N O V I + J A R R A D

Novi and Jarrad decided to have a stress-free and extremely sentimental ceremony-only wedding. The day reflected their fun personalities with beautiful signs, a confetti wedding cake, poetry, a pink suit and a dash of unicorn magic!

F R O M T H E B R I D E

We first met...

We met at a friend's party. We both arrived quite late as we both didn't really want to go. Luckily we did or we would've never met.

We knew it was love...

We organised a friendly meet up, to hang out on a jetty near Applecross. 7 hours later, we were still together and knew that there was something very special between us.

The proposal...

Jarrad and I have 2 dates.

22/02/2015 - He had spent one weekend helping me with a lot of wedding signage and we went to the market to check out the signs. Afterwards, we took a stroll around the city, where we came across a tattoo parlour. We both decided to get each other names on our wrists, which was a big sign of the level of commitment we have for each other. Later that night he proposed and then took me out for dinner to celebrate.

14/03/2015 - The day he gave me the ring, was another occasion. It was nothing romantic, it was just another sleepover at his place and in the morning I woke up feeling a box underneath my pillow (God knows how he got it under there when I was sleeping haha) but I opened it up and there it was. I was speechless and cried, and that's when we told everyone we were engaged.

Our wedding photographer...

Jason Tey Photography. I have personally known Jason for quite a few years, as he is a close friend to my sister. I had worked for him for a year and a bit, and being exposed to his photos, I fell in love with his work more and more. Jason is amazingly passionate with his photos and captured every moment that was important to us perfectly. It's silly, but being a plus size bride I was extremely worried that I would ruin the photos, but I found my worries fade away when I saw the photos and loved seeing how my husband and I looked at each other. How beautiful everything was.

T H E W E D D I N G

Pre-wedding celebrations...

Jarrad had organised a pre-wedding shoot for us with Jason Tey as a surprise engagement gift for me. It was a lovely day and night being spoilt by my husband.

My bridal party also threw a Hens party for me. It was a Mighty Ducks theme, where everyone dressed up in 90s costume. It was a hilarious night full of laughter, food and lots of drinks. My husband had a Bucks night around town, bar hopping with friends and getting random people signing his white shirt. We both had an excellent night.

Ceremony location...

Tomato Lake - City of Belmont. Luckily there was no tomatoes haha

Wedding flowers...

I have this annoying thing called Hayfever. I asked my good friend Anna from Botanica Naturalis for flowers that won't make me sneeze. I love everything this lady does and had sent her a whole lot of Instagram/Pinterest/Pretty Willow/colour scheme photos, but wasn't sure what type of flowers I wanted and she says "Trust me!", so I did. I didn't know what to expect or what I was getting on the day, but I was blown away. I remember her handing me my bouquet and there were these two stunning king proteas surrounded by native flowers, with soft blush pink roses. Touches of blue and deep red. The best part was how she incorporate the keys I gave her into my bouquet and Jarrads boutonniere. The key symbolised many things for us, it meant the key to our hearts, our home, and our favourite game "Kingdom Hearts" haha and it was perfect.

She had also used succulents and similar flowers from the bouquet in the teapots we gave her to decorate for the ceremony.

Our dream wedding...

We wanted a bohemian picnic styled ceremony. I loved the idea of getting married in the middle of a circle, to be surrounded by everyone we loved. We wanted everyone to be comfortable and see a layout that was different to most weddings.

The colours we went for was not really planned, but more so happened that way. Quite soft colours pinks and greys. The main pop of colour would be the streamers when we did our first kiss. Everything else was quite neutral.

I currently work as a styling assistant for Pretty Willow and amazingly offered her services the moment she found out we were engaged. She was an amazing help to our wedding day. Majority of the props/hire came from her and she helped styled the whole day. She was on board with everything that we wanted and always gave great advice when needed. She went above and beyond to make our wedding day memorable.

I do signage as a side job. It felt most appropriate that I did ours for our wedding day and felt like it was a nice personal touch.

We had our close friends as our "celebrants" on the day, my friend Jeremy who I've known since primary school and his wife Rinna. We also had an official celebrant Peter Christofides, who was there for the signing of the papers. I chose my friends to represent us that day, as I have always been deeply fond about the way they spoke about God and love. They are true romantics and every time I see them, they always filled Jarrad and me with much happiness. Rinna also sang a song for us that day as a special gift to us and Jeremy read a poem about love.

Since we didn't have a reception, we also provided food at the ceremony. My friend Zaymah and her family do amazing authentic Asian food. We kindly asked her to cater for our wedding, which she happily did. They had organised a prepacked box for each of our guests which consisted of biryani rice, chilli chicken strips, curry puffs and spring rolls. For the vegetarians/vegans, chicken was replaced with tofu.

We wanted a ceremony only event as we had found it was becoming quite stressful organising a reception. It started to become more about what we should be doing for the guests and forgetting that it was about us. It felt more like a show than a wedding and when deciding to scratch the idea of a reception, everything just flowed really easy for us and we were back on track with what we wanted.

Our wedding cake was made by my bridesman Jarryd as a wedding gift to Jarrad and I. He made a 2x 3 tier sponge cake filled with jam and cream, with lime cheese cream on the outside with confetti sprinkles. We had forgotten our cake cutters and used a wooden utensil to cut the cake for guests. Everyone loved it, with both cakes completely devoured!

I have a weird love for unicorns and I don't know why, but also felt it was appropriate to have a unicorn balloon there at our wedding. haha

The bridal party...

I had four (three bridesmaids, one bridesman) on my side and Jarrad had one (bestwoman) but to have it even on both sides, I had the bridesman and my bestfriend who walked me down the aisle to join his side.

I have known my Matron of Honour Jemma and Jarryd since high school. Ewen, Cassie and Shuen Chyn I've known since primary school. Jarrad knew Melissa from a mutual friend of ours, who he became close to quite quickly.

The bridesmaids and best woman wore...

I found the bridesmaids dresses on ASOS. I never had my heart set on a design or colour, but when I came across these dresses online. I couldn't say NO! The bridesmaids provided their own shoes on the day. I also gave them jewellery that suited them and their personalities as a thank you gift.

The bridesman wore...

His pants were from O'Connor, shirt was from Jack London. He provided his own shoes on the day. I also gave the boys jewellery that suited them and their personalities, as a thank you gift.

The groom wore...

We had originally chosen a navy suit for Jarrad. We had bought it already and was happy that it was crossed of the list, but when we went to Melbourne for his 30th birthday a few months before. We were casually browsing through Topman and it's where Jarrad spotted the pink suit. We both had a giggle about how it was pink and I told him to try it on.

When he stepped out, I could see it in his face how much he loved the suit. I said to him "I could see you wearing that to our wedding!" and he said that he did too. That it was a suit he wanted to be married in. The more we spoke about it, the more we found ourselves loving the idea of him in a pink suit. My charming man in pink.

The wedding dress...

My dress was from The Complete Bridal. Brand was Cizzy Bridal.

To be honest I didn't know what sort of dress I wanted, being a plus size, looking for a dress was one of the most stressful times during the wedding process. As it was very hard to walk in a store and try something on to see what it was like. So one day, I was with my friend looking at a dress for her and came across a stunning dress in Complete Bridal, but I never enquired about it. After searching for months, I said Nope! The one I saw is what I wanted and I walked in the next day and said "I would like to buy this dress in a size 18 please" and the lady looked at me and asked "Have you tried it on?" and on that day, I didn't think it was possible but I got to try on the size 10 dress without being able to tie the back but being able to see what it looked like on me from the front and I just knew, that this was the one.

Bomboniere...

Our guests were given traditional Indonesian Batik fans that was personalised with our names and wedding date on them.

Memorable moments...

All of it. Everything was memorable! I can't pick a favourite.

Wedding soundtrack...

We had a range of music, it was a combination of songs we generally enjoy. There wasn't a genre type, just whatever made us happy. Some of our favourite songs were

Daniella Andrade - Unthinkable (this was my walking down the aisle song)
Bob Sinclair - Love Generation
Kingdom Heart - Simple and Clean
Charli XCX - Boom Clap

M A R R I E D L I F E

The honeymoon...

We did a minimoon to Melbourne for five days and we're now in the process of planning our proper honeymoon which is a three week trip to Indonesia for next year.

Future plans...

Babies! To be homeowners in the next 5 years, travel more, eat more, just enjoying life.

In 40 years we hope to...

We joked about being 70 and playing games on the console. But to be honest, we can only hope to still be as madly in love as the day we met. To be able to look back into our lives and be proud of our achievements and be proud of each other.

W E D D I N G W I S D O M

The engagement...

Don't forget it's about you and your big day. Don't forget to go on dates and take a break. Enjoy each other's company and say I love you.

The planning process...

There are going to be stressful times. Whether it be about the dress, the suits, money, venue.. everything. That's why a checklist is super important! I laughed at people who suggested checklists and a checklist was such a big thing for me during our wedding process. Putting things in order of importance helped as well.

Try to plan a wedding that best represents you two as a couple. We can sometimes get lost in wanting to follow trends and end up regretting decisions made. Make a list of things you both like and see how it can be incorporate in your wedding.

Schedule in "Me" or "Us" times, again it is okay to take a break from planning and enjoy each other's company or do your own thing.

On the day...

Rest well and enjoy a long shower. It's going to be a long day and a whirlwind of so many emotions. Remember what the day is about. Have a love letter prepared for your future husband/wife for them to read whilst they're getting ready.

Spare shoes on the day, have an emergency kit for the "just in cases" (eg Tissues LOTS OF TISSUES, hay fever tablets, bobby pins, safety pins etc)

If there's any stuff ups, it doesn't matter, because the most important thing is that today you got married to the love of your life.

Photography: Jason Tey Photography / Props/hire: Pretty Willow / Flowers: Botanica Naturalis / Makeup: Fitz Adi Make up Artist / Signage: Love La Rire / Bride's gown: Cizzy Bridal from The Complete Bridal / Groom's suit: Topman / Bridesmaids' gowns: ASOS / Groomsman's pants: O'Connor / Groomsman's shirt: Jack London