was colourful (but no pastels),” Evie explained. “Nic assembled my bouquet on the day and left it in the cool room (It was 36 degrees that day). It was so stunning, the lilies are so elegant.”

Her incredible veil was actually made by her sister-in-law Sally – who spent 40 hours constructing the silk creation. “I sourced the silk georgette, and she found some trim at Spotlight and then proceeded to buy all 7 metres of trim that Spotlight had in stock,” she gushed.

While the venue looked incredible, what made it even more special was all the styling and set-up done by Evie’s family the day before! “The arbour is from Temple and Webster, and Nic dressed it on the day; it had to sit under a wet sheet until the event because it was so hot! I think the fact that so many people came together (for free) to make the venue look so beautiful. It was super hot, and everyone was so generous with their time. When I showed up to see the venue a few hours before guests arrived, I was shocked and delighted at how beautiful it was. The arbour and the ‘aisle’ that had been created made me cry.”

Evie walked down the aisle with her dad as Orville Peck soundtracked their journey.

Their celebrant, Sheridyn from Northside Nuptials, wove Evie and Holden’s love story together in perfect harmony. “Sheridyn is a genius who turned the responses we gave her to her questionnaire into a beautiful, fun and truthful story. It was nice to have this story told to ourselves as well as to our close family and friends. She is also very funny, and we laughed a lot.”

Planning their ceremony with Sheridyn was actually Evie and Holden’s favourite part of the entire planning process! “I loved answering the questions Sheri sent us for the ceremony. They were really specific and made me really think about my relationship in ways I hadn’t before. She helped me articulate what I loved most about Holden and what makes our relationship so special.”

With so many incredible photos (thanks to Andy!), it wasn’t easy for Evie to pick her favourite, but she couldn’t look away from this dreamy shot of the post-ceremony aisle walk. “The photo of Holden and I walking back down the aisle after the ceremony is definitely my favourite. Somehow, I’m looking directly at the camera, the bouquet looks stunning, Holden looks sweet, and my veil is falling in ‘this really chic way’ (Thanks Fleabag). Love that photo!”

Evie and Holden want to leave this piece of advice for future married couples who are worried a little too much about the exact timing of the day: “Regarding the wedding stuff, try not to get hung up on the small details, things will go wrong, and that’s okay. I know it’s hard when things can feel like they’re out of your control, but try to remember the goal of your wedding; it shouldn’t just be aesthetics and run sheets; remember you’re there to marry the love of your life. Sometimes you have to surrender control,” they explained. “And remember to eat!!”

Evie wasn’t sold on the whole cake tradition at their reception, but with some convincing from Holden, they commissioned this beautiful vintage-style cake from Katie Lou’s Cakes. “I’m glad we did it. Cutting the cake was a really lovely moment.”

As parting gifts for their guests, Evie and Holden created custom wedding hats that said ‘I went to Holden and Evie’s wedding and all I got was this lousy hat’! “We were super worried that no one would want them and that we wasted a bunch of money, but at some point in the night, everyone just started wearing the hats, and by the end, I think nearly every guest had a lousy hat on. There was maybe one or two spares left; the rest were lovingly taken home.”

Please join us in congratulating Evie and Holden on their dreamy, intimate wedding! And thanks to Weddings By Andy for capturing and sharing these incredible moments with us.