Priscilla and Steven

Today’s wedding of Priscilla and Steven is absolutely gorgeous. The couple worked around an early 10.30am ceremony by having two receptions so guests could celebrate all day long. I love the city backdrops in amongst their celebration.

Priscilla tells their story. “We met eight years ago when my family moved into the area. We’d like to say something more exciting than that- but that’s exactly how it happened.”

Pictures & Hearts took beautiful, elegant photographs of Priscilla and Steven’s wedding day which completely fit the style of the wedding.

Priscilla had her makeup styled by Elizabeth Mizyed  (0416 274 141) and hair by Penny Martin (0411 122 519). Priscilla recalls “I am so thankful to Elizabeth for how she made me look and feel on my wedding day.  I had used her for my engagement so I was confident she would do a great job- so much so I didn’t give her a picture to work off. She tailored a look for me based on my dress, my colouring and what I wanted to look like as a bride.  My mum and I were so happy with that first look in the mirror! Penny Martin  did an amazing job with our hair! She has so much knowledge and experience we felt so comfortable in her care.  She styled myself, my mum, my grandma and 2 aunties -arriving before 5 am the morning of to get an early start! We were so happy with her that since the wedding she has become our regular hairdresser.”

Priscilla’s gown was made by a friend using fabric from Saigon Fabrics. Priscilla remarks “I thought I knew what I wanted to wear on my wedding day until I became a bride! I really felt a lot of pressure with the dress, more so than with any other part of the day. I must have tried on at least 40 dresses! I’d like to think of it as a productive task though because it helped a friend and I create something that was perfect for me. The off the shoulder design was inspired by a dress that was on the cover of a travel magazine I picked up with the newspaper one morning at work. I looked at it and I just knew that was the ‘one’ I had been looking for even though the picture was incomplete. The rest as they say is history!”

Priscilla says “My wedding bouquet was made with love by my mum. She also made all the flower arrangements at the ceremony. We went to the flower markets the Thursday before the wedding and picked the flowers then and there. My mum also made brooch clusters from little diamante crystals she found and weaved them in between the roses in my bouquet.”

Priscilla and Steven married at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Rockdale.

Priscilla remarks, “My brother was my “bride’s man” and also walked me down the aisle.  He is a great friend of both Steven and I and it seemed only natural to have him by my side on that day. I’ll never forget the moment just before the music started he looked at me and said ‘This is it’.”

Priscilla recalls, “I have this great memory of jumping into the car with Steven after our ceremony and driving away together. We had been nervous and excited all morning and all of a sudden here we were man and wife driving away in our cool open air hire car. There were lots of smiles on that drive.”

The couple had two flower girls. Priscilla says, “The flower girls dresses were designed and created by mum (she’s a clever cookie!)  It was like we hit gold when we found some scrap fabric in the garage one day.  There was just enough to make two small girls dresses.  It was a labour of love working without a proper pattern but they came out great.”

The wedding cake was a focal point for the first reception Priscilla notes. “We had two delicious wedding cakes made by my Aunty Helen from Cakes On The Rise.  She is a cake genius! There was so much time and love put into making us the perfect wedding cake.  My wedding dress was the inspiration behind the dinner cake at the QVB. The ‘lace’ tier was an exact replica of the lace on my dress.  When she first showed me the cake I was speechless.  Those cakes were a perfect complement to our day!”

The first reception was held at The Tea Room Gunners Barracks. Priscilla explains “We are huge fans of the Tea Room group after using two of their venues for our wedding. We had a cocktail lunch at The Tea Room Gunners Barracks after our ceremony – we were sold the minute we saw the view- I think I actually did a happy dance when I first stepped out onto the veranda, it is just stunning.”

Priscilla loved “All the little things- the paper pom poms, the frames with words in them, the photobooth props, the table decorations, the place cards, the map enclosures on the invitation, all these little things made our wedding special to us because they were all details we had spent months arranging. To finally see all the pieces of the jigsaw fit together to make a beautiful picture made us feel proud.

The Candy Bar banner at Gunners Barracks said “Love is Sweet” and the take away candy bags said “Thanks for being so sweet”. There were 3 small frames on the candy bar table with a little rhyme we made up- it said: (frame one) “Fill your bags with some” (frame two) “SWEETS” (frame 3) “then take home your tasty treats!”

The couple hired a photobooth from Flashback Photobooths to entertain guests.

The couple headed into the city for photographs after lunch.

Of their photographer, Priscilla says “For us the right photographer meant two things- someone we would feel comfortable to be around all day; and who rain, hail or shine would deliver quality photographs. Amelia, from Pictures and Hearts did that for us. Right from the initial meet and greet she was focused on what we wanted from our wedding pictures. She was warm, friendly and open to our ideas, but she also gave us some great tips for the day- one tip was to hold some tissues in my bouquet hand so that if I got emotional during the ceremony I could dry my eyes, that was a huge help because as it turned out I couldn’t stop crying.”

Steven wore a beige suit from VARQA Homme.

Guests and the newlyweds then celebrated with a dinner celebration at The Tea Rooms QVB. Priscilla explains “We had our dinner reception at the Tea Room QVB –it’s such an impressive looking room and it had the character and old world charm we both love, not to mention impeccable food and service! Of course having 2 venues meant a lot of extra work for us, but we really felt like we made the most of our special day, surrounded by and celebrating with the people we love.”

The dinner reception was styled and decorated by Nightingales. Priscilla recalls “The QVB Tea Room table decorations had three different centrepieces. Three tables had blue hydrangeas in 2 vintage silver vases, 3 tables had low rise chandeliers sitting on a mirror and 4 tables had a square frame lying flat with vintage books, candelabras and some other little trinkets in the frame. We wanted the room to have an eclectic and romantic feel with a touch of vintage charm. Nightingales were an amazing vendor! They had a great range of items for us to pick and were really excited to help us create the look we wanted. They were also so accommodating. I remember I wanted some vintage luggage on the bric-a-brac cake table so they went on the hunt and found something that was perfect.”

“Our cake table at the QVB had some personal items on it. We wanted the table to have a bric-a-brac feel without being overly crowded. I have an old pink typewriter from the 1950’s that I wanted to use. It has no real sentimental value other than I think it looks cute! There was also a print that we bought off etsy that says “You are my cup of tea.” Steve and I are both tea drinkers and we thought it was a cute reference to us. It also tied in well with our ‘tea room’ venue.”

The first dance was dreamy, with music provided by Funkified Entertainment . Priscilla remembers “We didn’t have a song so we sat down one day and googled- how romantic! We chose Alicia Keys “If I ain’t got you” .The song was performed live by Robin Auld Duo from Funkified Entertainment.  I remember feeling a tug at my heart strings as we walked to the dance floor to the sound of that amazing piano intro. I heard someone whisper “I love this song” and it made me smile. To be honest after that is all just a blur! But Steve remembers that I kept telling him to be careful not to step on my dress!”

Congratulations Priscilla and Steven on your wedding day! Thank you for sharing your stories with us! Thank you to Pictures & Hearts for today’s photographs!