Lily and David’s Intimate Vineyard Wedding

Lily and David

Do you remember the fun engagement shoot in an airport of Li and Dave? Well today, I get to share their beautiful winery wedding with you!

Lily recalls how she met David. “We sat across each other in a (tight-spaced) restaurant among mutual friends and were introduced then. Things were slow to progress initially but it was only when I headed away to Europe for a 3-weeks holiday in 2009 when we realised how much we missed each others’ company, and it wasn’t long after I got back when he finally (sorta) asked me to be his girlfriend.”

Today’s photographs are by Jonathan Ong who always blows me away with the sensuality and beauty of his photographs. He captures the heart and soul of every celebration.

Lily wore a gown from Pretty in White in Malaysia and Balwyn Events styled the flowers for the day. The bridesmaids wore Kookai frocks while the groom and his groomsmen wore suits from Supreme Tailor, Singapore.

Lily and David were married at Morning Star Estate.

Lily walked down the aisle to  Ingrid Michaelson  – The Way I Am, performed acoustically by their friend Valerie Yap.

The couple chose their bridal party with a twist. “Dave had a ‘best lady’ on his side while I had my ‘best man’ on my party as well. The trinity was complete.”

Morning Star Estate provided the perfect backdrop for photographs and the wedding day. Lily says “Both the ceremony and reception were held in one venue. Morning Star Estate is a quaint old mansion with a vineyard & a rose garden before it, placed on a cliff, dropping off into the ocean. There is a sunken garden amidst the roses where ceremonies are commonly held, but due to the weather, we were moved into the (cosy) chapel instead. The ballroom holding the reception was a converted old basketball court with beautiful round lanterns and fairy lights hung from the ceiling, parting the drapes across the four walls.”

Lily and David put their personality into their stationery touches. “Bonbonierres were customised tea bags with our cartoon faces on it, along with packets of coffee (powder), each item representing Dave (the coffee addict) and I (the tea queen).

For the table settings, friends, family and colleagues contributed to a collection of old bottles and jars to form table centres, filled with flowers provided by our florist, and candles. We also had mini blackboards on sticks on each table where we chalked our table numbers.

We made fans (in anticipation for the hot day) for the wedding program. Another good friend of ours, Anthony Teoh (graphic designer by day and ninja wedding photographer by night), designed a whole set of  merchandise for us, including handwriting and doodling for our program.

Ant also helped make a personalised stamp with our names on it, and again, hand wrote and drew our wedding invitations.

Instead of a guest book, we stacked two milk-crates, covered them with gurney sacks, and used it to hold three large tree branches we stole from the streets under the cover of night. We cut out bag-tag-shaped brown paper cards with the names of each guest written on one side (serving as their placards), and a space for a short note for them to write to us on the other. Guests would then, throughout the night, make their way to the tree and tie their note to the branches.”

Family and friends made the day special. “Two tables were filled with family/friends who flew from Malaysia, Singapore, Queensland and other far places to join us for the one night. People took time off to travel all the way to spend this time with us. That was awesome!” Lily and David had a wedding cake made by French Lettuce and homemade goodies by friend, Carmen Leong.

The first dance was performed by a close friend. Lily recalls”Our good friend, Val Yap composed a song the same night Dave proposed. When Val found out, she dedicated her song, ‘Northern Lights’ to us (you can find her Youtube video of the song here!). Another good friend of ours choreographed and taught us how to dance to it in 2 lessons (2 weeks before the wedding).”

Congratulations Lily and David! Thank you for allowing us to share your wedding day on Polka Dot Bride! Thank you also to Jonathan Ong for sharing today’s photographs!

Photographs by Jonathan Ong

Want more? Check out these posts from the archives

1. Maeve and Stefan’s Geelong Vineyard Wedding
2. Sally and Felix’s Intimate Melbourne Wedding
3. Elise and Brodie’s Intimate Garden Wedding
4. Dana and Tim’s Intimate Malaysian Wedding
5. Leslie Ann and Gary’s Intimate North Carolina Wedding

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