Daniella & Vlado
Have you ever considered a ceremony and reception in different areas of the State? Daniella and Vlado held their traditional Macedonian wedding ceremony in Sydney city and then traveled with their guests to the Hunter Valley for a big, fun filled reception (of course with plenty of dancing) giving their guests both a city wedding and a weekend getaway!
Daniella kicks off today’s wedding with the story of how she met her husband. “Vlado and I met through mutual friends. It took a few accidental nightclub run-ins and a lift home after a night out to realise that we had a connection. We instantly hit it off and have never looked back since. Vlado & I dated for 7 years before he popped the question. Vlado proposed at our favourite lookout in Coogee, it is also where we shared our first kiss. He even picked out the ring on his own! The lookout will always hold special memories for us.”
Photographs today are by Bradley Patrick for SugarLove Pictures who has captured the classic elegance of today’s wedding beautifully.
Daniella recalls, “The girls & I were up at 4:00am for hair & make-up and the boys got a lovely sleep-in until 8:00am. The ceremony was unusually early starting at 11:00am, to give us enough time to get to the Hunter Region for photos before the sun set. The reception started at 6:30pm and went well into the evening finishing in the hotel bar at 1:30am. The entire day consisted of 17 hours of non stop activity. A farewell champagne breakfast for our guests kicked off the next day, so there was no opportunity for a sleep in…A day to remember!”
Daniella wore a gown by Steven Khalil her all white bouquet was created by Blooms N’ More Florist.
“Our ceremony was held at the St Kiril and Metodij Macedonian Orthodox Church in Rosebery. Both Vlado and I are of Macedonian Orthodox faith. It was important for us to carry this tradition and have our family and friends appreciate the service, which was performed in Macedonian. We had ceremony booklets made with all the sacraments and rites performed in both Macedonian and English.”
For the processional. Daniella chose Wagner Wedding March performed by Opus 4 string quartet.
As far as DIY went, Daniella remarks, “We created wedding wands made of ribbons in various colours. On one of the ribbons we had our names and date of the wedding printed. The ribbons were then secured with a small bell. These were waved as we left the ceremony. It was a different take on wedding bubbles or rice. There were also 2 boxes for the ceremony booklets that we wrapped in a silk fabric, & tied with bright red ribbon. They were each secured by a large silk dahlia flower and diamante brooch. Dahlias were heavily featured at the reception & we wanted to incorporate some in the ceremony.”
Of their photographer, Daniella says, “The photographer was the great Bradley Patrick of SugarLove Pictures. The whole team at SugarLove were friendly, professional and easy to deal with (This can be a big positive, especially when dealing with so many suppliers in the lead up to your big day). Bradley made the whole the day effortless. We wanted a photographer that didn’t stage the shots. SugarLove is a company that pride themselves on natural images that capture the beauty and special moments of the day.”
Daniella’s bridesmaids wore raspberry red Twobirds Bridesmaid gowns.
The wedding was planned and styled by Raymond Ware for The Styling Company and held at the Crowne Plaza, Hunter Valley. Daniella explains, “The Crowne Plaza was the only hotel/resort in the Hunter Region able to house our guests. It was perfect for the atmosphere we wanted to create. The ballroom overlooked the lush greenery of the golf course. The hotel staff were so professional, really second to none. The food was exceptional; all of course paired with quality Hunter Valley wines. We wanted to share our favourite location with our family and friends and have them enjoy a somewhat different venue for a Macedonian wedding.”
“We had table overlay cloths made by Raymond Ware (The Styling Company) it incorporated our colour palette of red, white & silver beautifully, and also made my Drago’s (NRL Football team) mad husband very happy. There were 3 different types of table decorations, one design consisted of one tall silver candelabra with floating roses, and 3 small clear vases filled with green lisianthus and red roses. The second design had 3 different sized vases all filled with white orchids, Lisianthus, dusty miller and white carnations, set onto a beautiful antique framed mirror. Lastly, we had glass footed bowls filled with Red dahlias, green hanging amaranths sprayed black, and black berries. The table decor gave the room a real luxurious look and incorporated the colour theme beautifully. The florist was hard pressed to have the best flowers possible after the valentine’s rush; we had to compromise a little due to the availability of some species because the month of February is an incredibly wet season.”
Faye Cahill Cake Design created a four tier wedding cake. Daniella telling “The cake made by Faye Cahill mirrored my wedding dress. A piece of the lace was used as inspiration. The 2 stands used for the cake created height which gave it that extra special presence.”
“Each guest had a personalised menu; there were no name tags on the tables. It was all printed on the one page, so they were able to take it away as a memory of the night”
Rounding out the treats for guests was a cigar bar! Daniella explains, “We created personalised matchboxes for the cigar bar. Cardboard was cut to size to cover each side of the box, leaving the ignition panel free. It was prettied up with ribbon and a sticker that said ‘Daniella and Vlado – A Perfect Match’. We also had a fingerprint tree (purchased on Etsy), we bought a box of baby wipes and decorated the plastic box with jewels and ribbon and wrapped the signing pen in ribbon to match the other items. For the children, I designed a colouring-in book with images I purchased from I-stock, and turned the book into a fairytale featuring the entire bridal party. I also bought small packets of colouring in pencils and stickers and placed them into colourful bags. Each bag had a different decoration on the front to differ the boys from the girls.”
For their first dance, Daniella remembers, “Our first dance was to ‘If I ain’t got you’ (Alicia Keys) performed by RPM the Band. A beautiful song, for a beautiful moment. We loved the words of the chorus ‘Everything means nothing, if I ain’t got you’.”
Congratulations on your marriage Daniella and Vlado! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you Bradley Patrick for SugarLove Pictures for sharing today’s images!
