If you fancy a touch of DIY, this one’s for you, guys. Channelling coastal Italian vibes, Alycia and Ewen celebrated in Sutton Forrest with 140 guests and called in help from their nearest and dearest to make it happen. “It was a mammoth team effort but having so many of our favourite people involved made it so much more special and couldn’t be more grateful,” the couple tell us. Lens lady Weddings By Sam captured all the good times on camera, while Above Below Visuals took care of the video. Scroll down for the details…
THE VENUE “We loved the pool at Somerely’s and dreamed of a cocktail pool party, Slim Aarons style. Unfortunately on the day the pool was a mud bath, so we used a back- up space.”
DIY “Honestly, we did so much ourselves with lots of help from our incredible friends and family, which I know some people would argue against. It definitely added an extra level of pressure, but it also meant that it wasn’t just one day. The lead up and making things together was all part of the fun! The decor was such an important part of bringing the vision to life and we decided to do most of it ourselves. We died the tablecloths, designed the printing and my favourite part, built and tiled our own bars. One of those bars is now a permanent fixture in our backyard so again it’s a forever memory not just one day. We also decided to make handmade pasta for our favours. We invited a big group of friends over and had a pasta making day. Now for 140 people, you can imagine how much pasta needed to be made. It took the whole day and there was pasta everywhere but we had the best time, drinking Aperols and competing on whose pasta looked the best. It will be a forever memory!”
THE DRESS “I had my eye on one for a really long time, but it was not available in Australia and way out of my budget. So when my mum, Sharon and her best friend Margaret offered to make it, I was ecstatic! When they left school they started their own fashion label called Sharmag, so we were able to bring back the label with this dress and they even had an original tag that they attached in the dress. Some of my most special moments were making that dress in Margaret’s studio. Mum also made the flowergirl dresses and my veil with hand-died colourful flowers from the leftover fabric so everything is one-of-a-kind!”
WE’RE SO GLAD WE… “Had a big bridal party. A lot of people said to me, ‘I can’t believe you have so many bridesmaids, that must be a nightmare to coordinate!’ But that was one of my best decisions. They all had my back 100 per cent and I know Ewen would say the exact same thing about his groomsmen. The number doesn’t matter, what matters is having the people around you that will hype you up, keep you sane and do anything to make you smile. Those people are special and keeping them close was the best decision.”
FAVE DEETS “The flowers from Petal Pushers Sydney were out of this world! Em was just excited as us about the vision and she bloody nailed it! She brought so many little touches too – I was blown away by that.”
LITTLE LOL “Friends and family would say our surprise coordinated dance to Promiscuous Girl – we launched into it as a surprise, post slow dance. Everyone was screaming with shock and excitement, and we committed hard to it. We’d been doing hip hop classes with some our friends in the months prior and last minute (at 1am, three days before) we decided we had to put the moves we had learnt to good use. ”
STANDOUT VENDORS “Weddings By Sam had such a beautiful aesthetic and her shots looked like they captured the in between moments and vibrancy of the day which is exactly what we wanted – and she absolutely delivered. One of my bridesmaids found our our videographer Above Below Visuals, who was not only amazing in the lead-up and really walked us through the process, but the output was insane. My dad calls our video a blockbuster film! ”
If you’re in need of a cinematographer, we recommend getting in touch with Above Below Visuals, and if you’re looking for a bunch of legendary vendors in the Southern Highlands, head to our directory here.
CONTRIBUTING VENDORS Photographer Weddings by Sam Cinematographer Above Below Visuals Wedding coordinator Jaybird Wedding Florist Petal Pushers Sydney Stationery Designed by bride Ceremony & reception venue Somerelys Catering Ciao Pepi’s Hire items & lighting Wedding & Event Creators Marquee Event Marquees Entertainment Sounds of Sebastian Celebrant Peter Woolett Rings Leroy & I Transport Warrigal Charters Toilets Absoloo Hire THE BRIDE Bridal gown designer Made by mum and best friend Shoes Prada Hair Aleeya Hill Makeup Haylee Davis Bridesmaid dresses Staud, Acler, Steele, Revolve Bridesmaid gifts Pura Urtz THE GROOM Suit, shirt & groomsmen suits Mitchell Ogilvie tailoring Tie Otaa Shoes Aquila