The Ultimate Vintage Wedding - Get Inspired!
Be inspired by the ultimate vintage wedding of Candice and Alex, told by the bride Candice!
Since the age of 4, I couldn’t wait to get married. Having loved everything wedding my whole life and being a Wedding Planner for 7 years I couldn’t wait for my very own BEST DAY EVER!
Every inch of my wedding was so detailed and intertwined with connections and meaning, every breath of the day had be thoroughly thought through, after all I had been dreaming about this day for approx. 9490 nights. Over the years of creating precious moments in time for my brides it was finally my wedding day! You couldn’t wipe the beaming smile from my face. I wasn’t sure how I was going to take the wedding planner hat off (everyone else was worried about that too) but I did relax and I enjoyed every moment. I have never felt more beautiful and never had so much fun in my life.
Some of my favorite highlights of the day (other than marrying the man of my dreams of course) was my Ombre pink wedding gown, The family photo tree with all of our guests wedding photos from their own wedding day hanging in frames, The comfy Kids corner with giant white cushions, the 10km’s of pearls used (I have a slight obsession with pearls) and a theatrical cast of dancers who performed ‘Be Our Guest’ from Beauty and the Beast.
My love for weddings began watching Ariel the little mermaid. I would dream of finding my own prince charming as I wrapped a sheet around me like a train and walked down the hallway. I burnt out 3 VHS tapes repeating the wedding scene, then when my kinder teacher was having her wedding I HAD to go and seeing her made me fall even more in love with the wedding world which would in turn lead me to become a wedding planner.
I met Alex through my Dad, My dad had worked for Alex’s family company for 20 years – Dad had always wanted one of his 5 daughters to marry Alex he thought he was such a great catch. After a few phone calls and numbers exchanging we finally went out. We discovered we were both big kids who loved dressing up for our nieces and nephews and couldn’t wait to have a family one day. 18 months later we were engaged in New Zealand on a Ski trip.
I’m convinced I was here in the 20’s I love all thing Vintage Glam; Pearls, Lace, Satin, Diamantes, fringing! I used 10km’s of pearls on the wedding including a drape section with hand tied bows that took 2 days to set up.
My gown was insane. My designer Xen wanted to capture the structured planner in me with the Corset and unleash the crazy Candi with a wild train. I wasn’t afraid of colour and texture so he created an Ombre pink wedding gown – who says you have to stick with all white. When I told my mother in law that I was having hot pink tips through my hair to match my gown she didn’t believe me. The hot pink tips also tied together with the white and pink tip carnations and roses.
Adding elements of Old world Charm we had custom letterpressed invitations complete with a sketch of Alex and I as Batman and Fairy ( Alex loves dressing up for his nieces and nephews parties as do I and we are big Kids – For Alex’s wedding day present I bought him the Dark Knight costume. I weaved the Character sketch throughout the day on our invitations, Ceremony booklets, Tea Towel Bomboniere menu’s and even hand painted wooden signs for the back of our chair.
VENDORS
INVITATIONS
The first impression your guests receive is the invitation and I wanted ours to be beautiful and reflect that Old world Charm. LETTERPRESS would be the perfect fit. I worked with the darling Carla from Peppermint Press on a custom design. There were a few details right from the beginning that would start with invitations and then be weaved through the day
- ‘Be Our Guest ‘ had to be on the invitation. Being a dancer since the age of 2 the second the ring went on the finger I spoke to my old dance teacher about creating a performance to welcome all our guests. I thought Be our Guest hit the nail on the head. Michelle had all the Broadway style costumes complete with Lumiere, Clogworth, Giant Plate can can dancers and even Belle, her talented professional dancers entertained young and old. Everyone was bopping along with big beaming smiles. We had “Be our Guest” on our personalized tea towel Menu’s and to continue the theme I designed and created Vintage tickets to give that dinner and a show feel.
- On the Wishing Well card we wanted a custom sketch of a Batman and Fairy. Batman – As Alex loves to dress up for his nieces and nephews. He desperately wanted the Batman dark knight costume anytime anyone would go overseas he would ask them to get it for him. I actually bought one a year ago, and gave it to him as a surprise the morning of the wedding. Me as a Fairy as for 10 years I was one of Melbourne top Childrens Entertainers Performing at over 150 kids birthdays a year. These characters were then used on the back of our ceremony booklets which I designed and made, on our Menu’s and I also hand painted Mr & mrs Signs with our characters on them for the back of our Chairs.
- A Giant LOVE sign – Family is very important to both of us and we didn’t want the typical family shots so I create a invitation for our family to join us on the Giant LOVE sign for a special family photo shoot. Everyone would hang, sit, and be silly on the Love letters. It made for a special moment of the day and everyone had so much fun.
Being a wedding planner and a dedicated one at that a lot of my time is spent with my brides or planning their weddings so for our wishing well I created a Poem: To reflect that really all Alex and I needed was time together away from distractions. “The best gift you can give us, is time spent together away from the distractions somewhere with beautiful weather” –I had Carla design an island thought bubble above our heads. Given the running joke was that I never close my Mac I also had in my vows that I promised to close the Mac at least Once, maybe twice a week and come to bed at what Alex calls a reasonable hour!
The DRESS!
A dear industry friend of mine Xen created my amazing Ombre gown… our first chat was about mixing the fun crazy side of me and the vintage glam side of me. I wasn’t afraid of colour and texture and given that I was dying my hair a deep shade of violet with Hot magenta tips through it we thought it perfect to do a OMBRE HOT PINK gown… So it would be white in the bodice keeping the corset traditional with bling and then as the skirt trails down goes from a light shade of pink to a deep magenta. I had told my mother in law that I was dying my hair hot pink and it would match my gown she didn’t believe it till she saw it with her own eyes.
It was beautiful the most amazing dress I have ever seen – okay I may be biased cause it was mine but wow. I had shades of pink petals fall through my 6ft long veil all down the dress; there were ombre satin bows, diamantes, lace, more bows, tulle and even fringing- very 20’s
MY HAIR
It was a 3 months process to strip back the hair to a blonde so as the right pops of colour would come through. Hot pink tips popped through the violet base of my hair to match my dress and the flowers – carnations and roses with hot pink tips.
THE SUITS
I had always loved the morning suit- Top hats and tails! So classy – Alex was happy with the look too,, so we put him in grey with a black jacket and all the boys in black.
THE CHURCH
Just after we had gotten engaged I was attending a rehearsal for one of my Brides at the Newman College Chapel at Melbourne University. It was divine. The architecture is Decorated Gothic 14th Century. It’s long and narrow and has the perfect mix of intimacy and grandeur. Alex being Catholic and I having graduated from RMIT ( You had to either have graduated Melbourne Uni or a Uni of Melbourne that didn’t have it’s own chapel) we Qualified and Set our Date. 1st Feb 2014
THE CEREMONY & FAMILY
Family is really important to Alex and I we wanted to include a lot of our family in the day. Alex and I chose our god children 4 year old Harvie and Ruby to be Flowergirl and Page boy and the cutest ones ever at that! We are both so very close to our god children and really wanted them to be a special part of our day.
We had both our older sisters say a reading. Our Mums light the family candles for the candle ceremony and all our nieces and nephews say the prayers of the faithful.”
THE CEREMONY BOOKLETS
I love a good fairytale and we wanted our ceremony booklets to be a little different so instead of just opening up the page to the processional we started with Once Upon a Time and told the story of who we were and how we met in the traditional fairytale style then followed on with the order of service. My sisters and I sat for many hours twisting black and pink ribbon together for the effect of the binding.
THE MUSIC- A Disney string quartet
My String quartet composed a special version of ‘Part of your world’ It was so beautiful such a dream come true and took me back to all those years ago watching the movie and pretending it was me getting married, now it was! During the Candle Lighting ceremony we had ‘A dream is a wish your heart makes’ such a sweet song and very meaningful considering we had been dreaming of this day for so long.
THE STYLING
My personal style is Vintage glam, I love Satin, Lace, Pearls, Roses and all things pretty and whimsical. I do love Pink … it was funny when we got engaged and were talking about colours Alex said – I love Blue and Lily’s I said great we are going Pink and Roses. I’m lucky he loves me so much he let me have my Pink and Roses.
It took 5 days to Set up the Marquee at Eynesbury Homestead. I wanted all my guests to enjoy the journey and the grounds.
DIRECTIONAL
Guests were greeted with a Vintage blackboard and as they walked up the trail there were hand painted signs (Yes I hand painted them) with words of the day
Love, Laughter, Happiness, Friendship, Family, Cherish. Then they walked onto the Secret Garden
The FAMILY TREE
Filled with hanging framed pictures of ALL the guests wedding photos from their own wedding day. Over the 18th months I had asked everyone to send me in pictures of their wedding day – some didn’t so I plucked them from facebook – much to their delight when they rocked up on the day and went oh how did she get that photo! Everyone loved it, it was a tree filled with so much love,happiness, joyful memories and it was fun to have a giggle at the fashion!
The BIRDCAGE GIFTS TABLE
Our Presents table I had been dreaming of for so long. A vintage table with all the draws pulled out, filled with flowers. Hanging birdcages filled with florals and dripping pearls. As our Wishing Well card and poem was dear to my heart I framed that and put that on the table too.
THE SEATING CHART
I hand painted a sign saying ‘ find your seat’ and created Individual Vintage tickets as the seating chart, hung from twine wrapped around the tree. This tied in with the “ Be Our Guest” performance. – Dinner and Show
THE TEA TOWEL MENU’s
I loved the idea of having a useful bomboniere so for something different Carla and I designed a Menu that matched the design of the stationary and I had it printed on Tea Towels. They were folded on everyones place setting to look like the napkin (we had tucked the real napkin underneath)
The KIDS CORNER
Being 2 big kids ourselves we love our nieces and nephews. We wanted the kids to be comfortable so we created an enchanted Kids corner complete with Giant white ottomons and oversized scatter cushions ( that Alex had made himself ) Tree stump cushions ( again Alex had made) sitting upon a bed of grass with a backdrop of Ivy walls, fairy lights and green uplights. – The kids wouldn’t have to be bored and sit down in the one spot at their table they were free to lounge around the kids area eating pizza, sausage rolls, chicken nuggets and Chocolate fudge Ice cream sundae’s with mini M&M’s! There were a few big kids that wanted to hang out in that section too.
The CANDY BUFFET
Being nicknamed candi for most of my life I couldn’t not have a candy buffet. Early on the planning I came across coloured pastel striped wrapping paper I bought two roils and kept it aside for over a year. It would set the tone of the Buffet. As the backdrop I matched the tones with streamers, had colourful striped ribbon for the labels and even found these cute Lemonade bottles to finish off the area.
10km’s (6.2Miles) of PEARLS!
It took over 2 days to drape the middle section roof of the marquee with 60 x 10 meter strands of pearls. As these pearls were individually on the string they kept sliding so instead of having all these gaps I decided to fill in the sections with hand tied satin bows – I tied a lot of bows- but totally worth it! All the other pearls were used in the Centerpieces, on the tables, throughout the grounds. In the candleholders. There were pearls everwhere.
HANDMADE
Among the other many things hand made Alex also made The wooden table numbers, painted and sanded to get that shabby chic look as well as a Sign for the Bridal table with Mr. & Mrs. and a Heart for the AND.
THE FLOWERS
I love roses and carnations. There is a beautiful white carnation that has a hot pink tip it was perfectly suited to match the ombre dress as well as all the pink I had everywhere. Carnations are my mum’s favorite flower and they always remind me of her, soft and fluffy and roses well they are so elegant and timeless.
The Bouquets I wanted the girls to have a stronger mix of pink to white and intertwine pearls to match the style of the wedding.
The Ceremony; The Church only allowed 2 large arrangements so we had made two very large arrangements of pinks and whites. Carnations, Roses and Alex’s favourite – Lily’s. We then transferred these arrangements to the Reception and had them at the entrance of our Marquee – It was great to be able to re-use them and something I try and do for my brides to get some extra value in.
OUTSIDE the Reception
There were flowers everywhere! – In tea pots in the Garden tea party I had set out on the verandah. Dripping from the birdcage and the draws on the gifts table. Hanging in over 80 t-lights balls in the trees and the trellis.
THE GUEST TABLES
We had alternating settings for the guest tables – it’s a great way to incorporate two versions of centerpieces you like, while allowing the room and line of sight not to feel too cluttered. On every second table we had Large whimsical balls of Carnations, Roses, Gipp and Seasonal Blooms standing on a tall vase with pearls ( yes more pearls) dropping through the center of the vase. The alternate tables had a 3 Set candle holder. 2 of the set had smaller versions of the large balls with pearls draped through and the 3rd Candleholder had a large candle sitting amongst a sea of Pearls. Oh Candlelight everything looks better with Candlelight doesn’t it. At the base of both arrangements set 5 silver mercury and diamanté t-lights.
LIGHTING
Lighting can really change a room and add so much character … Inspired by Pandora’s wedding from RHWBH I had pink uplight set around the side of the room at the draping points to bounce the colour off the white. As the sun went down the candlelight and pink hues were just incredible it was great to see the ever changing mood of the night.
To top off the lighting I had 3 Chandeliers installed it really put the icing on the cake
CAKE
Set on a vintage side table we chose a 3 tier cake with the perfect shade of pink. Growing up my mother had a crystal vase filled with Pearls and I would always dress up in them ( that’s where my love of pearls started) so it was only fitting that I borrowed her Vase filled it with pearls and it sat next to cake paired with a single rose in another of her vases. It looked much like my mothers dressing table growing up.
Alex’s favourite flavor in the whole world is cookies and cream – anything cookies and cream he will eat it… so we had a cookies and cream lover, a Red velvet – because YUM! And white chocolate and Raspberry – delicious!!!!
Talk about delicious my sister makes the most incredible amazing choc peppermint truffles they are to die for (her secret recipe) and so I asked her if she could make some for coffee and cake time. The best truffles you will ever have (wish you could taste them)
WHITE WHITE WHITE
To finish off the marquee I have always loved the White Chivalri chairs they are just so classic- an elegant Chair makes such a difference to the room. We also bought in a white acrylic dance floor to lay over the parquetry one – Much to the dismay of my budget according to my husband but I just couldn’t bare to have a gold dance floor in the middle of a white room.
SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING BLUE
Playing in my mums jewelry as most little girls do I especially loved her diamond bracelet that was her grandmothers I always told her I am going to wear this at my wedding and so I did. My garter was a kitten D’amourgarter ( a designer in Brisband of Vintage glam) I usually co-ordinate wearing a kitten dress it’s a bit of a lucky charm so I had wear kitten on my day. Due to limited stock I almost missed out but thanks to the postie for dropping off the day before the wedding.
THE BEST DAY EVER! - Taking the Planner hat off and Being THE BRIDE
The morning of the Wedding I woke and couldn’t believe how calm I was. It was finally here. The morning was a lot of fun getting all glammed up. Just before I put my dress on I took a big deep breath … this is it! I have never felt more beautiful in my life. The Car ride to the church in our 22 seater Hummer ( we wanted it to be super fun) My gals and I sung Love ballads the whole way.
The moment when I was standing at the top of aisle no words can describe. It had been a moment in time I had been early waiting for and it was everything I dreamt it would be. Yes I cried! As I walked down the aisle everyone went into a blur and I was just so focused on getting to my Husband to be that I forgot to pick up my dad half way (Miss independent wanted to walk in by myself then meet dad halfway) he tapped me on the shoulder with a ‘hey what about me’ and the whole church cracked up in hysterics. It was such a funny moment and really lit up the whole church up.
I couldn’t stop talking to my husband it was like I hadn’t seen him in forever we were sitting there giggling away the whole time.
The rest of the day was so much fun, as we rode around in the hummer we played 80’s classics as well as all the great sing-alongs. From the photos, to the Love sign, to getting to Eynesbury and seeing all those elements come together it was magic.
We snuck out for some sunset shots which are some of my favorite shots of the day, we danced the night away and it truly was The Best day ever!
Vendor Credits
- Photographer- Milk Photography
- Flowers- Style By Nature
- Videography – Preface Films
- Hair – The Girl in the Green Scarf
- Makeup – Tanya Guccione
- Cake- Sophisticakes of Melbourne
- Stationary Design – Peppermint Press
- Stationary printing – Mickey Loves Jacqui
