Life So Far… | Elle Bambi Diaries

This Valentines was spent differently to what I thought & not in a bad way. As it turned out, we had dinner a day early at the newly renovated Maha & met the ever so lovely, Shane Delia. G & I then spent Saturday & Sunday doing our own things separately. While G did get me a beautiful bouquet arrangement of lilies & chrysandthemums, he ended up going out to do what he loves second best (hehe mountain biking), I spent the whole Saturday making candles and Sunday at the Camberwell markets blissfully shopping around for antique bits & pieces. In the evening, we both worked at the family restaurant & ended the night with ice-cream & drinks on the curb of 7/11, chilling with the other waiters up till midnight. It’s definitely not your typical V-day- I guess everyone has their own grandeur ideas of Valentines day, but enjoying our own hobbies individually also makes the both of us happy for each other. What I found most inspiring (& most importantly-learnt) about this Valentines is that, it really shouldn’t take much to make your other half happy, and that creating an environment where both you & your partner can support each others passions & allowing them to do it without feeling guilty, creates a positive symbiosis effect in your relationship, thus more rewarding than flowers or a gift. *Moral of the story- Let the girl shop to her hearts content & everything else will be forgiven 😛 Happy V-Day once again 🙂

WOW! It’s been 2 weeks since our wedding and I’d do anything to relive the whole experience again – hands down, one of the best day of our lives & something we’d be sure to remember years later. It was everything we had hoped for plus so much more & we could not thank everyone enough- those who attended & those who wished us well over social media etc. Really, thank you.

After 10 years of first being introduced at a school formal (thanks Andy), we thought what better place & opportunity to show our family & friends the venue where we first met- The International of Brighton. We decided to marry in Summer on a Saturday. After a worrisome rainy week, we were blessed with a cool cloudy morning & a sunny afternoon. We wanted the date to be easy to remember in future- 20.12. 2014, just like our engagement date- 12.12. 2013 and we wanted it close to Christmas so our families will be together during this festive season. Truth be told, we planned this date ‘strategically’ so that when we are older & have children (and grandchildren), what best way to celebrate our wedding anniversary along with Christmas & having family over, no matter where they are 🙂

I spent the night before the wedding at the Clarion hotel which was close to home- thanks to one of my Bridesmaids Michelle who arranged this for us. We had a spacious 2 bedroom suite which gave us plenty of space to relax, a good bed to sleep in & get ready in the morning without distraction (before 4AM by the way) I gave my bridesmaids matching robes in different colours to get ready in from Etsy, matching bracelets from Colette, as well as Pandora rings in their birthstones as thank you gifts. I couldn’t ask for more perfect bridesmaids. You girls rock! G on the otherhand gifted his boys a set of customised leather bound flasks with their initials & customised bullet head cufflinks (all from Etsy) to signify a toast to his ‘stags’, at the same time incorporating his personality. [Getting my hair & make up done with Michelle]

We started off the morning at mine for Chinese Tea Ceremony or ‘Teppai’ in Indonesian, but before that, my girls & I had planned games in the theme of Border Security & Quarantine for the boys. I actually got this theme idea from a wedding documentary that aired on SBS. It documented weddings from different cultures & it turned out that the Russians have similar traditions to us! The boys arrived with a beautiful Rose Pink 1959 Fleetwood Convertible Cadillac from the Caddyman (the bridal car) & a cool stretch Dodge from Exotic Limos (bridal party) I’d have to make a special mention to Heinz, owner of the Caddyman business who did a splendid job of driving us around, making us feel very special & ensuring we were very comfortable & welcome in his beautiful car. He consistently asked if we needed refreshments or nibbles, or if I needed a scarf to shield from the wind & if we needed the hood of the car up in case it was too hot, as well as giving us a red carpet to walk out on. G & I were super impressed by his gentlemanly behaviour- That nice, classic romantic charm you only see in movies 🙂

After, we went to G’s house for another tea ceremony there. I then changed into my white wedding dress from Benjamin Roberts (with much acrobats) & walked down the stairs with my girls holding up a sign that read ‘Just Wait Till You See Her’. G was at the bottom waiting for me. He wore a custom made 3 piece blue tux from Oscar Hunt. We could not thank the team- Julz & co. enough for entirely hitting the spot on the design we wanted & to make the whole experience so fun! They listened to each of our concerns, down to Julz reading my facial expression- what I liked & didn’t like. We’ve never been to a design & suit fitting more fun than that! We were then off to take photographs at the Parliament House & Treasury gardens. Sadly we did not make it in time for Brighton beach but nonetheless we had fun along the way (though our feet tend to disagree)[Bridal party taking a break]

Soon it was time for the big walk down the aisle. The courtyard outside our reception area was set up beautifully & I was loving the lush green leaves that shaded the guests from the sun. I walked down to a classic 60s hit ‘Stand by Me’ by Ben E.King & we were married by our “Freaking AWESOME” (quote from G) celebrant Sally. Sally is a real life sweetheart who is super down-to-earth. She made an effort to get to know both G and I as a couple & her attention to detail was superb. To be honest I don’t know how anyone can be so patient with G’s tardiness, but she was 🙂 From our first meeting down to our rehearsal, she made it entirely easy for us all & was organised to the next level 🙂 I cannot recommend her enough! [Our DIY welcome board. We wanted something slightly different. Thanks to bridesmaid Sandra for the easel & chalkboard pens!!][Our celebrant Sally regramming a photo of our Wedding Program cards]

After the ceremony, guests were served with an impressive 3 tiered tower of fresh oysters, prawns & canapes. Drinks were on constant rotation & we had an open bar for the entire duration of the night! Because I’m a ‘dessert’ fiend (I have holes in teeth to prove it) it would not be entirely right without incorporating a Candy Buffet where guests could fill up boxes of our favourite treats to take home or scoff on the spot. Thank you to the team from Candy Buffet Co for setting up such a splendid display & customising it as per our wedding theme to a T! If the sugar high was not enough, guests were also served alternating mini dessert platters of Tiramisu, Mocha Tart, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream & Orange Blossom Panacotta, Lemon Tart with Blood Orange Sorbet. On top of that, our guests get to bring home boxes of our Chocolate Ganache wedding cake. [We used polaroids of us kissing as our cake topper]

Instead of a ‘First Dance’ G & I wanted to play wedding reception games so that our guests could get involved & boy oh boy did they get involved. I guess we don’t kiss & tell & I’ll leave it up to my guests to remember this night with much laughter….and booty shaking 😉 The night was filled with some good & bad dance moves along to awesome tunes by our DJ & friend Kimber. Thanks for making it so fun! From the entrance songs, to the sleazy bumps & grinds!

I loved everything about our special day. Nothing can beat having your closest family and friends in the same place at the same time. To top it off with a beautiful setting, great food and drinks, the best tunes, amazing weather and the love of your life, it really was a dream come true.

Here are some of my wonderful suppliers who I cannot recommend enough:

Venue: The International of Brighton– a recently furbished chic & contemporary venue who really took care of us & our guests. We were so impressed with their quality, patience & service. We had our own server/butler? lady called Jan who was like our fairy godmother! She ensured we ate our fill, offered top ups & that our requests were fulfilled. The only negative I’d have to say was, they threw out our DIY placecard holders even though I have advised that I’d like to keep them.

Photographer: WeiWei + Gary from aWeiding (read my previous post here) These 2 work together like perfect chemistry- my Mac & Cheese of the day. Gary brings a cheerful mood & his easygoing personality makes you feel at ease- especially when taking photographs! Wei2’s professional demeanour & photo styling gives you assurance that the photos will turn out beautiful, just like those from her blog here. Can’t wait to see the final product! They took some polaroids of our day as shown below!

Videographer: Euwing + Win Nee from With Love Videography.

Make Up & Hair Stylists: Michelle, Yuki & Jojo

Grooms Tux, Vest, Bowtie & Pocketsquare: Oscar Hunt

Grooms shoes: Aquila

Groomsmen Suit: Andre J

Groomsmens Shirts: Saibu no Akuma. Tony & Paul are the nicest guys you’ll meet out there! (read my previous post here) They helped G customise the groomsmen shirts, from the fabric, the type of collar, to the pattern/colour inside the collars & under the buttons. The groomsmen shirts also had initialised cuffs to personalise each shirt to each owner. Definitely check them out!

Bowties & Pocketsquares: The Tie Bar

Brides Dress: Brides of Melbourne

Brides Reception Dress & Bridesmaids Dresses: White Runway

Brides Shoes: Miu Miu

Bridesmaids shoes: Range from Aldo, Nine West & Forever New

Centrepieces, Brides Bouquet & Buttonieres: Balwyn Events. The only negative was, our centrepieces were missing their crystal hanging beads (shown in picture). Not sure if this was the neglect from Balwyn Events or the International.

Cake: House of Elegant Cakes

Candy Buffet: The Candy Buffet Company

Celebrant: Sally Hughes

Photobooth: Photoyolo These guys were awesome. The design process for the printout was a little slow & frustrating though, since it took multiple times to re-iterate to the designer (all over email as well) what you want in your photo printout. The photobooth side of things were great since you can fit 6-8 people into the booth. Photo quality & lighting was also great! Guests could also have the option to leave video messages! At the end, they gave us a beautiful big album to store all photos + 2 CDS with soft copies & videos.