Claire & Jeremy

City streets always have our vote when it comes to a gorgeous wedding. And for Melbournites, there seems to be almost no better place to tie the knot, than right in the heart of it all, at Carlton Gardens. Claire and Jeremy made the most of the lush city gardens; celebrating with their family and friends (and chilled Prosecco from their very own Prosecco van!) before leading them on a magical tram tour to a food and wine reception at the urban winery, distillery and brewery of Craft and Co. They enlisted the talented Tess Follett to capture every moment and – with Vagary Creative pulling it all together – this one is a match made in heaven!

The pair, who met when they happened to cross paths while working at a bank in Queensland, became engaged in the snow in beautiful Switzerland. They tell their story. “We were engaged on a skiing holiday in Switzerland on 12th of December 2014, Jeremy took Claire up to the top of the Matterhorn and proposed on the mountain.
Claire complained the whole way up as she hates the cold and heights – she rode the whole way in the cable car with her eyes shut. When we got to the top of the mountain, we went out to a lookout and Jeremy made us stand out there in the negative 15 degrees for over 20 minutes as he had planned to propose at that spot but people kept turning up. Claire was complaining so much we had to go back inside the lookout. We then found a quiet place and Jeremy proposed there, it was beautiful.”

Claire found her dream lace wedding gown at Made With Love. She tells, “When I found my dress we’d already decided on the ceremony and reception venues so I knew it would fit perfectly with both. It was important that the dress was comfortable and that I could really dance in it. I tried on probably 15 dresses before I found the one. I was with my Maid of Honor, Lou, when I came out of the dressing room she said to me ‘that’s it’ and I knew it was the one.”

Claire and Jeremy enlisted Vagary Creative to not only style the wedding but also create the floral details for the day. Claire noting, “We always knew the type of day we wanted; we really wanted to have a relaxed day, that celebrated who we are and was a huge party with our loved ones. We engaged our wedding stylist early: Melissa at Vagary Creative. We told Mel how we wanted the day to feel and worked together to plan our best day. We also used social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram for wedding inspiration.”

Celebrations started early – guests were welcomed with cakes and treats by Ivory & Co and The Prosecco Van served up chilled bubbles.

Claire walked down the aisle on the day with her two brothers, to a surprise tune performed live by Joey Cirillo. She explains, “Jeremy is a metal fan and one of his most favourite bands is Metallica, while I do love some 90’s alternative and also love RnB. I wanted to surprise Jeremy and so convinced him early in the planning that we needed a soloist for our ceremony. I surprised Jeremy on the day by walking down the aisle to Metallica’s ‘Nothing Else Matters’. I didn’t tell anyone except one of my bridesmaids. Our soloist Joey Cirillo was amazing and performed the song so well, Jeremy was blown away. We saw the night out with our amazing DJ and an RnB dance party.”

Claire and Jeremy married at Carlton Gardens, choosing Marry Me Megan to officiate proceedings.

While the newlyweds and the bridal party headed off for photos, their guests were guided to the reception via a guided tour. Claire explaining, “Having the reception at The Craft and Co and the ceremony at the Carlton Gardens we decided to have our guests guided by our ushers to the reception from the gardens via tram. For the RSVP we simply asked if people required transport, giving nothing away. It was a surprise for the guests on the day, we even mocked up some ‘golden tickets’ on the day to ensure everyone was accounted for. Our amazing ushers wore funny hats and I hear there was some team chanting on the ride, it was such a great idea and everyone loved the short, uniquely Melbourne ride!”

Guests gathered for a night of festivities at Craft and Co.”We wanted something classic and urban. So when we found our wedding venue the Craft and Co we knew it was perfect,” shares Claire. “We loved the space which is very industrial and their philosophy around food and wine. It really drove the rest of the wedding planning for us.”

 

The moment the reception started, and the party began was Claire’s absolute favourite. “My favourite moment was when we arrived at our reception venue and sat down at the bridal table, I took a moment, a big breath and looked around the room. Everyone of our friends and family were eating, talking, laughing and smiling. At that moment I felt so happy and proud to be able to share this special moment with them all.”

Friends and family lent many hands to make the day run smoothly, tells the bride. “We were so blessed to have a number of our friends and family add little parts of our wedding, from our sister in law choosing the ceremony reading, our aunt making the flower girls and our dogs’ flower bands/headpieces, our cousin hand painting Claire’s leather jacket and our dear friend creating our welcome sign and seating charts.”

A big congratulations to you both Claire and Jeremy! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us. Thank you also to Tess Follett for sharing today’s beautiful images.