Jessica and Ollie

Jessica and Ollie

A beautiful country wedding filled with flowers this morning! Held on the Mornington Penninsula, Jessica and Ollie’s wedding had a beautiful garden party feel to it- without any of the couple’s spark missing! (Check out Jessica’s beaming smile in every single shot!)

Jessica explains how the couple met “My sister was going out with Ollie’s cousin at the time and Ollie and I met at a family birthday party, a one year old birthday party on a Sunday morning! They are now married with two children.

Well my sister had been dating Ollie’s cousin a few years and had met Ollie a handful of times at family functions. One wedding they were sitting around laughing and chatting and he made the comment “I wish you had a sister”. My sister is six years my senior and said that she did have a sister but I lived overseas and that I wouldn’t be interested in him! She thought he was too straight for me. I happened to arrive back in the country two weeks later on a surprise visit from London which had been my home for 1.5 years. We met at a 1 year old birthday party and that was it! I was in love, and he was by no means straight!”

The professional photographs today are by Andrew Butler! (There’s a few added bonuses from Jessica’s personal collection!). Andrew did such a brilliant job capturing the happy moments of the wedding day. The joy seems to bounce out of every photo!

The couple were living in Shanghai and arrived back to Australia only a little while before the wedding. Jessica wore a gown she had custom made in Shanghai.

The masses of blooms were created by Jessica’s cousin Rita of Blooming Brides.

Jessica’s bridesmaids wore different gowns organised by Jessica’s sister. “All family and friends came together to help it all come together. As I said, we live in Shanghai, China and only I arrived home four weeks before the wedding and Ollie came two weeks before the wedding. We had bought winter white Chinese lanterns, silk purses and stationery all from Shanghai. My sister organised our 5 bridesmaids into dresses, shoes and accessories. We had 8 custom men’s suits made here based on full spec sheets measured at home.”

Jessica remembers walking down the aisle to ‘It Had to be You’ – Billie Holiday, followed by Wild Thing – The Troggs with her father, as one of the more emotional moments of the day. “He is such a beautiful father and man in my life. There are pics of him standing on my dress and nearly tripping us both up.”

The couple were married on the Mornington Peninsula in Dromana, Victoria. “We used two venues for our wedding weekend. The first venue being Dromana Estate. We loved the space and variety that Dromana offered. Sprawling lawns and budding trees got me. Ol and I always discussed having an outdoor wedding and preferably in a vineyard. We are both foodies and loved the fact that the chef used all local produce which made it perfect for us. As we live in Shanghai our parents found the venue and made the final decision before we even saw it. We were extremely lucky.”

Being the cousin of a florist meant Jessica and Ollie had a wedding filled with beautiful blooms. “Flowers have been a part of the Feldmann family for some time. My love of flowers began with my not too distant family, who worked and owned the Rockley Road flowers in South Yarra, Melbourne. They had a horse and cart and would buy the flowers from the markets to sell on that famous street corner in Sth Yarra.

When I was in Grade 5 around 11 years old I met this side of my family for the first time. I have always loved flowers and was completely taken with the idea of being surrounded by flowers all day. I was lucky enough that after our first meet, Uncle Max said that I could join them one Saturday morning to the flower market in Footscray. I remember waking up at 4am with his daughter and my long lost cousin Lila, who was a pro at the early morning wake ups. Driving out there in the freezing cold and all rugged up but I was so excited. We arrived and walked up and down buying flowers for 3 hours until it was time to leave but not before we stopped at the local café where we had hot chocolate and toasted cheese sandwiches. I did this a few times and loved every minute.

I have always dreamt of a wedding full of flowers, that was always my number 1. Soft, fluffy and magical was what we were aiming for. My cousin Rita of Blooming Brides is such a beautiful person and such an amazing florist, I am really lucky that she just knew what I wanted. I gave her full control and she went above and beyond….”

The wedding cake was tiers of cupcakes topped with a round cutting cake made by local baker Peninsula Pantry. Jessica says “Peninsula Pantry are an amazing local produce vendor who operate from the back beach Rye shops. The Pantry began as our weekend hang out for their organic and wheat free homemade goods and  we were quickly sold after we tasted their flourless white chocolate and raspberry cake.”

The guests danced through the night, so much so that there was no first dance!  Jessica recounts “Well it never eventuated! We had a dancing lesson a couple of days before just in case we felt like a dance but when the time came we just wanted to dance with everyone. Too much attention!”

The day after the wedding, guests celebrated at the couple’s personal music festival “Wardstock”. The food was catered and the flowers from the wedding were brought to Ollie’s father’s place at St Andrew’s on the Mornington Pennisula. Jessica, Ollie and their guests celebrated with plenty of musician friends who played well into the night.

Congratulations to Jessica and Ollie on your marriage and wedding! Thank you for celebrating with us! Thank you also to Andrew Butler for today’s photographs!

Professional photos by Andrew Butler.

Want more? Check out these posts from the archives

1. Jessica and Hugo
2. Jessica and Nick’s Colourful Queensland Wedding
3. J [Studios] Photography Giveaway

Colours Hot PinkMilk ChocolateNude PinkWhite | Tags www.bloomingbrides.com.au | Bride, Inspired Weddings, Victoria | Comments 4