A kaleidoscope of sequins, colour, and contagious joy – Emma and Stacey’s wedding was anything but ordinary! With a golden gown, an emerald jumpsuit, and their beloved dog Maggie at their side, they embraced the non-traditional, weaving in everything from tattoo rings to flower boys. With Anna from Lulu & Lime capturing every glittering detail, their wedding unfolded like a perfectly choreographed party filled with love, laughter, and a lot of sparkle.

Emma and Stacey met like many modern couples – in their own Tinderella story! “We had our first date at Gin Palace in Melbourne CBD in 2019, then dated for about 6 months before making it official.”

While on holiday in Vietnam, Stacey and Emma found themselves sipping drinks at the rooftop bar of their hotel. Below them, a wedding reception unfolded – complete with oversized, kitschy portraits of the newlyweds that made them both laugh. It was in that relaxed, giggling setting that something shifted. As they chatted about what their own hypothetical wedding could look like, an unplanned proposal unfolded. “After a few years with Stacey, the thought had crossed my mind, and I think at some point over the years I had said ‘I’ve never really wanted to get married, but I would marry you’… Stacey asked if I wanted to actually get married, and of course, I responded with a yes. She then said I had to ask her, so I did, and she said yes. When we got home we started planning! Not a traditional proposal — but for us, it was perfect,” Emma shared.

Emma and Stacey knew they wouldn’t wear traditional wedding gowns or white in general – however, they did wear matching fuchsia heels! Instead, they spiced it up with a sparkly, glamorous vibe! Stacey knew she wanted something very Florence and The Machine, whimsical yet bold. Her sparkling gold dress was made by local dressmaker, Couture Creations by Courtney! “Courtney took the vision and drew up some designs and had fabric samples for the dress; Stacey loved the neckline and train on the final design. It ended up being a gold sequin gown with a plunging neckline and train, with a flower crown and bouquet for pops of colour.”

On the other hand, Emma didn’t want to wear a dress or a suit, so she ended up settling on a jumpsuit design – the best of both worlds! “Again Courtney had drawn up a few different options for the cut of the final outfit. The cape and higher neckline are what drew me to the final design. The colour choice came after we made some decisions about Stacey’s dress, the flowers, etc. I ended up wearing an emerald green satin jumpsuit with a flowing sheer train.”

Anna from Lulu & Lime expertly captured Emma and Stacey’s sparkly wedding in her signature documentary style, keeping the vibes high with her bubbly personality! “Anna at Lulu & Lime was so easy to work with. She made us feel comfortable and relaxed… We loved her photography style. She took more documentary-style photos than posed – she made sure we were having fun!”

Their favourite part of planning their sparkly party wedding was… well planning it – together! “We really liked the whole process – it was really fun!! We loved sitting down together and working out how we wanted our day to come together. Lots of people said planning a wedding is stressful but we didn’t find this at all, would do the whole process again.”

Thrive Flowers and Events created the vibrant florals sprinkled throughout these photos – perfectly executing the rainbow theme Emma and Stacey were aiming for!” We had Thrive Florists create the bridal bouquets, table arrangements, hairpieces, altar arrangements, and a collar and leash for our Border Collie, Maggie!”

Most of the day was pulled together by their vendor dream team, but the one thing Emma and Stacey included themselves was this basket of thongs for their guests! “We had heaps of thongs available in a basket for guests who might not have worn shoes that could see them through the night! – I cannot believe how popular the thongs were. Every pair got used! We made a DIY sign for the basket.”

Emma’s favourite moment happened as she, Stacey and Maggie stepped into the hall and got to see all of their friends and family who had gathered to celebrate and support their day.

Their home base for the day was the beautiful The Hall at Welcome to Brunswick, decorated with sparkly tinsel Bangin Hangin’s ! “We wanted a party / celebration vibe with minimal formal tradition. So we had a short ceremony that flowed immediately into a cocktail-style reception with an open bar and a live band,” Emma shared.

As they removed most of the formalities of the day, Emma and Stacey didn’t have a formal wedding party. However, they did have Stacey’s sister and Emma’s best friend as their unofficial wedding party and witnesses – going so far as to show up on the day accidentally wearing the same dress!

They also had two of their friends, Chris and Jarryd, as their ‘flower boys’! “They, in a very camp manner, threw flower petals before we walked down the aisle together. They both wore colourful, sparkly jackets. We then had our live band, Wild Card Trio, playing “Simply The Best” by Tina Turner as we walked down the aisle with Maggie. We wanted to go into marriage together.”

Precious Celebrations was the perfect celebrant for this sparkly party wedding! “Precious spoke about our love, how we met, and the proposal. We did the formalities and then exchanged the vows we had written ourselves. We wanted the ceremony to be touching but short and sweet so we could enjoy the party!”

Instead of having physical rings, Emma and Stacey enlisted the help of Andy Tattz to tattoo their rings! “We organised for Andy to set up a booth. After the ceremony, they did our ring tattoos. They stayed on for the evening to work from a flash sheet for the guests – I knew our friends would enjoy this, but it was FAAAAR more popular than we imagined. The boys didn’t stop working all night,” Emma explained.

The top five things that made this sparkly party wedding so special included:

“1. Lots of people told us on the night our wedding was very fun, and that they were having a really good time. This was important to us in the planning; we really wanted the night to feel like a celebration. We wanted to avoid the sometimes boring or tedious parts of the wedding for guests, and I think we achieved that.

2. Having all our friends and family come together for us on the day

3. Getting to have our dog involved in the ceremony

4. The tattoo artists. So many of our guests now have a permanent reminder of our wedding on their body!!

5. We got to marry each other, obviously!”

The best piece of advice Emma wants to leave for future married couples planning their own dream weddings is this: “Be the guests of honour at your own wedding, not the hosts! We had this mantra and had no stress on the day – only fun! Everything was delegated before the day, including who the vendors should speak to for any problems. We trusted our crew to bring everything together on the day.”

A truly special moment from the night was when Emma and her mum got matching tattoos – delicate little elephants on their feet. “This turned out to be extra special as my mum passed away unexpectedly this year (you can learn more about Deb here!). I am an only child and sharing this moment together was very special for both of us.”

For Stacey, she remembers the day being a big blur of love, laughter and dancing. Her strongest memory is of her and Emma walking home together after their wedding. “One of my favourite memories is of us walking home from the venue and stopping partway, changing into our fluffy slippers because we both had such sore feet!” she shared.

“Once we arrived home, we wound down with snacks and drinks on the couch, half undressed and unpinning all our hair, giggling about how perfect the day had been. I honestly wouldn’t change a thing – except to get to go back and relive it all again!”

To Emma and Stacey – thank you for showing us the beauty of doing things your own way. And to Anna of Lulu & Lime – thank you for so beautifully preserving each radiant moment!