As a wedding blogger it is easy to get lost in all the beautiful details, those finishing touches that so often give a wedding wow factor and makes me want to publish them on these pages. But occasionally a celebration comes along that reminds me exactly what a wedding is really all about. Something that is quite easy to forget when you’re in the midst of choosing colours, menus, dresses, flowers, favours and songs. But that without, a wedding quite simply does not happen: love. And that’s just what Emily & Ben’s wedding did when I saw it. Simple but heartfelt, whatever it may lack in details, it more than makes up for with laughter, love and the most beautiful photographs by Brown Paper Parcel…..

How fabulous does Emily look? More on her beautiful wedding dress later. First though you absolutely must hear their engagement story! For which I will hand you over to Emily “I am obsessed with Eurovision. So in 2015, after 7 years together, we actually went to Vienna to attend the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the best week of my life! During the live finale Ben asked me if it was the best day of my life, and if I could make it the best day of his. Knee. Ring. Crying. Engaged! It isn’t a proposal for everyone, but it was the most romantic proposal I could have dreamed of.”

Engaged for just 11 months, the couple set about planning their perfect day, a day that was all about them and their love. “As a couple we are low key. We like Netflix, takeout, board games and the comfort of our close friends and family. We are creative and passionate, and always making each other laugh. Ben is smart and shy, and I hate sparkly things and really enjoy being myself. We don’t take many things seriously, especially tradition. So planning a wedding meant “We aren’t doing that!” was said a lot. “

“My dress was from Lost in Paris who specialise in making reclaimed vintage french lace into beautiful dresses. But because I live in Melbourne and they are in Sydney I had to find a way to get to them. I booked a weekend away with my mum and my sister, and had one other fitting at a bridal store booked for that weekend. The first bridal store was froofy, strapless, complicated sparkly things that just weren’t me. Then I walked in to Lost In Paris and knew I’d found my dress before I’d even tried it on. I tried on lots of dresses I loved, and Alyssa helped me to find the one that was perfect. A simple cut, with a simple lace. It made me feel like myself, and that was way more important to me than feeling like a princess.”

“I am not a fancy sparkly person, so after finding my dress I struggled to find accessories I liked enough and would compliment the look of the dress. I ended up not wearing any jewellery other than tiny rose gold geometric studs from Hook and Matter. And instead of a veil I asked my florist to design a flower crown that didn’t have any large flowers in it. I wanted minimal and mostly green. The combination of rosemary, mint, and succulents was exactly what I wanted. The pops of lavender made it it perfect!”

“Tradition went out the window for us at the very start of our day. After my mum, Liz (my sister and best lady) and I went to the salon and got all pretty, we came home to where Ben, Dave (best man)  and my dad had laid out a cheese platter and cocktails. We all hung out together in the comfort of our own house, and got ready together. It was really wonderful to help Ben tie his tie, and have him do up my dress. It was a really great way to relax and feel the excitement build before hand. We also did all our family photos and most of the bridal party photos before the ceremony. We didn’t want people waiting around for an hour while we did photos, so we did it before. I think this was my favourite part of the day, hanging out, being ridiculous and laughing a lot! It helped me forget that I was a little nervous.”

“My flowers were done by Mary Mary Studio in Coburg. I wanted a small posey that was mostly green and with no big flowers in it. I’ve seen massive bouquets that just look overwhelming, and I wanted people to see me, not a wall of flowers. We didn’t plan a colour scheme for the wedding, so when I spoke to the florist she helped me distil my ideas down to lots of herbs and succulents with a pop of lavender and yellow. The posey had mint, apple mint, rosemary, succulents, lavender, billy buttons and a few white peonies for texture. It smelt amazing!”

“Our ceremony and reception was at Studio Raw Materials in Footscray. We originally had another venue booked but it cancelled on us in October last year one day after our save the dates were sent out. Drama!! My Mum went into wedding planner mode though and helped us find a new venue. We wanted something with its own style, that wouldn’t need that much of an injection of personality. We wanted it to feel spacious, warm and relaxed. Studio Raw Materials was so perfect, with its big back wall covered in vintage posters and the hanging lights. They did all the food too. Tapas and paella went down a treat, and catered well for all those that have special dietary requirements. It was important for us to make sure that everyone could eat the food as both our sisters are coeliacs.”

“We included our parents in the ceremony as the celebrant asked them both if they trusted our choice of life partner and would support us both throughout out lives. When both sets of parents replied “We will” it was pretty special.”

“The venue didn’t need a lot of decoration so we just had a few things from our own home as decoration to add the flavour of us. We brought books, plants, and items that had been gifted to us by our grandparents. Like Ben’s Grandfathers hand tooled leather suitcase, and my Grandmothers crochet lace table cloth. We had a grass bunny on display that mysteriously never made it home…”

“Ben wore a vintage tweed jacket he bought when we were in Sweden. He paired it with some classy green slacks, and his mum made him a wonderful shirt because we couldn’t find one in the right colour in stores. He wanted it to have a bit of texture, so the material was linen with excellent wooden buttons. His sister made him and the best man their ties. Ben also wore leather braces. He wanted to feel fancy, and I think he looked amazing!”

My little sister was my best lady. She is the complete opposite to me (is totally fashion and an absolute babe!) and I didn’t want to put her in anything she would hate. So I gave her free reign. The only rule I gave her was no red. We looked for ages for her dress, and she kept finding things she almost liked but would say “I feel like a bridesmaid”. Finding something that she felt like herself in and would wear again was important. She found her dress at Zimmerman, and it looked amazing with her Wittner heels.

“We wanted the reception to be one big party. A celebration of us as people, with the people we love and trust. It was so fantastic to see everyone in that room. We have special memories with every single one of them. I laughed so much, and I danced until my feet hurt. For decor the florist took direct inspiration from my posey and made a few jars of mint, lavender, rosemary and billy buttons to scatter on all the wine barrels in the venue. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was just right. “

Pearls of Wedding Wisdom from the Bride…..

“The best adivce I was given was actually from my sister. It’s super lame, but she kept saying “You do you”. It helped me to realise that it was our day and what we wanted was best, not what tradition dictates or family expects.

Be you. The brides on Pinterest aren’t you, your family aren’t you, no one knows you better than you. It sounds very Dr Seuss, but its true. If you do don’t want to do something, don’t. If you want to do something completely out of the box, do! You’ll regret trying to please everyone, when everyone only wants to see you happy.”

Tell us a little about your photographer…

“After stumbling across Jess’s photos I went to the Brown Paper Parcel website and fell in love with the soft beautiful photography. We knew we wanted to get married in a warehouse style environment and thought that Jess’s style would really compliment the industrial backdrop. So glad we picked her. The photos are stunning. She was really relaxed, and simply followed us around. At one point the bridal party had been chatting and being so silly we realised we hadn’t actually posed for any photos. There are some really great photos of our ceremony that I don’t even remember seeing Jess there. She was so so so great to work with.”

Congratulations to the happy couple Emily & Ben, you planned the perfect day! And a big thankyou to their photographer Jess of Brown Paper Parcel who captured the smiles, tears, love & laughter so beautifully. If you would like to see more of her wonderful work do take a peek at Bambi & Aden’s DIY backyard wedding right here on CVB, or head over to her website www.brownpaperparcel.com. You can also find and follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Blogspot.

If Emily & Ben’s day has you smitten and looking for more ideas for an intimate celebration, you might want to take a look at this rustic Autumn affair, or this beautifully heartfelt Jewish wedding, and how about this 1930s inspired city wedding, or this rustic elegant celebration will charm your socks off!

Amy

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Credits

Photography ~ Brown Paper Parcel // Wedding Dress ~ Lost in Paris // Floral Design ~ Mary Mary Studio // Venue ~ Studio Raw Materials in Footscray // Best Lady or Bridesmaid Dress ~ Zimmerman // Best lady or Bridesmaid Shoes ~ Wittner // Band ~ Mr Boutique