La Romantique! A French inspired wedding under the stars
16th April 2021
Bianca & Nick had originally planned to marry in September 2020 in the Hunter Valley in Sydney – but due to Covid-19, they were unable to successfully postpone. Luckily for us, they decided to hold their wedding in Perth, at Bianca’s family home on Friday 16 April 2021. With a seated reception dinner under the stars.
“It was so special and so much better than the original plan – it was better than we could have ever imagined!”, shared Bianca.
We LOVE love – and one of our favourite parts of catering weddings is getting to know our lovely couples, as they trust us to cater their event. It makes seeing the day come together and our clients and their families enjoying themselves, even more rewarding. We asked the newly-weds to share some special moments from their big day.
How They Met
We met on Tinder! In the modern world of dating in Sydney this is how you meet – through dating apps! We met for a blind date at a pub in Sydney on a rainy Sunday afternoon 5 years before our wedding. It was a slow burn kind of romance as we both went in skeptical, but quickly let our walls down and fell in love 😊
The Proposal
The proposal was very romantic, but I totally new it was happening! It is hard to keep anything a secret from me. The weeks leading up to the proposal, Nick all of a sudden started being overly affectionate but quite secretive at the same time. He had planted the scene earlier in the week by asking if I wanted to go for drinks in the city after work on Friday. That in itself seemed odd to me as usually we would prefer to open a bottle of wine in our trackies at home, watch a movie and order our favourite Indian takeaway.
A few days later he told me to meet him at The Park Hyatt in Sydney as one of his work colleagues “had a voucher for the cocktail bar that was about to expired so offered it to us”. I immediately booked myself in to get my nails done and a fresh blow dry just in case. It had been torrential raining for days in Sydney and was the most miserable wet weather, but as soon as we arrived the rain stopped, and there was the most magical sunset with a rainbow sky, and before I knew it Nick was down on one knee, with the opera house in the background. The first thing I did was burst out laughing because I noticed a little light in the ring box shining onto the diamond to make it sparkle even more!
Nick was very emotional and I said yes straight away. What then followed was a night of endless champagne, and delicious food. Nick had booked us to stay at the Park Hyatt and when we got to our room he had organized for all of our belongings to already be there, and then we went for a magical dinner at Bennelong at the Opera house. It was very romantic and also very special!
The Ceremony & Reception
Our ceremony venue was: Cottesloe Civic Centre – main stage.
It was really important to Nick & I that we didn’t have a stranger marry us. We were never interested in a celebrant and are not traditional at all, so we decided to ask my brother to “marry us” and perform the ceremony. He isn’t registered, so we had to go to the registry office a couple days before the actual wedding day to get legally married, but that also added an extra component and celebration to our wedding experience. Unfortunately my brother couldn’t travel from New York to Perth to be at our wedding because of COVID, but my Godfather stepped in – and it was simply the best.
The theme of the night was: La romantique! A French chateau style, Provencial, whimsical and romantic evening under the stars, surrounded by organic, European-mod garden style blooms in mixed soft tones of blush, honey, cream, dusty pinks, nude, mauve, yellow & lilac.
Our reception venue was: My beautiful family home in Claremont which made it extra special!
We had McDonalds cheeseburgers delivered on platters to the dance floor as a late night snack. It was amazing!! Our friends are still talking about it weeks later! We ordered & paid for them in advance, and the amazing Hollie from Ultimo Catering picked them up for us on the night. I have heard stories of some of the guys having 3 or 4 cheeseburgers after dancing all night!
Our first dance was to: “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None The Richer
Our Advice For Other Couples
- Be true to yourselves, your own style and what matters most to you both as a couple. It is so easy to get caught up in what everyone else has done or is doing, but everyone has different budgets and certain aspects of the day are more important to some people than others. My biggest advice would be to not worry what other people are doing or what other people can afford. Remember what is actually important to you and your partner, and focus on those things. For us, the most important parts of the day were the people, the food, the wine, the music (which I spent HOURS doing myself) and the setting – so that is what we focused on and invested the most in.
- And also remember to stay true to your unique style and vision instead of comparing to other people’s wedding. That is what will make your wedding extra special and beautiful – if it truly represents your own style and the bride and groom.
- The cost of a wedding is incredibly daunting, but there are always ways to cut back on costs. Just ask your suppliers and have honest conversations. For example, one way we saved on cost and also so our beautiful ceremony flowers didn’t go to waste, we spoke to our florist about re-purposing the ceremony flowers at our Reception. This meant we could save on the cost of the flowers at the Reception, but also got to re-use the most magical flowers that our beautiful florist Kara had put together for our ceremony. She is amazing!
The Menu
Entrée – Alternate Drop
Spinach, sundried tomato & goat cheese tortellini, mushroom, hazelnut cream, parsley oil
Sun blushed tomato & brown butter gnocchi, silver beet, chilli, yellow capsicum & pecorino cheese
Mains – Alternate Drop
Line caught snapper, fingerling potato, sautéed samphire, olives, dill, red pepper coulis, tomato & caper salsa
Harvey beef duo: fillet & cheek, grilled king trumpet mushroom, Paris mash, semi dried tomato, au jus
Shared Sides
Fresh burrata, heirloom tomato salad, fresh basil, white balsamic, EVOO (V, GF)
Charred cauliflower, roasted hazelnut, parsley butter (V, GF)
Dessert
Family to make tiramisu, Ultimo to serve
Supper
McDonalds as late night snack – Ultimo to serve
The Honeymoon
Our to-die-for honey moon destination is Mexico & The Bahamas! We just want to drink margs & eat tacos all day long on the beach. As soon as international travel opens up and is safe – we are going!
The Team
Wedding Planner: Sophia Monique Weddings
Wedding Stylist: Me (the bride)
Florist: Kara – Rose & Bud
Hair/Make up: Brittany Mason (makeup) & Maria Caruso (hair – MC Hair Stylist)
Dress designer: Suzanne Harward
Photographer: Ryan – Varga Murphy
Stationery (invites & on the day): Kim – Smitten With Love
Catering: Ultimo Catering
Ceremony Stream: Perth Video
Furniture & Crockery/Glassware/Linen/Cutlery Hire: Hire Society
Lighting, AV & Flooring: Reeces Hire
Bridal Cars: Belle Classics
Grazing Table: Tiffany Keal
Toilets: Luxury Loos