Aimee + Daniel by Kate Olivia Weddings

A 1950s art deco hall featuring jade and emerald greens, and rich timber browns.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

Daniel is an architect and designer specialising in small-scale retail and hospitality brands. Aimee is an actress and a singing coach. As a couple, we are very creative – and love art, design and film. Aimee is especially into crochet and sewing, opting to craft most of her wardrobe. Daniel loves to get creative around the house, recently designing and making our home coffee table.

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

An excerpt from our wedding website: With the kind of misplaced confidence usually reserved for reality TV contestants, our hopefuls meet one March evening at Misfits Bar in Redfern. Daniel rolls in, channelling a suave mystery-man energy; cool, composed, and playing his cards close to his chest. Internally, he’s thinking, “HOW am I on a date with this bombshell right now?!” Meanwhile, Aimee is all charm and confidence, steering the convo like a seasoned talk show host. But her inner monologue? “Is this guy… bored? Am I on a date or conducting an interview?” Dinner goes by in a blur of surface-level chatter and mutual misinterpretation. Then, in a bold move straight out of a rom-com, Daniel oﬀers Aimee a ride home in his shiny new convertible; roof down, confidence up, hair blowing in the wind, and dreams of Date number 2 blooming in the rear-view mirror. Aimee, however, has mentally filed this evening under “misguided detours” and is mostly looking forward to debriefing with her bestie and eating gluten-free toast in bed. As they reach Aimee’s place, Daniel gears up for a heartfelt closer… but before he can get out “I had a great ti-“, Aimee is halfway out the door, oﬀering a hasty “see ya!” like she’s clocking off a retail shift. Daniel watches her disappear into the night, slightly stunned, roof still down, wondering if maybe… just maybe… this date didn’t go as well as he had thought.

What styling and visual elements worked best for you? (could be things, the florals, particular hire products or your marquee, etc., something the stylist created or simply just the scenic beauty of your location or the existing design of your venue).

We were inspired mostly by our venue. Our wedding was held within Foundation Hall, a 1950s art deco hall featuring jade and emerald greens, and rich timber browns. It has recently undergone a small renovation with some lovely features and finishes, including an amazing contemporary chandelier. When we toured this venue, we knew it was the location for us. We took much of our inspiration for the wedding’s aesthetic from our venue – it is not a standard white function hall, and has so many beautiful elements that we wanted to highlight, so rather than investing a lot into styling, we purposefully stripped it back to allow the space to speak for itself.

What did you enjoy most about the planning process, and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?

The planning process is long and not easy, but we loved crafting something that was uniquely us. Being involved in all the small details really allowed us to create a day that was entirely ours and felt like a representation of our personalities and relationship. Our tip for other couples would be to create a vision from the start and stick to it. Being a highly stylised art deco hall, our vision was centred around our venue, and we wanted to create the feeling of a mid-century jazz club. We said no to anything that didn’t fit this aesthetic. Our other tip would be to encourage couples to ask lots of questions. Our dream venue was out of our budget, but we were able to secure it for nearly half the minimum spend because we had our wedding on a Sunday (even though the next day was a public holiday!)

Tell us about your vendors. Were there any standout suppliers you would like to make special mention of?

We loved all our Vendors so much! We’d love to give special mention to our photographer (Kate Olivia Weddings) and videographer (Feeling House) – They worked together to capture the day so beautifully, and were so amazing to work with. They especially made time for us to go off and take a couple of photos, super comfortable and fun – running around The Rocks with them was one of our favourite parts of the day. Also, a shoutout to our Band leader Edo Santoni, who organised amazing music for the day, and made sure it all ran without a hitch.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, and is there a story?

Aimee found her dream Ines Di Santo dress whilst searching through Pinterest. She found an Australian stockist of the dress in Camden and went to pay a visit. It was the first dress she tried on, and she was in love with it. Daniel convinced her to try some more options just to be sure it was the one, which she did, and it only confirmed for Aimee that the first dress was the only dress for her. Daniel worked with Oscar Hunt Tailors to design a black tie suit to his specifications. He went for a double breasted, shawl lapel jacket, opting to ditch the traditional silk lapel treatment for a more modern wool lapel, paired with pleated pants.

Tell us about your wedding and engagement rings.

Daniel, being an architectural designer and previously studying product design for a year, was very interested in putting his mark on the engagement and wedding rings. Daniel worked with Aimee to understand roughly the type of ring she’d like, but she was actually quite unsure and didn’t have a clear idea. One thing she knew however, is that she didn’t want a diamond – they’re so boring.. Daniel went out and sourced an Australian green/teal Parti Sapphire from Grew & Co, and then designed a ring around its dimensions, using his CAD software. Grew & Co then worked behind the scenes to bring his vision to life. It was extra special for Aimee to receive a ring that had been designed by her new fiancé! When it came to the wedding rings, Daniel similarly sourced a number of parti sapphires for Aimee’s eternity band and his own wedding ring. He once again modelled the rings using his 3D software and supplied the designs and sapphires to a trade jewellery fabricator to create. Daniel bought one extra sapphire, which he embedded into the face of a watch that he built from parts for the wedding day, ensuring that both of us had a collection of jewellery from the day, to carry forward in our lives, all connected through the same stones.

What were one or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on? (food, photography, florals, the venue, your outfits?).

Once we saw it, we were more than happy to spend a little extra on our venue. It was such a beautiful space with so much character and wonder built into the space, we knew it would carry itself on its own, without the need for much additional styling or grand floral arrangement. The house linen, tables, chairs, and serviceware had all been chosen by The Big Group to complement the venue so well – we saw no need to spend more on customised styling elements, so even though the venue was a little extra, it saved us other costs down the line.

Was there a favourite moment (or two) that you will treasure always?

There are so many favourite moments from the day – how to choose! We loved the first time we locked eyes as Aimee came down the aisle. We both burst into tears. It was a moment that instantly put us both at ease and allowed us to truly enjoy the day as it unfolded. Another favourite moment was reciting our vows to one another, which we wrote personally for each other. It was amazing to declare our love and promises to one another, in front of all our friends and family, and for these to be personal to us made them extra special. Another treasured moment specifically for Daniel was when Aimee performed Elton John’s ‘My Song’ for him (Aimee is a very talented singer). It was so amazing for him to see her publicly gift him with a performance that he could call his own.

What does being married mean to you, and are there any special rituals you have that you would like to share?

Marriage for us is a promise and commitment to love each other unconditionally as long as we are alive. Marriage is such a sacred thing and for us, is about sacrificing our individuality to build something knew as a unit. A ritual of ours, thanks to Aimee’s interpersonal skills, is sitting down each night over dinner and sharing a thorn & rose from the day (best & worst thing about the day) and ending with sharing something about your partner that you are grateful for – it could be a trait of theirs you love, or something they’ve done for you recently that you appreciated. It’s a wonderful practice that helps to ensure we are constantly reminding ourselves of the wonderful gifts we have in our partner.