K A T E & N I G E L

{Photography by Martine Payne}

F R O M T H E B R I D E ...

The Meeting...

We met at Cargo bar on the 4 ^th November on a Friday night, 2011 for our first date.

Love...

Kate: When he moved away from his beloved Bondi to live a street away from me.

Nigel: After our first road trip to Bluey's Beach and Seal Rocks in January 2012, that made me feel really happy about what was happening and where everything was going.

The Proposal...

My (Kate's) boss Matt, had jokingly started a rumour at work that Nigel and I were getting engaged which Nigel and I hadn't even talked about. I then came home to laugh about this with Nigel. This is what prompted the realisation that we both wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.I booked a secret night away for our one-year anniversary at the Sheraton on the Park and the next morning we were looking closely at engagement rings. Nigel spend his first proper Christmas with my family in 2012 which made him realise that he wanted to get engaged sooner rather than later and asked my father Paul for his permission to marry his daughter. At the start of February Nigel kept on trying to arrange to go on a walk so that he could propose, but was getting frustrated with me as I always wanted to invite friends or go camping or go to a festival instead. However on the 27 ^th of February 2013, which was overcast and raining, Nigel finally managed to get me to go on the walk from Bondi to Bronte, which was the walk we did on our second date. He secretly packed the ring, two wine glasses, a bottle of champagne and some Dutch courage. On the headland called Mackenzie's Point between Bondi and Bronte Nigel took the plunge, got on one knee and proposed, but as he did a big gust of wind came and blew my umbrella inside out. After I stopped giggling with tears in my eyes, I said yes and we then celebrated with some champagne in the rain.

Wedding Theme...

We really wanted to have a beachy wedding with a bit of class and a bit of vintage. So think of jade colours, mints, peaches, whites, ivories, corals, printed brown hessian material with moustaches and top hats, white alphabet letters instead of numbers for guest tables each standing in a small wooden rectangular base, mini polaroid place cards with names hand-written with black calligraphy pegged onto wine glasses, jam jars of all shapes and sizes tied with light brown hessian string and turquoise wool with a variety of tags attached, mint and brown hessian bunting flags and tealights scattered on each table. I made my own decorations with help from my awesome workmates Ellen McDonald with her beautiful calligraphy handwriting for our place cards and Dave Kirley's amazing wooden bases for our table letters.

Ceremony + Reception Venue...

The Newport Mirage, Sydney.

The Dress...

My wedding gown was from Halo Bridal in Crows Nest. It was ivory with a textured bodice, a full skirt and a strapless sweetheart neckline. It felt glamorous and classy to wear and the train of it made me feel like royalty.

The Flowers...

The flowers consisted of coral, peach, white and mint flowers and textures using dahlias, Austin roses, succulents, peonies, hydrangeas and berries.

On the Menu...

Canapés:

-Peppered beef, sea salt crostini, olive tapenade.

-Mediterranean vegetable tart, baked feta.

Entree:

-chicken and semi dried tomato ravioli, sautéed mushrooms, basil cream, Parmesan wafer.

-smoked salmon, potato and choice salad, citrus dressing, roe.

Main:

-char-grilled beef sirloin, Paris mash, buttered beans, wild mushroom, roast tomato relish...too long to write!

-almond and spice crusted barramundi, coriander potato, steamed greens, lemon cream.

Dessert:

-apple and strawberry shortbread tart, double cream.

-sticky date pudding, butterscotch sauce, vanilla bean ice cream.

Wedding Favours...

We hired a Photobooth from Paparazzi Studios for 3 hours with props and a siginng book which took unlimited triple strips for each photo taken and you could leave a video message at the same time, it was hilarious and this was our present to our guests.

Memories...

So many! Walking down the aisle was incredible and Nige seeing me walk down was very emotional. Kate said "I Do" before the celebrant finished saying the legal vows as she heard a pause in the celebrants' sentence and just went for it! Everyone laughed and it certainly helped us feel less nervous! Coming back to our honey suite where candles were lit around the whole room, white rose petals everywhere with champagne and strawberries on ice!

Wedding Photography...

Martine Payne is an old primary and high school friend who has developed a unique style with her photography that is really hard to come by, as many other photographers that capture weddings do the same thing over and over again. Whereas Mart creates a really raw and real feeling to her photographs, capturing the personality and unseen moments between couples. You can really feel the moment. I really loved the chaos of our family shots taken on the wharf stretched out in a line, I loved all the photos she took on the wharf, the balcony where we got married and of our friends and family. The ones taken with the row boat was so lovely under the jacaranda tree.

Wedding Soundtrack...

Riptide by Vance Joy, Lay it Down by the Rubens, All night long by Lionel Richie! So many!

Honeymoon...

We went to Bali for 2 weeks; 7 days in Legian, 4 days in Nusa Lembongan and 3 days in Ubud.

Now + The Future...

We are living in Rozelle but plan to move to the Northern Beaches soon. We would love a sea-change, we want to start saving for our own place, go on a massive road trip and go on adventures around the world together. Maybe the pitter-patter of tiny feet...

Photography Martine Payne Ceremony + Reception Venue The Newport Mirage Bride's Dress Halo Bridal Flowers Wild Lotus Floral Design Cake Naomi Reich Photo Booth Paperazzi Studios

MW x