Sibila & Andre

Every once in a while a wedding hits your inbox and your jaw literally hits the floor. Not only because of its beauty but also because of the story and sentiment that accompanies it. Sibila shares the incredibly romantic tale of how Andre proposes to her and a wonderful account of their wedding planning journey. When I say your jaw will hit the floor, it really will, and then some. The whole wedding party must have had a slice of the 'fit' pie and look absolutely incredible in their attire. Sibila's Rue de Seine dress is so uniqiue, so beautiful and absolutely fitting for this outdoor Australian wedding. Then we have the maids in mis-match white dresses carrying deep red protea bouquets that pop. The groomsmen look pretty dashing in their Topman suits too. The attention to detail from Kaya and Kazoo Events and Flowers in Bloom is amazing. Mixing copper terrariums with green foliage to create stunning table runners and hanging focal points at The Flour Factory wedding venue. Anyway enough of my waffling, lets take a look at this gorgeous wedding...

Proposal

Sibila the Bride: We have been really fortunate to have spent so many years together – it all began when we met in high school in 2005. Over that time we have shared so many memorable moments (and possibly some questionable fashion trends). We had just celebrated 9 years together a week prior to our engagement. We were heading to Europe over Christmas and were having an early Christmas dinner with our parents. We started exchanging Christmas presents and there was one for me. I was convinced it was a Nespresso machine because it was the perfect sized box for it. I opened the box only to find it was just an empty box – (with a little tiny box in the middle). I still hadn’t a clue of what was going on- I turned around to ask her parents what was going on and by the time I had turned back - A was on one knee! He was really nervous and hardly took a breath when he asked but it was so lovely and special to have shared it with our parents. Such a good way to start a 6 week holiday! We became engaged in December 2014 and got married in January 2016! So our engagement was a little over a year. We were married a month and a bit after our 10 year anniversary!

Venue

I naturally started looking at venues while we were traveling in Europe. I really loved the style of The Flour Factory and had a feeling it was the one. I took Andre and he felt the same way. It’s a historic 100 year old Flour Mill found in the Inner City... and has so much character – high beam ceilings with wooden floors. Upstairs in the ‘gallery’ was where we had our seated reception and their newly renovated bar downstairs was where our guests enjoyed pre-drinks.

Colour Scheme & Decor

We were lucky enough to have such a naturally stunning venue, so styling for the day was minimal yet whimsical. Green foliage with pops of copper were draped from the ceiling as well as along our dining tables. Our use of mismatched yet elegant candles kept the atmosphere warm and intimate which was so important to us given our large number of guests. Despite having our reception in an inner city venue we wanted our guests to feel as though they were elsewhere, somewhere a little magical surrounded by lush green foliage. I had purchased little bits and pieces for the reception throughout the year leading up to our wedding and had an image in my mind of how I wanted the venue to look - the best part of the day was being able to see it all set up before our guests entered. I could have cried! It was more than we ever expected and all of our vendors (especially Kaya our ‘On the Day’ planner & our florist Alicia) did such an incredible job of making that image in my mind a beautiful reality! I felt really comfortable letting them decide what would go wear, and the hanging glass terrariums between the pendant lights were a last minute decision (Alicia filled them with off-cuts of leftover foliage & florals) that really added to the whimsy feel of our night.

Dress

I found my dress on Pinterest pretty early on after we became engaged. I actually think I may have even pinned it prior and I was revisiting my ‘wedding’ pinterest board. I fell in love with it immediately, it was so elegant yet unusual. I looked into the designer ‘Rue De Seine’ and there whole collection was everything I would want in a wedding gown. I absolutely loved the fact it wasn’t white! It was perfect. I told myself that I should keep looking just in case (since it was literally the first dress I had looked at)...I tried not to think about it for a month or so and then came back to it and I still felt the same. I got in contact with Michele the designer and not long after I was doing my first ‘skype’ fitting. She was so lovely to work with and she made the whole process so easy and stress free! I did another ‘skype’ fitting around 4 months after the first and then had the dress delivered about 3 weeks prior to our wedding. It was more than I had ever imagined and trying it on was such a lovely experience to share with my mum! I had to get it altered slightly but that was the inner slip - so it was all a smooth process & I never felt stressed about not having tried the dress on. I like to think that one day I may be able to wear it again, or maybe one day pass it down to a daughter.

Suppliers

Most of our vendors were friends of friends! With the exception of lighting and furniture hire. It made us feel so much more at ease... and it was so lovely to support some of our friends who have been trying to start up their own businesses and of course supporting local established ones!

Best Bits

After the ceremony and our photos – Andre and I snuck upstairs while our guests were enjoying their pre- drinks. We were able to see the amazing set-up on our own and it was incredible. We had about 15 minutes enjoying a special little moment, just the two of us! It was so lovely to just soak it all in together - It was the only part of the day that didn’t feel like it flew by.

Traditions

It wasn’t a religious tradition but my side of the family are Bulgarian and Andre a mix of Mauritian & Italian! The Bulgarians have a tradition where they yell out “gorchivo’ which means ‘bitter’, and when they yell it out the bride & groom have to kiss (to get rid of the ‘bitterness’! Then the Italians also have a tradition where they yell out ‘baci” which means kiss, and that obviously means we kiss! At one point they were going back and forth and it was pretty funny!!

Advice

Plan little bits at a time, and same goes for deposits - if you spread it all out, that way the whole process is a lot more enjoyable. Oh, and delegate - all of our close family & friends were so happy to help in any way they can, so never feel alone in the process because so many people would love to get involved.

Wedding Planner

Kaya was our ‘ on the day’ planner. She was actually a patient of mine a few months earlier and that's how we met. We discovered that she was a wedding planner and I was at the point where I had planned everything but just needed that someone to make sure it all went smoothly. We clicked straight away and we both had a really similar style in terms of decor.

Photographer

Jerri my photographer was also a friend of Andre’s cousin - we flew here over from London 10 days before our wedding (she had never been to Australia!), this was so lovely because we were able to spend time with her the week leading up to our wedding, and even managed to squeeze in a little engagement shoot! By the time it got to our big day we felt so comfortable with her! We had made a beautiful friend and received the most amazing photo’s to remember our day.