Relaxed Garden Party Wedding in Fitzroy

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a gardener marries the love of his life in a city garden in full bloom, this is it. Sophie and Daniel’s wedding in Treasury Gardens unfolded like the best kind of long afternoon – full of colour and beautifully unhurried.

There was no rigid theme, just a shared vision for something that felt relaxed and loving. It was vibrant without trying too hard, thoughtful without being fussy, and thankfully captured by Dani Bartlett!

At the ripe age of 20, and at the peak of the 3am Maccas trip after a night out, Sophie and Daniel’s worlds collided. “We had both had a big night out on the town, and ended up at a really grimy McDonald’s with our separate friend groups, haha. We just happened to sit next to each other at one of the big communal share tables, and we struck up a conversation. I told him which bar I worked at and he came to see me the next night, and then we went out for dinner the day after that. We were pretty much inseparable from then onwards!”

After the infamous Melbourne lockdowns, Daniel and Sophie were buzzing with excitement to go on their first overseas trip as a couple. “On one of our last days, we were in Italy and exploring a beautiful garden overlooking the water. There was no one else around when we sat down to take in the view, and that’s when Daniel proposed. Then we had an amazing dinner to celebrate afterwards! It was perfectly lowkey but in a gorgeous location. And it was nice to be away at the time, so we had a few days to soak it up before we got back and started telling people,” Sophie tells.

They decided that the morning of their garden party wedding would be spent getting ready together at their home. “We wanted to spend as much of the day together as we could, and to enjoy every moment. We had our best friends come over to get ready with us, so we were able to take it really slow and just soak it all up. Then we travelled to the ceremony in the same car and had a small freak out together, which meant we weren’t as nervous by the time we actually got to the ceremony part.”

Working with Honeymoon Studios, Sophie brought her dream dress to life. “I was drawn to them because they make such beautiful, fun and contemporary wedding attire, that comes without the fuss or ginormous price tag. The founder, Andria, had a new design at the time that I loved, but there wasn’t a sample to try on. I decided to take the plunge regardless and I was so happy with how it turned out. We decided on buttery yellow silk satin as well, which made it even more special for me, as my engagement ring is a yellow stone and it’s my favourite colour. I also got a veil from Honeymoon Studios which had little silk flowers embroidered on it, which felt like a perfect touch as Daniel is a gardener,” she shared.

“As for my shoes, bag and jewellery, I borrowed or was gifted everything from my best friend, my Mum and my sister, which again was such a special personal touch. It was really special to have all my accessories either gifted or loaned: I also wore an heirloom family necklace.”

Daniel chose a lightweight, warm brown two-piece suit custom-made at The Fabric Lab. “He paired it with a white shirt, dark brown leather shoes and a belt, but he opted for no tie. He wanted something ‘warm’ in colour, a little bit different to the traditional wedding suit, that would complement my warm-coloured dress and also be wearable again after the wedding. It looked gorgeous on the day and in the photos, and overall felt much more down-to-earth and him.”

All of these incredible flowers were lovingly created by Daniel himself, sourced from his home garden, the garden he works at, and Gather Flower Farm in Silvan. “Daniel spent the whole day before the wedding creating the arrangements, my bouquet and his buttonhole flower. They couldn’t have been more beautiful. (And as a bonus, it was a great way to save thousands of dollars.)”

Since Daniel is a gardener, there was no question over the type of venue they wanted to marry in – it was always going to be a garden. “We ended up choosing the Treasury Gardens just near the city, after we visited them in spring the year before, we knew it would be perfect. They have a great amount of shade, paved areas and there were already vendors who regularly supplied furniture for events in these gardens so it was easy to organise that side of things.”

Sophie walked down the aisle to “Real Love Baby” by Father John Misty, with her dad on one arm and her nieces and nephews ahead of them. “Watching her walk down the aisle was the most vivid memory I have of the whole day, and it probably always will be. That was the moment I felt most present, and I always think about it. I also felt total relief after getting through my vows haha,” Daniel shares.

If Sarah and Daniel had to describe their ceremony in one phrase it would be this: “a hilarious love-fest.” And they credit that all to their celebrant, Marry Me Sarah B! “She is one of my sister’s oldest friends, so I had known her for many years, and when she offered to marry us, I was so excited. Sarah is so funny, thoughtful, loving and knows exactly how to both warm up and wrangle a crowd. Her ceremonies are like nothing else – she spends a lot of time getting to know you as a couple before the day, so she absolutely nails it when she delivers her tailored ceremony. We couldn’t have wished for anything more honestly. We didn’t have a reading, but we wrote our own vows and Sarah told the story of how we met which felt just right to us. The ceremony was the one thing that people couldn’t stop talking about or coming back to after our wedding. I wish we could do it again!”

The five things that made this relaxed wedding so special for Daniel and Sophie were:

“1. Getting ready together in our home before the wedding with our best friends (and our dog!).

2. Getting married in a garden, and having Daniel create the flowers.

3. Having a smaller guest list. Just our closest friends and family there to share it with us.

4. Our hilarious but heartfelt ceremony.

5. The speeches that were made by my Dad, my best friend, Daniel’s Mum, his sister and his best friend. All short but very sweet, funny and perfect.”

Speaking of incredible vendors, Dani Bartlett was the photographer for this beautiful garden party wedding, and Sophie and Daniel couldn’t have loved her vibe more. “Dani was bloody fantastic! We were so thrilled when we got the photos back. We chose her because of her bright, fun and candid style, and she definitely delivered exactly this. We were not confident in front of the camera, but she made it feel really easy and natural,” Sophie gushed.

“One of the best things she did was steal us away from our reception after dinner to get some more solo photos at ‘golden hour’. Not only were the photos great, but she intentionally wanted to give us that time to have a quick debrief and enjoy the moment just the two of us. We couldn’t recommend her highly enough! Safe to say our celebrant and our photographer were our best choices of the day!”

Their reception was at Bonny Bar in Fitzroy, just up the road from the gardens. “We wanted a relaxed, canapé-style dinner with no set seating plan, where we could have delicious food, wine, and a space to dance later in the night. We were also able to spill out onto the street in the afternoon whilst the weather was warm, but then head inside to party into the night.”

If there was any advice Sophie wants to leave for anyone planning their own future wedding, it would be this:” Give yourself more time to plan than we did. We got engaged in May and married the following March. It was a fun whirlwind, but I think we could have enjoyed a more drawn-out process! And just do what makes you happy. There is always pressure about what you should/shouldn’t do, but by the time you get to the wedding day that all falls away.

Also, I highly recommend getting ready together or doing something together before the ceremony to enjoy those moments! The actual wedding goes so fast, it’s nice to have extra quiet time together.”

When it comes to special details from the day, the thing that really took the cake for Sophie and Daniel was… well, the cake made by Cob Street Cakes. “I LOVED our cake! There are too many details to love! I loved that we got ready together at home before the wedding. I loved that we brought our dog to the ceremony. I fell in love with the ceremony itself. I loved my veil with its perfect little silk flowers. I loved the heartfelt speeches our best friends and family gave.”

They hadn’t planned to do a first dance, but when “Cherry Blossom” by Horrorshow started playing, Sophie and Daniel couldn’t help themselves. “It’s a song we were both listening to when we started dating. And then we followed it with “You Got It” by Roy Orbison which was my Grandfather’s favourite song, so I had a dance with my brothers and my Dad to that!”