I was just looking at her, and the sun was shining in a certain way, and I remember I was feeling what I was feeling, and I realised, oh, that must be it.
Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…
IG: We are Izzy and Dan, and we were married at Heide MOMA in January 2023 on our ten-year anniversary as a couple. I am an Occupational Therapist, and Dan is a Workforce Planner. We live with our ten-year-old rescue American Bulldog Bertha.
For our wedding day, we were hoping for a relaxed and informal event in a beautiful garden setting with our closest family and friends. We are quite a private couple, so we didn’t want too much fuss or too many formalities. We also wanted to invite children to our ceremony and have some involved in the proceedings. Heide MOMA is a special place to us and I had always hoped to be married there. The gardens are beautiful and I love the history of the museum.
Our wedding day was perfect, and with 60 guests, we were able to chat with everyone. I grew up in Perth, WA, and Dan grew up in Calgary, Canada, so it was important for us to spend time catching up with those who had travelled to celebrate with us.
How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?
IG: We met at a Telstra call centre back in 2012 and fell in love whilst writing each other notes as we were taking phone calls. The call centre had a revolving door of employees, but most didn’t stick around for long. So I feel so grateful that Dan and I were working there at the same time. The first thing I noticed about Dan was his voice, he has a calm and kind Canadian accent. He always had his nose in a book and I would watch as he walked across the call centre floor in his Doc Martens. On Dan’s birthday, I made him a birthday card and asked him out on our first date. We went to the Luna cinema in Carlton and watched Searching For Sugarman. I was so nervous giving Dan the card that I threw it on his desk and ran out of the call centre! We have saved all of our notes from the early days.
DD: I was a bit oblivious, really. I think it’s fair to say that Iz was more interested to begin with. Even when she asked me out to the movies, I didn’t realise it was a date, which, in hindsight, was quite silly of me. I remember thinking that she just must want to see the movie. It didn’t really occur to me that this friendly, cool and pretty girl could think of me romantically.
When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?
DD: This was very early on, maybe a few months after we first started dating. I remember there was a moment when I was at Iz’s apartment when we both had the day off, and we were going to spend the day together. There wasn’t really a specific catalyst or anything like that. I was just looking at her, and the sun was shining in a certain way, and I remember I was feeling what I was feeling, and I realised, oh, that must be it. There was a feeling I got that came from just being around Iz that I hadn’t really felt before.
IG: I realised pretty early on that I had met my person. What made me fall in love with Dan is his kind and gentle nature. I also love that he keeps a journal and loves to read. He also does sweet things like walk on the street side of the footpath and bake me bread. I fell in love with his gentle eyes, the way he took care of his family and his sense of responsibility.
Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it..
IG: Dan and I had been together for many years and very much felt like a married couple already! We always knew we wanted to get married eventually but wanted to focus on buying our first home together, which took a little longer than expected. We started chatting about getting married in early 2022. The catalyst was Dan’s brother coming to Melbourne from Canada for the Christmas holidays. It was important to have him at our wedding and we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to time our wedding with his trip. Dan and I went to Warrnambool for a little holiday for my birthday in June 2022. After a day of op shopping and relaxing at the hot springs, Dan proposed in our hotel room, which had been secretly decorated with fairy lights, balloons and rose petals. It was perfect.
DD: I wanted to make the proposal memorable, but we were in Warrnambool, and I had never been there before, so I didn’t know where to pop the question. The weather forecast was shocking, so outdoors seemed out of the question, and I think both of us would have hated it if it was done in public with an audience. It was stressing me out all weekend so when Iz took a shower, I went to decorate the room but very much underestimated how long it would take. I remember yelling at her to stay in the shower as I frantically blew up balloons. After the proposal we walked to Thunder Point Lookout to take in the moment.
Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding.
IG: We definitely wanted the beautiful grounds of Heide MOMA to set the tone and mood for the day. It was really important to me for guests to be able to enjoy drinks and canapes under the oak tree following our ceremony. Heide Kitchen was very accommodating of this request, and a bar was set up outside Heide’s cottage with roving canapes. The atmosphere of this setup was absolutely perfect and what I had envisaged for the afternoon. It also gave us the perfect opportunity to have some beautiful photos taken with Kat and Scout (It’s Beautiful Here) in the kitchen garden. Children were able to play in the oak tree and everyone could relax and soak up the beautiful surroundings and enjoy a drink! We even had Phil Bowler from Melbourne Caricatures set up a station near the oak tree to draw the caricatures of the guests.
Another vision we had for the wedding was to have private vows in Mum and Dad’s front garden prior to the wedding ceremony. We are quite a private couple, and the thought of reciting personal vows in front of an audience made us uneasy. Mum and Dad’s house is somewhere I spend a lot of time and we knew we would be comfortable to say what we really wanted to say with only the two of us present. This worked well for us and helped calm the nerves to spend that time together before the ceremony and reception.
DD: A relaxed and fairly casual day when we can celebrate with our friends and family. A picnic kind of vibe rather than something overly formal and stuffy. A fun, casual get-together in a beautiful location where we just happen to be getting married.
What was one element you were happy to splurge on?
IG: Flowers! Tegan from Honesty Flora did an absolutely incredible job with our bouquets, buttonholes, corsages, ceremony and reception flowers. The flowers were the talking point of the day, and all guests remarked on how beautiful they were. My vision for the day was unique, informal, colourful, cottage-style blooms that would suit the garden setting of Heide. The bouquets were soft and romantic with long, loose trailing ribbons. Flowers chosen included mustard-coloured garden roses, lotus flowers, gloriosa lilies and cosmos. The floral arrangements lining the aisle for the ceremony looked as if they were growing from the ground and naturally occurring. The flowers were absolutely beautiful, and Tegan’s artistry is unbelievable. Tegan even came to the reception at the end of the evening and assisted with packing down the reception flowers into bouquets for all the guests to take home.
Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?
IG: Because our ceremony was outside and under the oak tree in the middle of January, we were concerned it was going to be either raining or 40 degrees! But as luck would have it, our wedding was on a mild 23-degree day with plenty of sunshine. Everything ran super smoothly, and no guests had to pull out due to COVID, so we were relieved. The only stressful event that happened in the lead up to the wedding was our reception venue (Heide Kitchen) changing hands only a few months out from the wedding. It was a bit of a shock! This resulted in a new Event Manager, renovations to the venue and a new menu. This ended up being a huge blessing in disguise for us and looking back, we were lucky it happened. We were so fortunate to have Cassie Lucas managing our wedding, and we felt confident having her at the helm of the day. She was a gun and on top of everything! All the Heide Kitchen staff were incredible. The renovations brought new life to the restaurant, and the new menu was delicious. We were very happy.
Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?
IG: I always knew that I wanted to wear a vintage 1950s wedding dress. However, all original vintage wedding dresses that I found were not in good condition and would require significant alterations. Kay Elizabeth Bridal and Evening Couture was recommended to me by a friend. Having the opportunity to design a dress from scratch was a new experience for me and one of the most special parts of the wedding. Kay was able to take all of my reference photos and vintage sewing patterns and create the dress of my dreams. The dress was loosely based on a vintage 1950s wedding dress that I wore for a charity fashion show when I was 12 years old. Kay’s experience and skill in dressmaking is unparalleled. She suggested a removable overskirt with a huge bow so that I could be comfortable dancing at the reception. I was able to choose the fabric from The House of Franke Stuart (Hawthorn) – a cream, slubbed silk dupion with the most beautiful texture and flow. Choosing each individual part of the wedding dress design was so much fun, and I loved each fitting with Kay. I was absolutely thrilled with my dress and veil and will treasure the memory of the process.
I wanted my Maid of Honour and best friend Ellery to be comfortable on the day, so she had free reign to select her outfit. She looked absolutely beautiful and the colour of her dress ended up perfectly complimenting the flowers on the day.
And Dan wore his signature Doc Martens as a funny nod to the early days of our dating history!
CEREMONY Under the Oak Tree – Heide Museum of Modern Art, @heidemoma RECEPTION Heide Kitchen, @heidekitchen PHOTOGRAPHER Kat Soutar and Scout Kozakiewicz – It’s Beautiful Here, @itsbeautifulhere FLORIST Tegan – Honesty Flora, @honesty_flora CELEBRANT Custom Celebrations by Dee, @customcelebrations_by_dee ENTERTAINMENT Little Wolf Entertainment, @littlewolfentertainment HIRE Cloth and Confetti Events, @clothandconfettievents CATERING Heide Kitchen, @heidekitchen CAKE Miss Ladybird Cakes, @missladybirdcakes STATIONERY & SIGNAGE Jem&I, @jemandi_designs BRIDE’S RINGS HLSK Jewellery, @hlsk GROOM’S RING Corky Saint Clair, @corkysaintclair CUSTOM WEDDING DRESS & VEIL Kay Elizabeth Bridal and Evening Couture, @kayelizabeth_couture BRIDE’S SHOE L’autre Chose, @lautrechose ACCESSORIES Vintage MAKEUP & HAIR LoveCo Hair and Beauty, @loveco_beauty BRIDE’S FRAGRANCE A La Rose EDP by Maison Francis Kurkdjian SUIT Ferrari Formalwear and Bridal, @ferrari_formalwear_and_bridal GROOM’S SHOE Dr. Martens, @docmartensshoes MOH DRESS Ankoa, @ankoaau MOH SHOE Melissa + Vivienne Westwood Bow Heels, @melissashoes.aus MOH ACCESSORIES Hair Bow from Lelet NY, @leletny BEST MAN SUIT Ferrari Formalwear and Bridal, @ferrari_formalwear_and_bridal
