Meet Madie and Jarred. Madie is one of our all-time favourite Melbourne bakers, Mad About Cakes, and is as vibrant and sweet as the delish desserts she creates. When she married her beau of 14 years, criminal lawyer Jarred, at Sophia in Melbourne’s iconic Prahan Arcade, it was a beautiful combo of Jewish tradition meets “one big fat party”, just as the newlyweds had hoped for. Jeremy Blode took some incredible snaps of their celebration. Scroll on to see…
THE PROPOSAL “Jarred proposed to me on my 30th birthday. He planned it for months! There were 14 activities planned throughout the day – each one representing a milestone of our relationship and our lives: when we first met, our first holiday, starting my business, buying our home! And every activity came with a card full of photos from that era and a beautiful gift to go with it! The last gift was representing the time when we got our puppy (Murphy Bear) and the gift was a new collar for her that said ‘Will you marry me?’. Insert all the teary eye emojis.”
THE VIBE “We wanted the traditional elements of a Jewish Wedding and to keep it gorgeous and sophisticated – but we just wanted a big fat party!! We wanted it to be fun, playful and with unexpected twists and full of colour!”
FAVE DEETS “The glitter station – everyone one got involved. Everyone. Our chuppah (canopy where Jewish ceremonies are performed) by Bangin Hangins was incredible! And we had drag queens come and DJ the last set of the night. We also did a first dance that started as a lip sync to Total Eclipse of The Heart and then some of our closest mates and family members came from the crowd to sing a live performance of Hooked on a Feeling and Thinking of You by Sister Sledge. We had indoor firework things go off on the big breakdown (which my BIL Brad secretly organised). It was EPIC.”
DIY “My team and I at Mad About Cakes designed and made all the wedding cakes and desserts.”
THE DRESS “Khya Studios – a fitted hand beaded dress. Was a disco ball in a dress and everything I wanted in life. It was the first wedding dress fitting I had and I just new in my waters it was the right one.”
TOUCH OF TRADITION “We had a traditional Jewish wedding with the chuppah and a rabbi. Our bridal party was enormous – seven bridesmaids and seven groomsmen, nine bubble girls and boys. We have a huge family and wanted them with us every step of the way.”
MEMORABLE MOMENT “The most tearful moment was my dad’s speech. He has a severe brain injury from a heart attack he had six weeks after we got engaged. We didn’t think he would be at the wedding, let alone talking and walking. So the fact that he was able to say some sort of speech was huge and had the whole room crying.”
A WORD OF ADVICE “Get help! Don’t try and do it all yourself because you don’t want to burden people! Everyone wants to help you have the best day and be involved. Also book in advance. We booked our key suppliers a year in advance – a must do in a post covid world!”
If you’d love Madie to whip you up an amazing cake creation, hit up Mad About Cakes on our directory. Want more delicious sweetnes? Check out our round-up of our all-time favourite cakes of last year, featuring Mad About Cakes, right here.
CONTRIBUTING VENDORS Photographer Jeremy Blode Cinematographer Moon & Back Stylist & Florist Michael Stronix Stationery & Signage Katie Ford Printer Work Works Ceremony venue St Kilda Botanical Gardens Reception venue & catering Sophia Cake Mad About Cakes Hire Items Table Art,The Small Things Co Lighting Hire & Sound Hire Austage Events Entertainment Solution Entertainment Rabbi St Kilda Shule Ceremony Furniture Hire Dalgarnos Chuppah & Stage Backdrop Bangin Hangings Glitter Station Glitoris THE BRIDE Bridal gown designer Khya Studios Robes Hello Miss Poppy Hair & Makeup Tonic Agency THE GROOM Suit & bow tie Armani