Bridget & Stu

Set in Melbourne, this inner city relaxed cafe wedding is all kinds of perfect! A Lover the Label wedding dress, a venue which we would like to visit immediately (please and thank you) and the cutest puppy all dressed for the big day make this wedding absolutely unmissable! Fern and Stone Photography were on hand to capture the day.

Bridget and Stu met at the very same college the groom’s parents met at also (now celebrating 36 years of marriage!). Bridget shares of the proposal, ”Stu got the call that the ring was ready, so went to pick it up in the city. My dad works in the city also, so Stu decided to drop past his office where he asked him for permission to marry me! He then decided that that was the night to propose – what a big day for Stu! It was a standard Wednesday night in at home, in our trackies watching a movie. Stu was letting our dog Maggie outside when he yelled out for me to quickly get Maggie because he could see her outside digging a hole! I ran outside to find Maggie with dirt all over her face, sitting next to a huge hole in the garden, in which sat a ring box. Stu had followed me out, and proposed in our backyard with our fur-child Maggie right there!”

The bride’s Lover the Label dress is swoon worthy, and was found outside of a bridal store. Bridget tells, ”I always knew I wanted a lace dress, but nothing too traditional. I started looking online. I wasn’t sure what it would be like trying on someone else’s wedding dress in their home – but the girl I bought it off was so lovely, and made it such a memorable experience! It fit like a glove, no alterations needed, and I knew it was the one straight away. She had a bottle of champagne cold and ready in the fridge – so we popped it, and sat around and spoke weddings for a while, before we drove back to Melbourne with my wedding dress! I just LOVE the lace detail. I also love how it isn’t full length at the front which made it slightly more casual/relaxed and really fitted in with our wedding style. I’m definitely going to sell my wedding dress, so that another lucky bride-to-be gets to feel as special as I did in it!” The groom wore a navy suit from Myer, with a blue and white floral shirt and dark navy blue bow tie.

Capturing such heartfelt moments, the couple chose to have their photographs taken before the ceremony. Bridget shares, ”We initially chose to do this so that we had more time to celebrate with family and friends after the ceremony, and didn’t have to leave everyone at the venue to do so. But it ended up being the absolute best part of the day. To be able to have that special moment with just Stu and I (and our amazing photographer Jess!) was hands down the best. We met in the coolest back alleyway in Fitzroy North (that Jess and I had scoped out prior!) and I was so excited walking down there towards Stu. It also took the pressure off when walking down the aisle. It didn’t make it any less special walking towards Stu, but it was nice knowing that we’d already done the ‘first look’ moment without all eyes on us! We can honestly not thank Jess and Fern and Stone Photography enough – she is AMAZING.”

The newlyweds were so thrilled with their photographs from locations around Melbourne, they share, ”Jess from Fern and Stone Photography is absolutely, hands down the best photographer you can have! I came across her work on Instagram, and loved how natural and un-posed her shots were. I may have done some instagram stalking and came across a family photo of her, her husband and her dog – who looks identical to our own dog Maggie! It sounds ridiculous, but as soon as I saw that photo, I knew we had to have her as our photographer. She was so easy going, and made us feel so relaxed, and as we looked back on photos – so many of the moments she captured, we can’t even remember her or her camera being there! Sneaky! She got so many amazing ‘candid’ shots, and they’ve ended up being all of our favourite snaps.”

Planning an inner city cafe wedding came about easily, with Little Henri providing everything the couple needed. They share, ”We knew we wanted a venue where we could have both the ceremony and reception, without guests having to move between. Little Henri fit the bill perfectly, the outdoor courtyard is big, filled with trees with fairy lights and green walls. There is a huge beautiful oval door (which I walked through down the aisle) into a gorgeous space inside. Think old timber floorboards, leather seats, high ceilings. What I loved about this venue was that we didn’t need many decorations because it’s natural beauty is there – it was an old bank many years ago. We got married in the courtyard out the back in front of the green wall, and ate and drank (stand up canapes) the night away in and outside (it was a mild balmy March evening!). Samira was so easy to deal with in the lead up – she was always just an email away and allowed the organising process to be a breeze. We got so many compliments on the food – and there was plenty of it! Highly recommend to any couples out there wanting to get married in inner city Melbourne.”

Although the couple chose to forego having a bridal party, they made sure they still enjoyed the day with their nearest and dearest. The bride recalls, ”It was only 7 months from engagement to wedding – so it definitely made the planning process much easier. We felt not having a bridal party really suited the vibe of our wedding, but I still had my “unofficial” bridesmaids. Three of my closest friends stayed with me the night before the wedding and got ready with me on the day, keeping me calm and making memories I’ll never forget. We had our closest friends, Tom and Bec, be our witnesses, which meant a lot. We had a special furry friend in our bridal party, our dog, Maggie. We’ve had Maggie for two and a half years since she was a tiny puppy, and she is a huge part of our lives. All of our friends and family know how important Maggie is to us, so there was no doubt that she was going to be involved in the wedding some way or another! Bec at Gillian Pollard made a gorgeous little floral piece with matching flowers from my bouquet attached to her collar, which was super cute.”

Acoustic duo Tillee Music sung ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ as the bride was walked down the aisle by her father. Bridget shares, ”The only time I cried all day was actually mid-aisle walk! Seeing all my favourite people watching and smiling at me as I walked towards Stu, hearing that song – it was absolutely overwhelming. I actually had to stop and pause for a second and compose myself! Nat Sproal was our celebrant, who we found off Instagram. Nat lives locally to us, and was super easy to chat to. She totally understood the type of wedding we were imagining, and captured it perfectly. It was lighthearted with lots and lots of laughs, but so personal and full of emotion. Nat told our ‘story’ which she had learnt over a few drinks at previous meetings and it gave the night such a great start. Stu and I wrote our own vows, and we heard them for the first time at the ceremony! That was definitely my favourite part, it’s not everyday that you get to tell your life partner in saw raw words how much they mean to you. We didn’t have any readings, as we didn’t want the ceremony to go for too long and Nat added in so many beautiful phrases that we felt we didn’t need to.”

As any bride who has planned an outdoor wedding knows, the weather becomes a hot topic in the lead up to the big day! Bridget tells, ”The forecast initially started at mid 20’s and sunny (perfect!!). But as the days got closer, the temperature kept increasing and increasing, and eventually reached 35 and sunny! I really hate sounding like I’m complaining, but I don’t usually cope very well in such hot weather, let alone in my wedding dress! I ended up coping fine, it was our poor little dog Maggie who didn’t! We were in Fitzroy walking the streets, and Edinburgh Gardens at 4pm in the afternoon and despite being very organised and having water for her, she became overheated and got heat stroke. Lucky we had both of our families there with us, so we quickly got her in the air conditioned car and back to air conditioned house. My family and I managed to cool her down with enough time to get to the ceremony on time, but it definitely added some stress that wasn’t planned! Lots of guests later commented that Stu was looking pretty nervous at the ceremony as he waited for me to arrive – truth was that he wasn’t nervous about the ceremony at all, he was worried about Maggie! We can all have a laugh about it now, she made a quick recovery, but we like to joke saying how typical it is of Maggie – wanting to make the wedding “all about her”!”

Bec from Gillian Pollard created a beautiful atmosphere at Little Henri, with an arbour for the ceremony and a hanging installation of natives inside. Bridget tells, ”I didn’t have too many specific requests for flowers, because I think all flowers are beautiful! I gave Bec some inspiration from social media, and wanted a mixture of native greens, whites and purple tones. I knew I wanted quite a large sized bouquet as I didn’t have bridesmaids, so felt we could make quite a statement with mine. I also wanted it not very structured, and Bec did an amazing job with it having some trailing greenery. I remember her bringing it to the house a few hours before the wedding, and just gasping at how beautiful it was! She made a matching dog collar of flowers for maggie, and a flower crown, which I put on later in the night for a bit of fun.” The couple did a little DIY in the form of Tic Tac boxes, with personalised stickers on them saying ‘mint to be’. The bride tells, ”Super corny, but so easy for people to take home at the end of the night! I’ve had many friends who are planning their own weddings say to me since that they want to do the same! The tic tacs were a hit!”

Thank you to our lovely bride and groom for sharing your gorgeous wedding, and congratulations! Thank you also to Fern and Stone Photography for your stunning snaps!