Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…
Chiara – We’re both born and raised in Melbourne and have been together since we were 19 (11 years ago!). For the last three years we have been living in San Francisco both working in Tech. I work in Strategy and Courtney works in Sales.
We love to travel, so we’ve spent the last few years juggling work and travel, living the Californian lifestyle. Australia, specifically Melbourne, will always be our home so it was a no brainer to have our wedding there.
Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…
Chiara – Courtney loves to bike ride and every week would bike up a famous hill in San Francisco called Hawk Hill. You couldn’t pay to get me on to a bike, but Courtney really wanted me to see Hawk Hill. One day he woke me up at 6am to walk Hawk Hill with two friends of ours. At the top, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background and the sun coming up, Courtney proposed. After that, he had planned a beautiful weekend for us in the Napa Valley, starting off with a private flight over San Francisco!
Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding…
Courtney – We knew we wanted to have our ceremony and reception in one location, so there were no breaks in between the celebrations and to make it seamless for our guests. We didn’t so much have a vision, but our brief was modern, simple, elegant with an edge. Whites and neutrals, with a side of pink donuts to accompany our wedding cake.
What was one element you were happy to splurge on?
Courtney – For us, music and entertainment was the most important part of the day. The one thing we wanted was a giant party, and that started and ended with great music. We used Amy Vaughan (a genius!!), and she organized an acoustic singer for the ceremony, and a DJ, singer and percussionist for the reception. The dancefloor went off the whole night, it was exactly what we wanted and so worth it.
Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?
Chiara – As helpful as Courtney was during the wedding planning process, he wasn’t in the detail like I was. A few days before the wedding, I shared with him the runsheet and the ceremony floorplan so he knew what to do and where to go. I had little confidence he would actually look at it because he’s a go-with-the-flow kind of guy.
The morning of the wedding, I’m about to leave to head to the venue when my sister and my mum said they missed calls from Courtney. I freaked out, why would he need to call us?? I called him back, and he said he was looking at the ceremony setup and the chairs were facing a different way than he recalled was in the floorplan. It wasn’t a big problem, they were quickly rearranged by the venue to the right spot. Courtney said he wasn’t sure if I had planned the chairs to be in the wrong spot as a first test of our marriage! Turns out he did actually look at the floorplan..
Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?
Chiara – I didn’t have a vision for my main outfit and only started to work it out as I began trying on dresses. And I tried on A LOT (in Australia and the US!). My chosen dress was from Ines Di Santo and I found it in San Francisco. I love the dress (still do), but it wasn’t until I tried it on with the cape that I had the WOW moment and I knew it was the one. The cape was also Ines Di Santo, but was initially made to go with a different dress in her collection. The cape was the star of the show and I’m so glad I opted for it instead of a veil!
CREDITS:
Ceremony + Reception Location and catering: Gardens House, Royal Botanical Gardens, @gardenhouseag / Photographer: Chloe May, @hellochloemay / Videographer: Moon and Back, @moonandbackco / Entertainment: Amy Vaughan Entertainment, @amyvaughancreative / Flora: Georgie Boy, @georgie.boy / Cake: Myriad Bakery, @myriadbakery / Stationery: Dom Gauci designs, @domgauci_designs Brides First dress: Ines Di Santo, @inesdisanto / Brides Second dress: Oglia Loro Couture, @oglialorocouture / Groom Attire: P Johnson Tailors, @pjohnsontailors / Shoes: Amina Muaddi, @aminamuaddi / Makeup: Sophia Pafitis, @sophiapafitis / Hair: Alex Vass at @alexvasss.hair
