Real Weddings

Article by

Athina Greenhalgh

Posted on

29/05/2024

Posted in

Real Weddings

Here’s what we love about Grace and Lenny: they do things in their own time and don’t sweat the small stuff. After all, they were together only a “short 16 years” before saying “I do”!

Celebrating in the urban Eden that is Sydney’s Botanic Gardens, “good food, good music, and good drinks” was the vibe. But for these laid-back lovebirds, the night’s highlight was post-party takeaway together at home. “We got back at 2am and went on a walk to get some burgers to eat on the couch. Hanging out with my favourite person, just chatting about our wedding, was a perfect way to end the day.”

Wonder-celebrant Amy Watson covered the formalities, Paper Hearts brought the toe-tapping tunes, and The Lillipillian O.U.T.D.I.D. themselves on the florals. There were some cracking belly-laugh moments too, thankfully all caught on camera by the uber-talented Nikki McCrone. So scroll away… all the goss’n’giggles are below!

FAVE DETAILS (Lenny) “Grace had a pair of cufflinks made with our dog’s face on them, which was a really lovely way to incorporate her into our special day.” (Grace) “Tegan from The Lillipillian was amazing! The flowers she chose were beautiful, and she has a great collection of vases and props to really dress-up a space. We used her neon lights and hired some extra disco balls from Simply Seated to make a fun vibe around the dance floor. Lenny surprised me with a neon sign that says ‘The Quongs’ which we had put up and it now hangs in our apartment. One of my favourite parts about her service was that she came back before the end of the night and put together the flowers for our guests to take home with them.”

REFERENCES (Grace) “We found a lot [of vendors on] Instagram. We even asked Hello May for a few recommendations in their Instagram stories. But I think most came from friends. We did spend quite a few nights on YouTube listening to local musicians and watching celebrants trying to pick out our favourites.” (Lenny) “We met Nikki, our amazing photographer, at a friend’s wedding in Melbourne. We just loved her energy, personality, and style, so we knew we had to include her in our team.”

LITTLE LOL (Grace) “After finishing my hair and makeup, my wonderful hair and makeup artists started giving me advice for when I step into my dress to put it on. I hadn’t realised beforehand that I should have told them I couldn’t get my dress on by stepping into it! After some quick thinking from the team, I had a pillowcase over my head to protect my hair and stop makeup from getting on the dress. My soon-to-be sister-in-law was standing on the couch conducting the whole ordeal… my mum and sister-in-law had their hands in the pillowcase, trying not to let it touch me, and my other soon-to-be sister-in-law and soon-to-be mother-in-law guiding the dress over me. It seemed so ridiculous and absolutely hilarious!” (Lenny) “There was a mix-up with our first dance song – so instead of impressing everyone with our moves to Dancing In the Moonlight, we got a hip-hop remixed version instead. We got most of the steps right, so big thanks to Frank from Best Wedding Waltzes, and it was hilarious to us.”

STANDOUT VENDORS (Grace) “All of them were AMAZING! But I’d have to say a stand out was Nikki McCrone, our photographer. She is your own personal hype woman and puts so much effort into our day. It was so worth flying her over from Melbourne. The day before the wedding she scouted out locations for photos and had a few beers with us to chat through what she found. She kept us on schedule and made sure we were having the best time, blasting music as we danced and laughed across the city. We feel like we got a friend out of the experience and can’t wait to catch up with her the next time we are in Melbourne!” (Lenny) “Our celebrant, Amy Watson, was also outstanding in understanding our story and guiding us through the ceremony. Neither of us partially love being the centre of attention, but having someone that we really vibed with and did such a great job in helping us relax and enjoy what would otherwise have been a very nerve-racking moment turned out to be such a blessing.”

With such high praise, you’ll probably want to pop into Amy Watson’s inbox here. And Nikki McCrone, too (who wouldn’t want their own personal wedding hype woman!?) You can catch her here on the Hello May Directory. It’s also where you’ll find our marvellous muso mates, Paper Hearts and The Lillipillian, who will make all your floral dreams come true. Yet to lock in a location? Check out some of our fave vibrant inner-city venues here.