Over a decade of dating and a beautiful daughter later, Georgia and Sam finally made things “offical” by tying the knot at a beautiful venue in Sydney’s inner-west.
With a bright and enthusiastic entourage of bride and groomspeople, their Sydney wedding was unique and full of love. Visually, it was a knockout (we particularly love the stationery, designed by the bride herself and the cake by Flour & Stone) but more importantly, we love that it was a day that they’d clearly put their own stamp on.
Captured by Two of A Kind Weddings you can enjoy this vibrant lovefest in all its glory below.
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How did you and Sam meet? Our love story winds back to 2008. We’d been rolling in the same circles for quite some time before we officially met. We were both in year 12 and were at Bar Italia, in Sydney’s Inner West, with mutual friends.
Sam’s initial impressions were that I was both kind and loud – not a deterrent for his shy 17 year old self. I thought Sam was magnificent; funny, cheeky, big eyed and handsome. When I expressed I was feeling nervous about HSC exams, Sam sent me a smiley face emoji from across the table. This was the moment where I decided I had to have him, my prince in shining armour!
The proposal: I had always wanted to get married, Sam never did. After 11 years of arguing about it, I finally gave in – knowing I wanted Sam more than marriage. Little did I know, Sam had been busily plotting and roping in friends and family to pull off the great unexpected.
Perched in our infamous Church St, Petersham backyard with our housemates, drinking beer before a very rare date night Sam said “…I’m going to the park with Maja, meet me there.”
So I went to Petersham Park where we regularly walk Maja. Sam was in the corner of the park trying to convince Maja to run to me. I noticed a fluro green collar and said “Did you buy this ugly collar”? Sam responds with “READ IT”. It said “MARRY ME?”. I ran over, jumped on top of Sam and screamed. It was the perfect proposal. But that’s not where it stops.
A bottle of champagne, a six pack and a packet of Marlboro Golds later, we enjoyed a drunken stumble home. As I opened the back door to Church St, champagne in hand. All of my favourite people are standing there.
Sam, with the help of family and friends, had pulled off a surprise proposal, followed by a surprise engagement party.
The venue: We wanted to be married in the Inner West, where our love started, where our baby girl was born and where we still live! We also wanted to be able to be outside, in the summer time. There aren’t many venues that fit both ‘inner west’ and ‘outdoors’ – so Camperdown Commons it was. As we had a not-yet one year old, we wanted a venue that’d look after the catering and one we didn’t have to decorate – we were time poor new parents.
Wedding vibe: Party, togetherness, fun, loud, shared.
Traditions: adopted, adapted or ditched? I’d say we went our own way. I walked down the aisle in a tiny and adorable dress with my baby instead of a bouquet! I had my mum and dad walk with me.
Our ceremony was probably shy of 15 minutes. We had the groomspeople and bridespeople meet before the ceremony for a dance, cuddle and champagne! Sam’s best man was a best-woman. We forgot to cut the cake, which was wild because it was the beautiful centrepiece!
We had my sister and brother-in-law lead the whole room of 115 people in a dirty-sing-a-long and had our two best friends do a rendition of Elephant Love Medley (Moulin Rouge) to open up the dance floor.
I am an illustrator and designer so I made all my own signage, coasters, menus. And had my mum handwrite, her writing is beautiful, an envelope to all 115 guests (this had the words to the sing-a-long in it!).
In a strange twist of events, we were played down the aisle by my best friend GG (also a bridesperson) and Lisa Canny an award winning harpist! So that’s kind of traditional.
The outfit/s: I found my dream dress, Teuta Matoshi and had it shipped from Kosovo! I got it tailored by someone who legitimately destroyed it and had it fixed just days prior by a genius tailor in Balmain (Precision Tailoring and Alterations) who was already altering Sam’s beautiful and off the rack olive green number. He looked incredible and I felt free, beautiful and ready to dance.
I’ll always remember… When Matilda, our beautiful daughter, clapped right on queue during the ceremony – she stole the show and at the same time having her up there made us so calm.
Standout vendors: Two of A Kind Weddings The photos Eric took were above and beyond. He took the ‘location’ shots of Sam and I in about 10 minutes and they’re beautiful.
Flour & Stone Nadine surprised me by matching the delicious-amazing-cake perfectly to my dress!
Poppy Ingram Florist who did our florals and nailed it, hand delivering me a bouquet that had lavender from my Mama’s garden in it.
Barbara Dias Artist who live painted our wedding in a corner of the dance floor!
Soundtrack: Aisle song: “The Girl”, by City And Colour arranged and performed by GG (bridesperson) and his partner. Dinner is served: “In Spite of Ourselves Song”, by Iris DeMent and John Prine a Sing-A-Long lead by my sister and brother-in-law. Dance floor starter: “Elephant Love Medley”, performed by two of our bridal party, GG and Phoebe, (who happen to be quite famous and ridiculously talented musical theatre people!).
Words of wedding wisdom: Don’t overthink it. Make it fun. It happens very quickly.
Budget: We didn’t really have one, we didn’t want to do anything crazy but we 100% spent more than we had expected. Probably around $30K.
The future: Watching our baby girl grow.
CREDITS: Photos Two of A Kind Weddings // Venue Camperdown Commons // Celebrant Marry Us Sally // Rings Ruusk // Flowers Poppy Ingram // Cake Flour & Stone // Stationery, signage, planning and styling Georgia Draws A House // Bridal gown and veil Teuta Matoshi // Bride’s shoes Gucci // Hair and makeup Blow Bar // Music Jacqui Cunningham // Live painting Barbara Dias.
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