JINENDRI & MARC’S MELBOURNE WEDDING

THE VENUE “When we found Rupert on Rupert, we instantly fell in love and made an appointment. And it was the best decision – from beginning to end, the event managers Marli and Katie, were amazing to deal with and were so accommodating. With the change in date, varying dietries and changing guest numbers right up until the day before, they made it all work and no request was too big or small. They made us feel calm and that everything was possible, which as a stressed out couple, was such a relief and very appreciated!”

THE VIBE “Evening elegance with party undertones. More so than a theme, we knew the type of experience we wanted our guests to have – where everyone felt like part of the family, ate delicious food, had a drink in hand at all times and danced liked there was no tomorrow! We wanted them to feel like we had spared no expense because they were all so important to us and we wanted them to have a good time. It was also important to us that we both had a good time, so we didn’t put pressure on ourselves to make sure everything ran perfectly to time or that we ticked all the traditional wedding boxes because we ‘had to’. We did what we wanted and the end result was just that.”

TOUCH OF TRADITION “We wanted to add some unique elements to our wedding by incorporating a few cultural touches. We had the Italian side celebrated with the food (salumi station, pizzas, gnocci and canoli) so the Sri Lankan side was done through the ceremony. In Sri Lankan custom, it’s typical for the bride’s family to walk down the aisle either before her or after her. So after our flower boys and bridemsaids walked down the aisle, they were followed by my grandparents and my brother and his wife. Then I followed with my dad and my mum on either side of me. Another cultural element we incorporated was the lighting of the lamp – the immediate family light a ceremonial lamp as part of the ceremony. Our loved ones lighting this lamp signifies the light needed to travel safely in the new path as husband and wife. It is expected that the light will enable us to open new vistas as husband and wife to continue with good health, peace, prosperity, love and affection.”

FAVE DETAILS “Our Sri Lankan traditional dancers were a unique touch and memorable moment for a lot of our guests. They preceded my arrival with a cultural dance and chanting a prayer as I entered with my parents, and then did a performance post-ceremony for our guest’s which featured summersaults, back flips and spins!”

REFERENCES “Our venue provided us with a fantastic list of vendors and suppliers that had worked with them in the past which was a massive help. It can be a bit overwhelming with so many options available so going with your venue’s ‘preferred partners’ as a first resort is always a good start. It also meant that the vendors knew the space and what was possible – this was particularly helpful with our florist [Raven & The Rose] as Ame had done several wedding at Rupert before and knew what she was working with. I also referred to Hello May for inspiration around colour pallettes and accessories etc and any other little touches we could add to our wedding. The idea to do the ‘first look’ with my father and brother I actually found in a ‘real wedding’ blog.”

STANDOUT VENDORS “All our vendors were incredible! Special mentions do go out to our photographer, Arianna Harry, as she is an artist and her work blew us away! We received the ‘sneak peak’ of our photos the day after the wedding while we were hosting our recovery barbecue for the family so we looked at them together – and wow! They were stunning. We also have to shout out the team at Rupert, particularly Katie, as she was a dream to work with and made everything so easy for us. She even responded to us on her holidays… talk about going above and beyond! We are super grateful to her and the entire team for making our night so wonderful!”