Kat & Andrew

We’re so in the mood for Kat and Andrew’s classic white and orange filled wedding day. These two planned their Melbourne wedding in just eleven weeks! “In late May 2018, we found out we were moving to Germany for Andrew’s job, and they wanted us there asap, so we decided to organise (or as Andrew says- ‘knock out’) a wedding before we went that could double as a going away party.” explains Kat. “But due to commitments, we really only had one possible date we could do it – 25th August -11 weeks away, so we quickly started trying to find a venue in Melbourne that would allow us to throw a relaxed, fun, cocktail style winter wedding, with plenty of personal touches, for 130 people, and under a $30K budget!”

With their venue booked (thank you Greenfields Albert Park!) it was time to get planning, and with plenty of beautiful images by Amanda Alessi as evidence, I think these two well and truly pulled it off!

It was a relaxed night at home that set the scene for Andrew to pop the question. Kat shares the story “Andrew wanted to catch me by surprise, so he organised it one Friday night when I got home from work. He blindfolded me and led me to the couch, and when I took it off, he was down on one knee, with our dog Archie next to him, flowers, roses and candles everywhere with the most beautiful ring from Grew and Co I’d ever seen. He had made new quote posters and put them up in the lounge room (to replace ones I’d made when we first moved in together)- one read “I can’t remember life before you, I can’t imagine life without you” and the other read “Will you marry me?”. It was a very special moment.”

Andrew and his groomsmen dressed in navy tuxedos by Lidis Tailors.

The bride worked with Amaline Vitale on her gorgeous gown, telling “Because I only had about 10 weeks to get a dress, I knew I had to buy one off the rack or second-hand. I looked at a few stores on High St, Armadale, but one dress at Amaline Vitale really caught my eye. It was so lightweight, flattering and comfortable. So I thought about it for one week, and then went back and bought it, without anyone else even seeing it! But it was the best decision, I loved it so much! Then my mother in law altered it for me, and she did a great job, adding a French bustle for dancing!”

It was a team effort to create the bright and beautiful floral details, the bouquets and boutonnieres styled by Foxy Evergreen. Kat noting “Myself, my mum Mum and Grandma made the table centrepieces, roof hanging and decoration on the wedding macrame arbour. Alice from Foxy Evergreen made the bouquets and buttonholes. The colour scheme was green, with pops of orange, and wild and native style.

Dan and Andrew chose Greenfields Albert Park for their wedding, sharing “As we only had 10 weeks to find a perfect venue, we were pretty lucky to find Greenfields was available. It was already in the exact relaxed, natural style we were hoping for which meant we didn’t need to do much extra decorating or hiring of furniture, plus we could have a big five-piece band which was super important, and it had a beautiful indoor ceremony venue, which was also important as the wedding was in the middle of winter. In the end, we got extremely lucky with the weather, and it was a glorious warm winter day, so guests could enjoy canapes and drinks on the deck overlooking the lake before the sun set.”

The star of the show was Kat and Andrew’s sweet dog, Archie, the newlyweds remembering “Andrew’s nephew Alex (2.5 years old) set the mood for a fun ceremony by pushing our dog Archie down the aisle in a ‘Dog of Honour’ cart- a favourite moment from the day for us and for our guests. Alex did so well, Archie not so well as he got excited and kept jumping out to say hi to people, but we didn’t care, it was a really unique and special part of the day!”

Kat walked down the aisle with her father to John Legend’s “All Of Me”.

Kat and Andrew chose John Beck to officiate their ceremony, noting “We wanted a relaxed, and funny ceremony which captured our story. We wrote our own vows, and kept them secret, and were really surprised to hear each other’s were really quite similar and special. John was supportive, friendly, did a great job of retelling our story at the ceremony and he also helped set the mood for a relaxed and fun day.”

“The ceremony was very special. It was full of laughs, and happy and silly moments, like when Andrew repeated the vows incorrectly, or when Archie ran off down the golf course, having friends watching on Skype from overseas, when Archie and Alex walked down the aisle, and walking down the aisle with my Dad and then catching people’s eye on the way down was really special. I got quite emotional reading the vows too.”

Guests celebrate the newlyweds with cheese, canapes and champagne making the most of the winter sky. Kat noting “We somehow got the most beautiful winter’s day you could ask for, which really brightened the mood of the day and made for amazing photos”

Of their photographer, the newlyweds can’t speak highly enough. “Amanda was a recommendation from a friend of a friend, and she 100% nailed the brief.

We first met her for a drink at the venue, and knew straight away she would be perfect, and she made everything easy and we felt comfortable with her. Her style is natural, and no awkward poses, which was what we wanted.”


The wedding was filled with handmade touches, craft loving Kat designing and crafting the signage and stationery, and the macrame ceremony backdrop. She even painted a world globe for the wishing well and my very favourite – giant lifelike pinatas of the newlyweds to break in lieu of tossing the bouquet.

Dessert was truly family orientated – the groom’s mother making the wedding cake, and the bride’s mother and grandmother making endless homemade Monte Carlo biscuits as wedding favours.

The first dance was as fun and upbeat as the rest of the day, sung live by the bride’s friend. Kat sharing “We did a jive to the song Everlasting Love by Natalie Cole, and had a lot of fun learning it with Rob at Charisma Dance . It was another highlight! The fact we didn’t stuff it up was also amazing haha!”

The homemade pinatas were pulled instead of a bouquet toss, the sugar hit getting guests onto the dance floor, which sprung into life with live music by band The White Tree (and a pretzel cart, the couple’s nod to their forthcoming move to Germany). Kat telling “The White Tree band were great and got the d-floor rocking.”

Remembers Kat “The dance floor really kicked off once the espresso martinis came out. There were conga lines, dance-offs, dance circles led by Kat’s Dad, we were hoisted up onto shoulders, the pinatas flew across the dance floor, some very early departures due to over-indulgence and a few people reported very sore heads the next day. It was wild!”

A big congratulations to you Kat and Andrew. Thank you for sharing the stories of your day with us. Thank you also to Amanda Alessi for today’s beautiful imagery.