Hot tip: “Don’t miss out on all the fun or tasting the food on your wedding day!”
Determined not to let COVID dampen their mood, we helped Brittney marry her best friend Pat at The Lussh earlier this year and ensured they included the most important elements in their day (good food, music and vibes). They share their experiences, advice, and photos below.
Wedding vibe: What were the most important elements to you and your partner when planning your wedding?
“The most important thing was the food because that’s what everyone remembers. We wanted it to be an easy-going and fun day. We didn’t want people seated for six hours next to people they didn’t know.
In terms of the venue, it had to have an indoor and outdoor space so we could have the ceremony in one location. Being close to home and CBD was also important. We really wanted a simple space surrounded by greenery and with an industrial feel.”
How did you go about selecting your caterer?
“That was easy, Wine & Dine’m have been in the family for years – our brother-in-law Gavin is the Wine & Dine’m Sous Chef so we just knew it would be amazing, there was no question!”
What were you looking for/how did you go about choosing your venue?
“The most important thing to us when choosing a venue was that we could bring in our own vendors. We wanted to choose our caterers and the style of food that we wanted (not because we had to).
We wanted a large place with a great vibe and didn’t feel like an expensive, typical/stuffy wedding venue. The Lussh was perfect – the recent renovations including the outdoor space has made the whole place even more amazing than when we first saw it. Read more here.”
How did COVID affect your wedding plans?
“We had to postpone the wedding once. We were originally getting married in August 2020, but when COVID first started gaining traction in March, we immediately made the decision to postpone saving ourselves the stress if we got closer to the day and had to postpone anyway. We realised that this would have made everything a million times harder with trying to book in all the vendors that we already had prepaid (Yes, the whole wedding was locked in even back then).
We changed the date to May 2021 and despite the uncertainty, we made the decision to forge ahead (agreeing to head to the registry office should we have to cancel again). Thankfully, our weekend was blessed with no interruptions, and we got to have a perfect day! We didn’t have to change our guest numbers at all, and we didn’t include any live streaming either.”
On the day:
“We kept a few traditions, adapted a lot and ditched most of them! Some of the biggest were:
- We stayed together the night before. We have been together through everything and there was no one else we would have rather brought in our day together with.
- Despite this, we did change the whole running of the day. We got ready in separate rooms with “our people” and then had an outfit reveal with just the two of us and the photographer about 3pm. We chose to have our pictures together before the ceremony and again just the two of us after the ceremony around dusk. We were then able to get straight into the partying. We didn’t want to pay for a wedding where we missed out on all the fun stuff! No one wants to be a wedding guest waiting for hours in between the ceremony and reception.
- We wanted the food to reflect our taste and so we chose a massive grazing table that was the feature of the night. It was just stunning! We had sliders and chicken sandwiches, arancini and beef cheek bowls circulating which were exactly as we imagined. There was so much variety, and our guests could eat as much or as little as they wanted.
- We surprised our mums by asking them to witness our certificate. Our bridal parties consisted of our siblings only and they got to choose what they wanted to wear as we wanted them to feel comfortable and beautiful in their own outfits.
- Absolutely no gifts, we have been together too long and have a house full of stuff already, we didn’t need another toaster or serving platter.”
Suppliers
“Obviously Wine & Dine’m was obviously amazing! The feedback received about the food was phenomenal and was important to us.
The Lussh was the perfect backdrop, and it could not have looked more beautiful.
Erin, our celebrant, was the standout of the day! She was amazing, and we did not stop getting compliments about how beautiful and funny and intimate our ceremony was. Like we said to her, we would get married a million times over just so she could be our celebrant again!
Our photographer Ben from Ben & Hope Photography, and our videographers (Your Wedding Story) were calm and funny. Our whole day was basically spent laughing with the banter back and forth about how awkward we (mostly me) were. You cannot tell one bit in our pictures because Ben is so good at what he does! We put our video up on Facebook for everyone to have a look and people from our high schools, people we haven’t spoken to in years, commented saying it had made them cry!”
Highlights:
Brit: “Seeing all our favourite people in the one space and watching them have a great night.
Dancing under the stars as a married couple and hearing my sister’s speech. I didn’t know she had it in her and made all the guests cry! We stayed at The Emporium the night before and the night of, and it was perfection, I honestly don’t know how we will be able to stay anywhere other than 5 stars from now on!”
Pat: “Getting to party with all our friends and family, especially after the tough year we have all had. Getting married to my best friend. How easy our photos were (specifically ours, not the family one’s ha-ha) and how smoothly the day ran.”
What were your favourite items on the menu?
“We both didn’t even get to eat any of the food, which makes us so sad! The grazing table was the absolute star of the show. The arancini, chicken sandwiches and beef cheek bowls were an absolute hit.”
What is one piece of advice you would give to future couples who are planning their day?
“Make it what you want. Don’t listen to anyone else and don’t feel guilty for having what you want! (Even if it’s eloping without anyone else there).
Make sure to take a breath and enjoy the day, it went by so fast that it has always been mostly a blur. Everyone told us this before the day, but you can’t help getting caught up and jumping from one group to the next (and it wasn’t even that big!).
We could not recommend getting a videographer more. We only booked them the week prior and thankfully they were available! Having wedding pictures is one thing, but to have a video highlight of your day is absolutely next level. Also, and most importantly, make sure you EAT!”
