Check out our gold wedding invitations we made for bride Stefanie Rossi and read her wedding story!
There’s something (great) about weddings and gold wedding invitations! We created custom designed laser cut trifold invitations on gold metallic paper for bride Stefanie Rossi last year. The invitation card cover features laser cut details of a couple embracing in a park. You can see the intricate details of the tree, flowers, grass and the couple’s initials on top!
We asked Stefanie for her opinion and feedback on her wedding day. Below is an interview about the highs and lows of wedding planning and her special day! Also have a look at stunning photos from her wedding day! Wedding Photography by Kelly Bowen from Elska Studios.
Wedding day specifics - Date, Time, Location (both church and reception), How many guests?
Saturday September 14th, 3pm, The Pulpshed Glen Ewin Estate South Australia, 150 guests.
Did you have a clear idea of what you wanted long before you were engaged or were most of your decisions made in the time before your wedding?
I’m an actor so I always knew I wanted there to be an element of theatricality to the day but most of my original ideas actually changed as the planning process rolled along. What I thought I wanted actually turned out to be very different to what I ended up going with, so things definitely developed as the day got closer and I’m very glad for that fact.
Kelly Bowen from Elska Studios.
What help did you have planning your wedding? (wedding planners, family input, visit any expos) Did your husband have a big say in many of your choices?
I had a lot of people’s input whist planning my wedding, including many suggestions and help from my mum, suggestions from my bridesmaids, advice and tips from other friends who had either recently been married or were currently planning their weddings (so we shared info) as well as a client of mine (as I am a personal trainer and fitness instructor) even offered to be my co-ordinator on the day which was a huge support!
I also went to the Bridal Fair here in Adelaide where they provide lots of information on all the services you could possibly need for your wedding as well as inspiration for ideas. But all of the little bits and pieces and most of the actual organising and planning was done by myself with the help of my now husband…I would ask for his opinion on everything but in the end it turned out that if I was happy he was happy and he trusted that I would make the day tasteful and not too ‘girly’ as he put it. It was very important to me that he also feel comfortable but he trusted me and often wouldn’t feel like planning so I just went ahead and made decisions, running the cost past him mostly of course.
What type of invitations did you have and how early did you notify your guests about the date?
As we got engaged in February of 2013 and were married in September of the same year, we didn’t have a long engagement so we notified people of the wedding date on our engagement party invitation in the form of a ‘save the date’, which they received approximately five months before the wedding. Our wedding invitations were created from scratch by Linda and her wonderful team at Melbourne Laser Cutter from a design that I had found online that really captured the essence of what the wedding would be. The invitations were a laser cut trifold design on a gold metallic paper and we had so many comments from people about how stunning they were. They really were amazing and we were so happy! We also had our place-cards, menus, table numbers and wedding sign done through Melbourne Laser Cutter in the same theme as the invitations, so everything tied in nicely.
How did you go in regards to your dress - Did you design it yourself or shop around to find what you wanted?
It was my design in the end but was a collaborative effort by my designer friend, Manda Webber, who assisted me with choosing the silk chiffons we used and with some of the design elements that were employed and general design guidance, as well as my dress-maker, Sandra Bardwell, who was constantly offering advice and solutions throughout the process.
I was going for a whimsical, midsummer night’s dream fairytale feel and really wanted something that was completely unique and personalised so that it spoke of who I am and really looked like it was made for me. I did go to several Bridal Stores around Adelaide and tried on many dresses though to get an idea of what I did and didn’t want, which was very helpful. When deciding on a style, try the style on and go with what makes you feel really special…you may look good in a few for example, but there will be one style or shape if you like that will just pop and you will know, so go with your gut.
Kelly Bowen from Elska Studios.
Also, with your bridesmaid dresses - how did you end up choosing a colour and design?
With the bridesmaid’s dresses, I again looked online and in magazines at hundreds of different styles and colours and eventually ended up designing them myself and having them made, as I wasn’t having any luck finding the colours I needed or the style (I was going for a feminine look to compliment the whimsical feel with a slight 1950’s edge). As my colour palate included dusky pinks, champagnes and browny pinks, I searched for and was lucky enough to find three colours in silk dupion that would work perfectly for the style and colour palate of the day. It was more expensive but worth it as I got what I was after.
Did you have a theme on the day and what did you decide in regards to decoratons and flower/table arrangements?
The theme on the day was Enchanted Forest meets Midsummer Night’s Dream meets Fairytale meets a touch of 1950’s Glam (mostly in the bridesmaid’s dresses and the dress I wore at the reception). I really wanted it to feel like we had brought the forest indoors and I wanted it to be classy, romantic and magical. I owe a lot of the ambience we achieved to Ben Flett, who was our lighting designer and who managed to create an atmosphere that only a theatre lighting designer can, highlighting all the right things whilst being subtle at the same time.
To create the look I was after we used a LOT of ivy (and I mean a lot as it doesn’t go far we found!) and decorations included hundreds of glass jars suspended from the ceiling with tea lights that had been hand placed in them, rustic looking birds cages, baby plants as bombonieri, table runners of ivy with hand-made bark structures that had been covered with flowers and moss, lots of fairy lights and stunning table centre-pieces (which were actually a surprise to me from my step mother-in-law) which were baby trees threaded with fairy lights. She had also made two huge and gorgeous trees, one for Jase and one for me which were decorated with fairy lights, flowers and hanging crystals that looked like water droplets. Chinese orchids and roses in the dusky pinks and ivories of my colour palate were the flowers of choice and basically there was lots of green, lots of flowers and trees and lots of candles to keep that magical feel!
Kelly Bowen from Elska Studios.
Kelly Bowen from Elska Studios.
It’s inevitable many things don’t always go to plan. Was there anything that caught you off guard on your wedding day?
To be honest, I know that things went wrong on the day…one huge thing was that we didn’t get to have our ceremony by the lake at Glen Ewin as planned as there had been too much rain during the week leading up to our day and the grass by the lake was water-logged and couldn’t be walked on, but I didn’t let anything take me off guard. I had so many people working to make it the best it could be so I accepted it for what it was and just went with the flow. Everything worked out and I got married and that was the main thing.
If I could say anything to future brides it would be that the most unexpected things can and do happen on your wedding day, from things that would never go wrong going wrong to people you would never believe could act a certain way acting out, so just breathe, go with it and don’t let anything get in the way of you enjoying yourself and taking in each and every detail of the day!
Kelly Bowen from Elska Studios.
What advice could you give to bride-to-be’s? Any services you were happy with, would you do anything different? Any improvements you could have made?
In regards to the planning stage of the wedding, make sure you do your research regarding venues…our venue turned out to be very expensive with not the best service and most things were not included in our package (i.e table runners, centre-pieces, they even charged extra to plate our cake!)
I would also say really enlist the help of those around you so all the little things (like a music list, a list of the photos you want both when getting ready and after the ceremony etc) get done as those things get left last on the priorities list and didn’t get done in my case.
I would also say if you’re only going to give yourself a short amount of time to plan, make sure it’s going to be your main focus for that period of time as it takes up a lot of time and energy…and if your partner is being difficult re, not feeling like doing the planning when it needs to be done, just make the decisions as you don’t want everything to be left to the last minute!
Flourish Bomboniere were great as were Melbourne Laser Cutter, Elska Studios (hair, make-up, photography), Just Say I Do (who provided our ceremony décor), Giftables were we found lots of the little bits and pieces we needed, Captivate Films, Sugar and Spice Cakes, Meander Horse Drawn Carriages, Silver Crest Limousines (really great service!), Belle’s and Beaus Chauffeured Mustangs, Budget Party Hire, Osmond Electronics, Steve Russell DJ Services (fantastic!), Michael Hill for the rings, Peter Jackson, Peter Shearer and Denise Shults our celebrant. So many excellent providers who really did fill the day with their wonderful services that made it what it was.
Kelly Bowen from Elska Studios.
Where did you choose to go on your honeymoon? How long for?
For our honeymoon, Jason and I chose to do a three week road trip of the South Island of New Zealand, which was amazing! We didn’t plan or book anything (apart from the first night’s accommodation in Christchurch) so we were free to go where we wanted for as long as we wanted. Overall, it was a great adventure holiday but not so relaxing as it was jam packed and we did drive about 4000km in total! So if you’re looking for action and adventure definitely the right choice.
