On November 10th 2001 my husband, Bradley & I were married in 1920's style at a private estate called Yabba Yabba in the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia. With such gorgeous gardens and rustic charm it was the perfect venue for our weekend getaway wedding for 50 guests.
We chose 3 favourite beverages for our post ceremony celebrations in the garden (champagne & strawberries, frozen guava margaritas & mint julips). Our 1920's theme was chosen in our first meeting with caterer, Simon Brink and inspired by the film, The Cotton Club.
My pre-wedding gifts to my husband were a 1950's Vintage Omega Watch along with some Frank Sinatra cufflinks. His suit was based on the true 1920's white vest/tie with groomsmen & male guests in classic black tie. My dress was designed by the gorgeous, Helen English. My white calla lilies were picked by my mother in law from her garden.
My best friends Dimity, Ally & Karen all wore black with white gloves. We kept the planning simple with each bridesmaid choosing their favourite dress to fall between the knee & ankle. Staying true to the theme, white feather boas and white bunches of sweet smelling hyacinth were added to tie the look together. Hair & Makeup all done by the talented, Pip Lund.
Black, Platinum Silver and White were my colour palette. Simple tealight holders sat atop rich silver brocade tapestry linens with crisp white serviettes wrapped in a ring of pearls. Each male place setting was finished with a little black/white suit box favor that contained a male fragrance whilst each female setting was finished with a black gloss handbag box with female fragrance by Givenchy. Silver menus were printed with matching tassels. Yes many nights of beading, sewing and printing which i remember loving every minute of leading up to the big day! Vintage Art Deco prints adorned the walls of the main dining room and design/set up were managed by the brilliant, Angie Sifis from Big Gig.
Music was by the Blue Mountains Gypsy Trio in the garden with mixed jazz compilations playing throughout the evening. My faux fur wrap, crystal droplets earrings & vintage hair comb were from the Vintage Clothing Shop in Castlereagh St, Sydney. This black & white image is the very reason we chose photographer, Phil Sheather to cover our wedding photography. Most of our work up until this day was in the film industry and capturing the glamour and emotion in a cinematic way was our ultimate brief for his day. We shot 41 rolls of film and had over 1500 images.
We cut our cake by a pond under the moonlight on a perfect November evening. The stars were shining and we had sparklers ready for guests to light with our names & wedding date on the outside, all handmade the week before the big day.
Our dining room was being re-dressed into a dancefloor inside when we were cutting the cake & being served dessert under the moonlight. My husband Bradley still says it is the sweetest cake he has ever eaten. He did come up with the name SugarLove for a reason i guess!! The cake was made locally in Katoomba and consisted of a almond nougat praline base with meringue and caramel on top, the outside was a white chocolate shaved finish with coconut. We served it with a berry coulis, nice and refreshing. The bride & groom statues were from Martha Stewart.
Our bridal dance was the Charleston which was self taught watching many Jazz DVDs and a permanent pause on the remote control viewing The Cotton Club, we couldn't stop laughing but our guests loved the break from a traditional waltz & all joined us on the dancefloor.
And finally one of my favourite photos from the day, a completely "unposed private moment". A true example of SugarLove photography....which we feel is unmatched in its simplicity and style
Today.....Our venue Yabba Yabba was sold several years ago and is now a private residence. We purchased the bed we slept in on our wedding night from the owner which is one of our most prized possessions. Bradley and I still love Jazz and play it most days to our 2 little boys, Maison & Lewis. Our wedding images were published in 2 magazines after our wedding took place inspiring several close friends and colleagues from the arts & entertainment industry to have SugarLove cover their wedding photography.
Our photographer Phil moved to London to follow a great love and is now back in Sydney shooting for SugarLove again which we are thrilled about. In 2007 we took over a gorgeous wedding video business called White Designs to merge with SugarLove Weddings (a perfect fit & something we had always been asked for by clients but could never recommend). To this day, we still wish we had a video on our wedding day - even a 2 day weekend event went too quickly!!
Bradley is now working on his first feature film as Director to be filmed in the near future, he still says our wedding day is the best he has attended and regularly comes home with a big smile on his face from being a part of our clients events. And me? Well i love weddings, can't you tell....i look forward to updating you on everything at SugarLove (and White) each week and look forward to hearing from you online, Leigh x
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