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Katie & Andrew

I love vintage and old as much as the next person. But there is something awesome about a modern wedding and today’s modern warehouse wedding (with plenty of sparkle) is just the ticket to inspire the industrial, modern loving couples out there who perhaps lead different lifestyles that are more about clean, urban lines and bold colours and the sweet city vibe. Todd Hunter McGaw was there to snap the moments of the day.

Katie tells their story. “We actually met on RSVP. Meeting a partner in a Bar or Club didn’t appeal to me so I thought I would give it a go. Andrew had just moved to Brisbane from Canberra and seemed too good to be true on paper. For our first date we had dinner and drinks that lasted for over 4 hours and although it seems cheesy afterwards I knew he was the one!

Andrew, on our one year anniversary took me to Australia Zoo. He had secretly planned a private tiger walk in the morning that included a photographer from the Zoo. While we were kneeling next to the tiger for some photos, Andrew reminded me to not scream, as he got down on one knee and asked me to say some beautiful things. We were extremely lucky to have the photos to capture the moment.”

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The bride chose a gown by Karen Wills Holmes, her bridesmaids in sage green gowns from White Runway.

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Katie and Andrew chose Lightspace, Fortitude Valley for their wedding. Katie explaining, “I work in property so a warehouse wedding was a fun fit. We loved that we could make the space ours and unique. Andrew loved that he’d never been to a wedding in a venue like it and we were able to have both the ceremony and reception in the same space. This suited the guests that were coming from Canberra to not have to travel between venues.”

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Katie tells, “I walked down the aisle to “Forever” by Ben Harper. The song is a declaration and promise that when things get tough Andrew and I will stand by each other until the end and that love is one of the few things that can last forever.”

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Joshua Withers performed the ceremony, Katie remarking, “We wrote our own vows and they truly were the highlight of the day for both of us.”

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Brisbane Mini Bus carted the bridal party and photographers around, the bride remembering, “I loved our mini bus – being able to spend the time traveling with our bridal party and our photographers to locations along with an esky, really got us in the mood for the reception and the festivities ahead.”

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The bride had her heart set on out of season peonies, so settled for silk blooms from Peony Perfection noting, “I wanted peonies but they weren’t in season so I had silk flowers made by Peony Perfection, they were just what I wanted, no one could tell they weren’t real and I can keep them forever. ”

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Of their photographer, Katie remarks ” We chose Todd Hunter McGaw, he seemed very different, way more funky and artistic than the type of photographer we would normally pick (Andrew is one of the least creative people ever), but we wanted something different. After seeing a few photographers it became clear that we knew what we would get with each of them – a stock standard set package, well produced, but run of the mill wedding photos. However, with Todd we saw his past work and just had a feeling that he would be awesome and would come up with ideas we’d never dream of!

I never thought I would be laying down on my wedding day in my dress as he took a photo from above, that we would be taking silly photos of the bridal party in the middle of rainwater tanks or would reproduce an amazing photo I’d seen walking along the river (he even captured a flying v of ducks in the background – but Todd was easily one of the best decisions we made for the wedding…and on top of that his wife Alyda and him are just plain rad people who we’ve stayed in touch with since the wedding!”

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Reception celebrations kicked on at Lightspace, Fortitude Valley which had been transformed into a black, white and metallic industrial space.

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Katie describes the day as, “Romantic warehouse chic with a touch of glitter”. Creative Cakes by Lisa created a white and gold wedding cake.

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AV Ideas lit the venue, the bride telling, “Chris and Greg from AVIDEAS Wedding Lighting and Styling Brisbane were so amazing to work with. They travel all over the world to do lighting and styling and have a warehouse full of amazing pieces. Their ideas were so key in planning the wedding of our dreams and most of all they were just lovely people to deal with. We would highly recommend them to anyone who is looking for those special touches to be added to their wedding.”

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Of their first dance, Katie remembers, “I used to compete in Ballroom Dancing so initially we planned a dance routine with lifts, twirls and spins as Andrew wanted to give it a go. He was feeling the pressure and had been practicing hard, but had actually picked it up really well. When I made the decision to add buttons to the wedding dress I didn’t quite realise how hard and complicated it would be to get into it. The thought of my poor MOH having to quickly get me out of it and into something I could move in was worrying me and I just couldn’t do it to her. Andrew was pretty upset, and it was a shame we couldn’t go through with it but instead we did a basic waltz to The Goo Goo Dolls “Iris”. Although it wasn’t what we had been planning, the moment still brought tears to our eyes and was a feeling I will never forget.”

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Katie remembers, “After the speeches had concluded we were ushered into the second space at Lightspace where Andrew and I were seated in front of a huge projector with everyone standing around. The film started with a picture of Andrew and I, getting engaged behind the tiger in our proposal story and slowly focused in on the Tiger’s eyes, with a voice over saying the secret to a healthy marriage is here.

The song Eye of the Tiger then started belting out with our wedding guests dressed up, lip-syncing and dancing to different parts of the song. Our amazing MC Bek had emailed everyone at the wedding prior, asking them to sing to Eye of the Tiger, dance and do whatever while videoing themselves and then send them all to her. She had pieced it all together and produced a hilarious film clip which had Andrew and I and the rest of our guest crying with laughter.”

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“We were lucky enough to have Kim and Chris Sheehy play for us at the wedding. They are friends of ours so we were so happy to have them a part of the day. They were both on The Voice and are so amazing at entertaining. The guests both young and old were on the dance floor loving their songs and didn’t want them to stop playing at the end of the night.”

Congratulations Katie and Andrew! Thank you for sharing your stories with us! Thank you also to Todd Hunter McGaw  and Karen Wills Holmes for sharing today’s wedding with us!