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My husband, Leigh created a website (viewable here) to display our wedding style and our beautiful photos. He aimed to not only share it with the world but to enable our kids in the future to browse through and see the images taken on one of the happiest days of our life.

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Our dream was to run away and get married in a place that had captured our hearts, the magical New Orleans. The only problem was we desperately wanted our friends and family to share our special day with us…. our solution, bring New Orleans to Sydney and celebrate in true New Orleanian fashion, with great food, great music and a lot of dancing. The style was influenced by our love for old books, Jazz, simplicity and echoed a New Orleanian, French atmosphere. Our efficient and friendly Wedding Planner Jason Kates from Love2Love was responsible for such a beautiful set up.

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The Bridesmaids wore mismatched gowns from Bridesmaids Only in different shades of slate blue and champagne to add to our vintage vibe and our Groomsmen looked dapper in charcoal grey suits.

I wore an ivory gown with lace and a low cut back from Bridesmaids Only and held a beautiful bouquet of natural stemmed posy of white and ivory David Austin roses, white freesias, cream Geralton wax and foliage by Jodie McGregor Flowers.

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Our hair was styled by the Mel Kilic from Partner’s Hair in Glebe and our make up artist, Christina Cleary did such a brilliant job with our make up.

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The Groom, Leigh wore a tailored dark charcoal grey suit with braces and his favourite fedora hat, bought while we were on vacation in New Orleans.

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We decided Lion Gate Lodge in the Botanical Gardens, Sydney would be perfect for our special day, not only was it where we first met, but we couldn’t think of a more beautiful location in our amazing city.

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My parents walked me down the aisle to La Vie En Rose, our favourite song and the one he used to propose to me with. It was played and sung beautifully by Dane Laboyrie, accompanied by a soft acoustic guitar.

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My Aunt, Joy Bowen was our marriage celebrant and helped Leigh and I design a ceremony that reflected our personalities perfectly, with cheeky lines, laughs, tears and ended by Leigh breaking a glass in Jewish tradition.

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It was the hottest day on record, the sun was bright and the air was humid. New Orleans had most definitely come to Sydney that day and the home made iced tea flowed as guests stretched out on the lush grass, listening to our band play songs by Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole.

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The food was made to tailor our needs and reflect our style. The incredible team at One Pot Catering treated our guests to Cajun delights such as home made Po-Boys, prawn gumbo, and pecan pies. When I closed my eyes that day, held my husband’s hand and took in the atmosphere, I could swear I was standing in the French Quarter.

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We had our wedding cake made by Flour and Stone in Woolloomooloo and it exceeded our expectations. We had a 16-inch triple layer rustic vanilla sponge with mascarpone cream and berry compote. I wanted our wedding cake to feel as close to one of my late Grandmother’s home made sponge cakes as possible.

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Our first dance was to a song Leigh chose personally. We danced to a beautifully sung version of Nat King Cole’s “I Love you (Sentimental Reasons)”, Leigh singing along with every word and just smiling at me. That had to be one of the highlights of my day. Although all eyes were on us, dancing under our cotton ball lights, we felt as though we were the only two people there, sharing such an intimate moment and getting lost in each other’s smiles.

It was a day I will remember for the rest of my life, a day that we can describe to our kids with that same look in our eyes. I don’t believe I have ever felt so happy and my life has never felt so complete.

I wanted to share our beautiful day, our spectacular experiences and our happiness with the world.

Images by Kevin Cheung and Berry Mak

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Ms Stripey says: What a gorgeous heartfelt wedding day. It just goes to show that it’s the personal touches that make your wedding unique and memorable! Congratulations Nicola and Leigh!