An Art Deco Australian Wedding: Renee + Owen

fall color bouquet

Today we are off to Australia with this lovely wedding photographed by favorite Jonathan Ong. According to the couple there seems to be a specific formula to most weddings in Australia, so their aim was to turn this on it’s head and stay as far away from it as possible! They drew their inspiration from the style + aesthetic they’ve grown to love together. They have a bit of eclectic taste and they designed the day with that style in mind. This style is a combination of vintage, predominantly 1920’s art deco with a rustic “earthy” feel in the flowers, decorations and the venue itself. So lovely + congrats to Renee + Owen!

groomsmen

wedding

ceremony flowers

chapel wedding

chapel wedding

What song did you walk down the aisle to? Renee walked down the aisle to was Yann Tiersan “Comptine D’un Autre Été: L’après Midi” played live on the fabulous Steinway grand piano in the chapel. The song played during the signing, also on the grand piano was Adele – “Someone like You” and the song played during the recessional was Yann Tiersen – “La Valse d’Amélie (Version Piano)” But the song everybody wanted to know was the song we chose for our bridal waltz, which was Penny & the Quarters “You and Me” a little known deep south classic.

chapel wedding

Seriously LOVE that photo above! How precious…

groomsmen in gray and black ties

bride entrance

Most memorable moment of your wedding day? It is hard to single out just one memorable moment about the wedding. Everything on the day worked out perfectly. I think the ceremony was the highlight for us.

A special moment for Renee was when she got to the front of the chapel and looked around at everyone and could barely see a dry eye in the house. She had started tearing up before she walked in which made the bridesmaids start, then her parents started, this along with the combination of the beautiful music and Owen who was also starting to cry a little, snowballed and got everyone going. We made a point to include everyone in the ceremony, we saw it as a celebration of our story together. While we are the main characters in the story, it would be pretty dull without all the wonderful people in our life. Including the audience gave them permission to laugh, cry and be actively engaged and they really appreciated it.

bride and groom kiss

bridesmaids in peach

I love that Renee took the style of the bridesmaid’s dresses from the dress Elizabeth Taylor wore in the movie Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She had a Melbourne dressmaker she knows, Dharsha Maurice, make all the dresses for the girls.

bride and groom

bride and groom with umbrella

bride in fur bolero

bride and groom

bride and groom

Such a gorgeous dress! And totally see the art deco influence. :)

bride and groom

Renee + Owen own their own agency together (Kid You Not) and among other things they are event designers and planners so did all the event styling and planning themselves!

wedding reception

wood slice centerpiece

wood slice centerpiece

wood slice centerpiece

black and white wedding cake

From Renee + Owen, We bought as many vintage souvenir spoons as we could get our hands on and gave everyone one with their name tied to it with apricot butchers twine. We tried to match the spoons to people; so if you were from Sydney you might get a spoon with the Sydney Opera House on it, it proved quite a conversation piece.

vintage spoon

first dance

bride and groom

Any advice for those planning now?

• Our photographer, Jon set up a photo booth with a camera on a tripod and flash and a shoot button on a cord. I am so glad we had it because now we have great photos of all our guests.

• Try to stop and take everything in on the day as much as you can because it will be over before you know it.

• But most importantly, have fun. Don’t take it too seriously. Be playful and include your audience in as much of the day as you can, especially the ceremony, after all they’re an integral part of your story too. Thank you so much to our wonderful suppliers in particular Paul from Glasshaus, we were so happy with his flowers and arrangements, Jon, who captured the day so beautifully. As well as our good friend Darren who was the MC and really got everyone going!

vendors:

photography: Jonathan Ong Photography // venue name: Stones of the Yarra Valley // event design: Kid You Not // planning: Kid You Not // wedding dress: Gwendolynne // bridesmaid dresses: Dharsha Maurice - [email protected] // hair stylist: Bradwyn Jones // makeup artist: Christine Gaunt // catering: Stones of the Yarra Valley // cake: Cake Face // music: Matthew Wilkinson - [email protected] // floral design: Glasshaus Flowers // brides hairpieces: Richard Nylon Millinery // brides shoes: Olrik // grooms shoes: Rocco Pistolesi // pianist: Calvin Leung // groom suit & shirt: P Johnson Tailors

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