One of our fave parts of seeing the weddings that make their way to Hello May HQ is finding out what marriage means to all of our wonderful couples. When Jordan and Ben wed, for example, the bride told us that “marriage is me getting a new surname that makes me sound at least 10% more exotic.”
Okay okay, lols aside, they also say it’s, “the ultimate celebration of our love and the start of our next chapter together” – and we couldn’t agree more.
After downsizing the original wedding they had planned – “we had booked an entire marquee wedding at Banool Gardens, which I then had to unplan due to COVID!” says Jordan – the pair went ahead with their “mini wedding 2.0”, calling in the talented folks from Shot From The Heart to snap the day. But even after bringing the guest list down to just 32, these folks had a bloody fab time. “It was an incredibly tough decision but when we scaled back our wedding, we only invited immediate family and the rest were friends. The wedding felt so much more intimate and fun.” Let’s find out more, shall we?
THE VENUE “We had always thought we would have gotten married in Italy; however, travel was off the cards due to COVID. Where is the next best place, you ask? Ringwood North! Ben’s family friends generously offered their home/gardens, Banool Gardens, to hold our ceremony. It is a real labour of love for the owners, Merryn and Warren. Merryn works in the garden practically seven days a week to keep their property looking so incredible.”
THE VIBE “We love a party, so it was essential that our guests drank the best wine, ate the best food and listened to the best music. It was incredibly important to keep the day light and fun. Every guest had a drink in their hand for the ceremony, which was a non-negotiable for us. We wanted our ceremony short, but meaningful. The reception was such a fun party. We couldn’t thank our family and friends enough for the beautiful speeches at the reception.”
FAVE DETAILS “Both the ceremony and reception florals were stunning. I let our florist, The Petal Edition (formerly Petal Flower Co.), have full creative control for our reception florals and just said make them ‘fun’. They ended up being vibrant orange, purples and pinks. Can confirm she nailed the brief and it was exciting to be surprised. They suited Chin Chin Melbourne’s upstairs events space, where we had our reception dinner, perfectly. Instead of wedding cake we organised multiple rounds of cocktails for everyone.”
THE DRESS “Originally, I designed a tulle custom gown with Marquise Bridal. Due to the wedding nearly being cancelled and the dramatic shift in size and tone of the day, they kindly let me redesign a custom mini that was more appropriate for the revised version of our wedding. My brief was fun and sexy.”
THE SUIT “Our dear friend owns Houndstooth Tailors in Flinders Lane. They make phenomenal suits, so going there for Ben was a no brainer. Andrew (the tailor) hid secret embroidered messages throughout Ben’s double-breasted suit jacket, like his nickname, wedding date, etc. We loved it.”
MEMORABLE MOMENTS “Ben and I chose to walk down together which my family was incredibly supportive of. We really did things our way and did what felt most natural to us. After the ceremony and cocktail hour, a coach picked us all up and we went to the W Hotel to check in before heading to Chin Chin for the reception/dinner. All of our guests had booked a room, which was so fun to all be together. Practically everyone at the wedding ended up in the W Hotel pool at 4am after the wedding had wrapped up. Swimming with 20 of our friends at an ungodly hour was the cherry on top of an incredible day/night.”
STANDOUT VENDORS “I was blown away by every single vendor. Going into our wedding with total confidence in every single person that was a part of our day was priceless. I still cannot get over our wedding photos by Shot From the Heart and the florals by The Petal Edition.”
CONTRIBUTING VENDORS Photographer Shot From the Heart Florist The Petal Edition (formerly Petal Flower Co.) Stationery Greenvelope Ceremony Banool Gardens Reception Chin Chin Celebrant Panache & Co Rings Dwayne Designs THE BRIDE Gown Marquise Bridal (ceremony), Stone Cold Fox (second look) Veil Marquise Bridal Robe & PJs Piyama Shoes Bottega Veneta Necklace Dorsey Hair Weiss.hair Fragrance Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge Bridesmaid dresses Scanlan Theodore, Dion Lee, One Fell Swoop, SIR. Bridesmaid gifts Piyama, Mecca THE GROOM Suit, Shirt & Tie Houndstooth Tailors Shoes Aquila Watch Bape Barber Blck & Brwn Barbershop
