Rob + Jenna by Stefanie Buma - Together Journal

We aimed to interweave our favourite elements from both classic and contemporary design aesthetics

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

Rob practices as a barrister, so he loves to read, write, and talk: three loves that we both share. When I met Rob, I’d just relocated from Melbourne after deciding to embark on a career change from working as a corporate buyer in the wine and luxury skincare industries to psychology. We shared further interests in yoga, other forms of physical exercise, and a passion for good health and self-improvement more broadly. And these days, we also share a profound love like nothing else for raising our son. I care for him and manage the home so that Rob can continue furthering his exciting career – and nothing has brought me more fulfilment in this season of my life than motherhood. As someone who has always yearned for a creative outlet, I’m also developing my interior design and architectural photography business.

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

Rob and I met the old-fashioned way, and it was very much a meeting by chance. An event I was supposed to attend on the night we met was cancelled at the last minute, and living in Perth’s Hills at the time, I had already travelled down into the city when I was notified. So instead, I messaged a girlfriend to see if she was free for a glass of wine, and she was! So we sat ourselves out front of a local wine bar. At some point, my friend took herself to the bathroom and, seemingly out of nowhere, in front of me pops a man excusing himself to ask me, “Is this seat taken?” Assuming he might have wanted to take the seat over to where he was already sitting, I apologised, confirming that it was already taken. Unfazed by my dead-end response, oblivious to his flirtation, he shares further that he didn’t want to wait in line, and much preferred to come over and say hi instead (full marks!) Within five minutes, we’d covered our shared interests in yoga, psychology, and wine – and Rob breezily handed me his phone to input my number so that he could send me an interesting article he’d read recently. A total charmer. Within a week, we’d arranged a first date, which became a second, and a third… And here we are, four years later – parents and newlyweds!

When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?

Truthfully, there was no romance-novel moment – it was simply after spending enough time with each other to understand each other’s stories, our values, and our dreams for what we both wanted from life – adventure, passion, and purpose – when we realised we wanted to help each other achieve those things, hand-in-hand. But I will add that when we heard our son’s very first cry together as he was born after a difficult labour, it is forever imprinted as the moment where I felt profound joy and gratitude that it was Rob who was by my side as the father of my son and my future husband.

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

As lovers of the old and the new, rather than agonise over selecting one or the other, we aimed to interweave our favourite elements from both classic and contemporary design aesthetics to create an atmosphere of timeless and understated elegance. With almost every decision we made for our night, from the typefaces on our invitations to the all-black dress code, less was more. (Except for our order of Taittinger Champagne. More was absolutely more).

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).

Our venue was so grand with its marble floors, sweeping ceilings and symmetrical plasterwork that it did much of the work for us. We wanted to complement the striking features of the hall with the sort of understated, elegant table setting our small list of guests would experience at an intimate candlelit dinner. Two long tables set with classic silverware, ornate crystal glassware and hundreds of candles created the old-world dinner party reception of our dreams. Our altar was framed by an enormous installation of green foliage and white florals, perfecting the “English garden” brief we provided to our talented florists.

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

Our wedding planner, Branka, was worth her weight in gold. Reflecting on how flawlessly our evening unfolded, I could not imagine that kind of calm and quality of execution without her. The stress we didn’t experience and the tears that weren’t wept over tableware selections because we invested in outsourcing the expertise in vendor coordination and on-day styling is exactly what allowed us to soak up our (rather brief – 6 months!) engagement and be present with the really fun parts of planning – such as our menu and wine selections, our outfits, and learning our first dance.

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

Rob selected a double-breasted tuxedo, which he had tailored to his measurements. As with his work suits and shirts, he took his tuxedo to Perth’s most capable,multi-award-winning tailor, Anthony van Pham. A very special thank you to Anthony for doing such an immaculate job. Rob’s silhouette was commanding, incredibly flattering, and perfect for our black-tie dress code.

Searching for the perfect gown was almost paralysing! There were timeless design elements I loved from Vivienne Westwood, Dior, Leah da Gloria and Vera Wang silhouettes, but I couldn’t settle on just one – so I met with Jennifer from Zanzis Bridal Couture who designed a gown which incorporated my favourite elements. As with our venue and styling vision, I wanted to interweave contemporary with classic, so we crafted a gown in crisp white Mikado silk with almost Elizabethan-style skirt pleating and volume, lace-up corsetry, and a cathedral train. We also crafted a simple two-tier cathedral veil in English tulle.

What was 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?).

The venue and the photography were the most important elements to us, without question. As lovers of the kind of period architecture of the Victorian Georgian eras (so romantic), there really was no contender for the State Buildings Postal Hall. We knew that such a grand venue would do much of the visual heavy lifting, so to speak, and would be complemented perfectly with our elegant, “less is more” vision for the finishing touches.

As a photographer of architecture myself, I hoped to find a photographer whose portfolio spanned across heritage wedding venues, and who ideally had prior experience photographing ours: who would be familiar with its most striking angles, and how best to capture intimate vignettes throughout our dinner party-style reception surrounded by the grandeur of the Hall. Stefanie Buma’s editorial eye, combined with a very special talent for capturing candid moments in that captivating documentary style, both in digital and film formats, made her an obvious choice. Knowing she’d be so highly sought after – especially for a Spring wedding – I may have squealed when she confirmed she was available!

Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?

At the time, I was far too flustered to laugh at being both a bride and a milk bar for my 18-month-old. When my gown was being made to my measurements, I hadn’t quite factored in the rather dramatic shifts that come with a missed nursing session. I’d always nursed my son right before fittings, so the silhouette was perfect, but I didn’t think to consider that the pre-ceremony chaos would mean that I went up about two cup sizes by the time I walked down the aisle. Robbie was far too excited by our suite becoming a revolving door of unfamiliar faces and bustling activity to focus on anything so boring as feeding. And my boned bodice, bless it, was not designed with flexibility in mind. I remember standing at the altar thinking this is the most beautiful moment of my life. And I cannot breathe.

After a tight schedule of photos before the reception, it had been six hours since our last feed by the time I finally had a moment to race upstairs to our Como Suite and nurse him, with this enormously heavy gown down and around my hips, on at least three separate occasions throughout the night. And bedtime in a strange room? He wasn’t having it unless I was lying there next to him until he fell asleep. It was chaotic, very human, and in hindsight, one of many special memories I have. We wouldn’t have dreamed of having our wedding night without the company of our boy.