Kristi + Fareed by Scott Surplice

Our colour palette was full of rich pinks and oranges.

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

We are inner city lawyers who met in law school, so naturally our interests are quite aligned despite having very different upbringings. Fareed travelled the world, living in Australia, Singapore, Sweden, Canada and Saudi Arabia throughout his childhood. All the while, Kristi never left the inner west.

Our interests are quite diverse, but like any good millennial couple, we love dogs (every dog we see on the street), a good restaurant and nostalgic games.

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

We both studied law at Macquarie University and met on a cold Monday night while competing on opposite sides of a moot, a form of live-action role-play in which nerdy law students trade arguments over a made-up problem. In the course of exchanging legal submissions, Kristi grew to like Fareed’s deep voice. Fareed was smitten with Kristi’s competitiveness and beauty. Kristi’s team won while Fareed’s blamed the judge.

From there, we teamed up to participate in other law school competitions with wild success. After around a year, we held every trophy our law school could offer a team. It was at the national championship that we thought that while we made good teammates, we would make excellent life-mates.

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood and style of your wedding. (theme, key styling elements, florals, colour palettes etc.).

We wanted the wedding to reflect both of our cultures – Kristi’s Hungarian heritage and Fareed’s Pakistani roots. That meant colour, vibrancy and warmth. We knew this would perfectly complement the beautiful garden setting of our venue, Lindesay House.

Our colour palette was full of rich pinks and oranges, mirroring the flowers of the garden and aspects of our heritages. Both of our backgrounds are embodied by bright and bold colours, ornate embroidered patterns, floral and geometric motifs and a love of sharing food and joy in open spaces.

This was made easier by the natural inspiration these heritages have always drawn from florals in their fashion and decorative designs. Our menus, seating placement cards and other stationery were designed by Maison Paper to combine Hungarian kalocsa (embroidery), which commonly depicts tulips and roses, with the style of Mughal florals.

The result was a day that truly felt like the union of our histories into something new, exciting and truly us.

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).

Lindesay House is a colonial-era mansion with a number of different settings in one venue. The entrance point is a large turning circle shaded by a beautiful large tree. We chose to have our ceremony here rather than in the garden so that we could show off all the venue had to offer. It was a wide open space in the shadow of the historic and picturesque villa under dappled light from the tree.

At the ceremony’s conclusion, we led our guests around the turning circle and into the house. The guests were able to see and experience how people used to live in the old days (or at least some people).

Through the back door and out into the garden, we were greeted by a wash of sunshine, colour and glimpses of Sydney Harbour in the distance. It was a venue that presented all the best parts of this city in one place.

Around the other side of the house, the maze-like private garden provided a perfect place for us to take twilight photographs and catch a quiet moment alone together amidst the rush of the day.

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

Our advice to other couples is to think realistically and early about what you will and won’t have time to do.

We both live very busy professional lives and knew we would need a helping hand. We briefed a wedding planner early, which gave us plenty of time to share our vision. Chloe (YourDaybyChloe) was immensely helpful in weaving together the complex narratives we wanted to depict across our day and in bringing to our attention all the little bits and pieces we would never have thought of alone.

The reality is that planning a wedding is quite stressful, given all the moving parts and the risk that sometimes, something outside of your control might go wrong. We stayed positive by focusing on all the things we could do to ensure we and our guests had the best day possible.

Our highlights of the planning process were taste-testing all the food and dessert options and picking the music. Discussing what songs we might have play at different moments let us have some deep conversations about how we each perceived big moments in our relationship and the music that brings us back there.

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

All of our vendors were excellent. Special mention goes to our photographer, Scott Surplice. Scott captured all the emotions of the day (ours and friends and family’s) so perfectly that we can relive the day each time we open our beautifully prepared album.

Music was provided by the artistry of the team at Red Soda Club. We had a three-string band for our ceremony, and a jazz band that deftly navigated the venue’s sound restrictions. They gave an incredible cover of our chosen first dance song, Roy Orbison’s ‘You Got It’, and then got the dance floor going strong.

Also, Kristi still dreams of the beautiful florals by Studio Sonder. They felt truly unique to us.

Tell us about your wedding and engagement rings.

Fareed secretly shopped around to find the perfect diamond. A classic solitaire, clear and sparkly. Kristi’s wedding band matches the engagement ring, and on sunny days, it is a threat to passing drivers.

Finding Fareed’s wedding band was a harder matter. In the end, Fareed chose a black zirconium band with a parallel inner stripe of crushed red opal. The red and black stripes are an homage to Fareed’s support for the Western Sydney Wanderers as well as his Islamic faith, with the internal red rock bearing similarity to the stone in the ring of the Prophet Muhammad.

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?).

We felt that since everyone came out to celebrate our special day, we had to make sure they were properly fed, and Aplenty delivered. The food options were diverse, plentiful, hearty, filling and most importantly, delicious – far beyond your stock-standard meat and two veg. Everybody we spoke to told us that it was one of the best meals they’ve ever had, let alone at a wedding.

Due to the venue’s sound restrictions, we dined early at 5 pm to accommodate a 9 pm finish time. Eat amazing food as the sun set into twilight was truly a special moment.

Of particular note was the samosa cart that Aplenty were able to specially curate for us. Not only was it another delicious option that perfectly fit the vibe of the day, but it was a tasteful/tasty nod to one of Kristi’s favourite parts of Fareed’s Pakistani heritage.

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

We are very blessed to be able to say we had a day full of special moments we will always treasure, but the moment that stood out above all others was right after the ceremony, when we walked out of Lindesay House into the back reception area and saw how beautifully the space had been prepared by our amazing team. We had a private moment taking it all in before our guests joined us, as the occasion truly sank in and tears were shed. The weather rose to the occasion, and we realised everything really had come together perfectly.

As the evening wound to a close, we realised, as many newlyweds do, that we hadn’t had time to eat properly all day. So we popped downstairs to the hotel restaurant and split a sashimi boat. It was a very ‘us’ way to end the festivities. Likewise, many of our guests headed to the pub for a nightcap before getting home at a respectable hour and were grateful to be able to do so.