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Lauren & Gerard

There is nothing more romantic than a Parisian elopement and Lauren and Gerard’s secret wedding in the ultimate city of love certainly captured the complete and utter romance of their story! As studio manager of Sydney photography studio gm Photographics , Lauren chose lead photographer Graham Monro to capture her secret Paris marriage to Gerard!

Of their story, Lauren tells. “We went on a blind date set up by our mutual friends that thought we should meet. We went for dinner and quickly realised there was something very special. Within 6 months we had planned our future, bought a house within 12 months and started renovating and planned for a baby. When we met we both said we weren’t very interested in being married we were happy just to be together – what we soon realised was that it wasn’t that – we just didn’t want a big wedding. We wanted the commitment without the fuss. Mitch proposed on the 26th May that we get married in Paris – our favourite city and we kept it a secret. We had the ring made by Affinity Diamonds and I was wearing at home only until we got on the plane.”

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Lauren wore a gown by Steven Khalil which showed off her 17 week baby bump! She accessorised with vintage Chanel gloves and jewels from Tiffany & Co.

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Lauren and Gerard were married at Hotel Raphael noting, “We wanted everything at the same place which is why we booked a hotel. The venue was a beautiful Parisian hotel with character and charm. We wanted it to be totally authentic.”  Lauren walked down the aisle to John Legend’s “All Of Me”.

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Lauren remembers “We wrote our own vows which were love notes to each other, we didn’t want anything religious and this was a way of us saying to each other exactly how we feel.”

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Of their day Lauren says, “It was totally magical and self indulgent..the day was only about us and our commitment to each other. It was so emotional and special.”

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The couple’s first dance was on the rooftop terrace to Christina Perry’s “A Thousand Years”.

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Of their photographer, Lauren tells, “We flew Graham from gm photographics over to be with us. We wanted the natural and candid style that reflected us. To travel all that way meant we had to have the best photographs and it would be our only lasting memory. The gm photographics style is so photojournalistic and unrehearsed, which we just love.”

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After photographs, the newlyweds returned to Hotel Raphael. Lauren remembering, “We had a private lunch/dinner in our suite with our own butler – a 7 course degustation.”

Congratulations on your marriage Lauren and Gerard! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Graham Monro of GM Photographics for sharing today’s wedding!