Real Weddings

Article by

Sophie

Posted on

14/01/2021

Posted in

Real Weddings

Ella, a lawyer specialising in international dispute resolution, and Bobbi Jo, a primary school teacher and makeup artist, are a pretty groovy duo. You see, these two opted for an ‘escapism’ vibe that we’re well and truly taken with. “We wanted it to feel like us and our guests were on a Mediterranean holiday, with lots of seafood, summery drinks flowing, and slightly kitsch ‘Italy in the 80s’ vibes”, they share. Pretty cool, eh? Well, wait until you see Freek Florals translation of this, Ella’s chic Lola Varma gown and Flossy Photo’s fab captures. Do yourself a favour and scroll right down…

THE VENUE “We based almost all of our wedding plans around Si Paradiso. It’s a short walk from our house, and was/is our go-to spot for afternoon spritzes, spontaneous catch-ups, and post-work dinners when we can’t face cooking. It’s the kind of place that instantly makes you feel like you’re on holiday and somehow transports you to a different time. It’s Italy (naturally) but in a different era (hard to pinpoint, but the vibe is 80s / early 90s). It’s very reminiscent of Call Me By Your Name, which we’re both slightly obsessed with.”

FAVOURITE DETAILS “Our flowers were exactly what we had hoped for. They really upped the romance vibes, without detracting from the already beautiful natural surrounds of our ceremony location. Eden (Freek Florals) totally nailed the brief. She also went above and beyond on the day. She was a guest but scrambled to relocate the flowers from the ceremony to Si Paradiso. Also, I loved my dress. Maevana went above and beyond with creating my dream wedding dress – I want to wear it again! Another major highlight was our DJ, Yon Jovi. We had loosely described our taste as ‘the Dirty Dancing soundtrack but make it cool’, and he absolutely nailed it. We received so many comments from guests who were loving the tunes – it seemed like the start of each new track drew an immediate chorus of cheers and “Omg I LOVE this song”’s from our guests. There was even a spontaneous conga line from my extended family during dinner, well before any dancing was meant to start because they physically couldn’t stay in their seats.”

DIY “The plan was to have a DIY-free wedding, but craft is such a huge part of my life, so in the end, I couldn’t help myself. But I did limit myself to one project only, which was to make a flower girl dress inspired by Rachel Burke’s metallic tinsel dresses. I spent a few weeks on the project and handmade resin buttons in the shape of hearts, to attach to the shoulders of the dress. Ella and I were both pretty worried that the flower girl (Ella’s 4-year-old niece) would baulk at having to wear it, given that we hadn’t seen her not dressed up as Elsa from Frozen in months. When she put it on on the day, she was standing in front of the mirror and the light caught the coloured plastic and refracted all around the room. She excitedly gasped, “I look like fireworks!”. From then on she was sold, much to our relief!”

THE DRESSES “I [Ella] knew I wanted something super simple. I also knew I would get overwhelmed if I cast my net too wide, so I decided only to chose from Lola Varma’s selection. I felt that if I didn’t like one of their dresses, I wouldn’t like any! This made things much easier for me, and the Giadi Gown was a perfect fit from my very first visit to Lola Varma’s studio.” “I [Bobbi Jo] had originally purchased a dress secondhand which I thought was my “dream” dress but it was just a little bit too tight and a little bit too plastic (sequins). I changed my mind and reached out to Maevana who I had studied with a long time ago (in my past life as a Costume Designer). I wanted a dress which was romantic, fashionable, not too tight and had pockets. I wanted a dress which made me feel like myself and Maevana nailed it 100%. Looking back, I can’t imagine anyone else making my wedding dress for me! I had what felt like 1000 fittings and I loved every second of it. Maevana made me feel like nothing was too fussy or too hard. Even at the wedding, I ripped a little bit of my dress going too hard on the dance floor, and she offered to sew it up then and there.”

LITTLE LOL “When we rehearsed the ceremony, our flower girl was told countless times that she had to walk REAAALLLLLY slowly. She clearly took this to heart, because when the time came for her big moment on the day, she looked like she was walking in slow motion. On the plus side, it gave us lots of time and smile and wave at everyone we knew on our way up the aisle.”

STANDOUT VENDORS “All of them? Honestly, we put so much effort and thought into choosing our vendors and they were all absolutely incredible! Flossy, Eden, Maevana and the Si Paradiso team were such standouts to us that I want to get married again just so we can employ them (and hang out with them) all over again!”

This beaut day was originally publicised in Issue 29 of Hello May mag. Head over here if you’d like to snag yourself one of our limited copies. More vendor rec’s you’re after? Click through for more from the legendary Flossy Photo and Freek Florals. But first…