Kirsten and David

You know what I love about weddings right? I tell you every day and I feel so lucky to be immersed in a world of love stories, because that’s what matters to me – the stories. So when I get to tell them, it takes time and thought because that is after all what those who share their days so publically deserve. A story of love and romance, a story of marriage and the story of Kirsten and David.

Kirsten and David shared their story together, so let’s kick it off!  “Kirsten was finishing her VCE and in those pre-facebook days the preferred means of communication was using MSN Messenger (remember that?). Bored one day, Kirsten added David to MSN as a friend of a friend and pretended that they knew each other. David attempted to play cool and make out as if he ‘remembered’ all of this, not knowing that he was being made to look rather stupid. Nevertheless, after several more MSN conversations (usually late at night, much to Kirsten’s parents horror and dismay) David contrived to drive to Torquay and meet Kirsten under the pretense of a trip to Anglesea that ‘he was going on anyway’. They hit it off very quickly and Kirsten caused even more panic to her parents by regularly declaring that she was getting on a train to Melbourne to go meet her new boyfriend. She often did this with about $10 to her name (enough for a return ticket and maybe a hot chocolate) and a promise to her Dad that she would be back ‘soon’.”

Photos are by Aparat who captured the moments and mood of the day amongst the story.

Kirsten chose a gown by Bernadette Pimenta Couture. She remarks, “Bernadette is a bubbly perfectionist with a gift for designing perfect dresses.”

“Kirsten had a locket attached with lace to her bouquet with a photo of her grandfather inside, so he could be there too.  The marcasite brooch on Kirsten’s dress was her grandmother’s twenty first birthday present from Kirsten’s grandfather and was an extremely precious ‘something borrowed’.”

“Pearl and Boston Flowers in Torquay created an amazing set of bouquets and boutonnières and even offered to drive all the way to Lorne if we had any emergencies (thankfully, we didn’t).” Kirsten’s bridesmaids wore black gowns fromReview.

“A family friend chauffeured us in her pristine vintage Holden. We had never planned to have special transportation, but when she offered to let us use her car (and even drive us) we jumped at the chance.”

Kirsten and David chose Lorne for their wedding, holding their wedding at Qdos Arts. “Gillian at Qdos was fantastic to work with on our day: she took our vision and turned it into a reality. The catering was exceptional, the facilities immaculate and the staff professional. It’s also an amazing building and they showcase a huge variety of local art: it feels like a really special space. The wedding was in the grounds overlooking the lily pond surrounded by Australian bushland, and the reception in the light filled gallery.”

For her walk down the aisle, Kirsten chose, “Songbird (in the style of Eva Cassidy). The song was performed by Jacqueline Porter, a close friend and young star in the Australian opera scene.”

“We had help from a friend designing our orders-of-service (and other stationery), but we hand-cut and assembled them ourselves. We created and then drew up the chalk welcome board (it’s blackboard paint over the top of an old artwork we picked up along with an easel at a flea-market for spare change).  The aisle decorations are old Fowlers Vacola preserving jars suspended in gardening decorations tied with Alannah Hill My beautiful life clipbelts picked up at a factory clearance sale.”

Charis White married Kirsten and David. “She was funny, friendly, professional and enthusiastic without ever feeling forced or unnatural: exactly what we had hoped for.”

“We couldn’t stop smiling! We included a ‘ring warming’ section in the ceremony where our wedding bands were passed around our family and friends while the ceremony proceeded – they were carefully tied in a ring bowl so they wouldn’t go missing (but with a simple knot that would be easy to undo). However, David’s father had noticed this knot earlier in the day and ‘helped’ by making sure it was ‘secure’ by re-tying it extra tightly. By the time David’s brother retrieved the rings back from the guests there was a minor (but hilarious) panic when he couldn’t detach them from the bowl! However, he ultimately proved dexterous enough to save the day.”

Kirsten’s grandmother spent weeks collecting and drying rose petals from her garden (and everyone else’s!) to use as confetti.

Of their photographer, Kirsten and David say,  “Aparat (Zosia and Jakub, the super-photography-duo!) were our best friends on the day. They started at the crack of dawn, Zosia with the girls and Jakub with the boys, and effortlessly documented the entire day for us without ever feeling imposing or unnatural. We have a set of photos to treasure that is better than we ever hoped for and we’re sure we’ll be sharing them with our children’s children.”

David’s mother created the wedding cake.

“We also had frames with our parents and grandparents (and great grandparents, and so on) on their wedding days, which were a lot of fun to assemble and we learned a lot about our families talking to our parents and grandparents.”

“The DIY details were all very special, since not only were they cost effective but they are all one-of-a-kind and brought us even closer together as we worked on them in the days and months in the lead up. The birds on the tables were purchased from Etsy and are handmade by Denise from Boobacci, and they’re the most adorable creations.  The cake was baked and decorated by David’s mother, and looked (and tasted) like heaven.  The two Fujifilm Instax cameras were a huge hit, and we had a book prepared to stick the photos instead of a traditional guestbook.”

“Kirsten painted up some flower pots with the letters L-O-V-E and these stood outside on the balcony after her grandmother arranged cut flowers from her garden into them.”

“We created the ‘mr’ and ‘mrs’ seating decorations ourselves out of some gardening wire and wool.”

For their first dance “We danced to Dindi (by Antonio Carlos Jobim), recorded by the Daniel Matto quintet. It’s Kirsten’s favorite song to sing to David (sometimes substituting names) and she sings it to our dog Rupert as well! ”

Guests took home cake in bags decorated with Alannah Hill My beautiful life clip flowers the couple found on sale.

“We decorated our car ourselves with a custom decal we designed and woollen pom pom garlands Kirsten made at home.”

Congratulations Kirsten and David! Thank you for sharing your story with us Thank you to Aparat for sharing today’s images!