Liz & Shiran

An all in one venue was always on the cards for Liz and Shiran. Their mission? To create a wedding that was fun, relaxed and one giant party (and in my humble opinion? I think they nailed it!). What could be better than a day filled with all things gold, bright bold confetti, pink dahlias and beautiful photography by Jonathan Ong?

It was through a mutual friend that today’s newlyweds, Liz and Shiran came to be, but the proposal? It was completely spontaneous!. Tells the bride “We went for a drive down the Great Ocean Road one Saturday and stopped off for lunch at the Aireys Inlet pub. I suggested we go for a walk to the lighthouse afterwards. It was in October and the weather was pretty wet that day but there was a break in the rain for a quick walk up there. All of a sudden the rain started again so I made a quick dash back to the car. When I got there I turned to ask Shiran to unlock the car. He seemed quite emotional which I found puzzling. That was when he asked me to marry him. It was meant to be up around the lighthouse with more impressive views but instead happened next to the car in the rain haha!! Equally romantic.”

And the bride wore gold! Liz worked with D’Italia, who enlisted Tania Stokes to create her sequin gold wedding gown. She shares “My dress was in a gold sequin fabric. I knew I wanted a gold dress early on because I love the colour and thought it would look great with my bridesmaids in white. I had the dress based on an Alexander McQueen dress I loved. I had a wonderful experience with my couturier, Tania Stokes. She is very talented and has a great eye for detail. The sequin fabric was not an easy material to work with and it looked incredible!”

Liz and Shiran chose the modern Greenfields Albert Park for both their ceremony and reception, noting “We were very keen to have one venue for everything and were absolutely thrilled with our choice. It is in Melbourne which was a must for us and not far from where we live which made it feel more personal. The place has a lovely character to it and beautiful views of the golf course. The people who work there are also amazing. The event organiser was wonderful, very friendly and eager to make it the best day for us as possible. The staff working on the night did a great job! The food was absolutely delicious and the service was very attentive.” Guests were greeted with cocktails on arrival to kick off the evening.

Liz walked down the aisle to Donna Lewis’ “Always & Forever” on the arm of her father.

Liz shares “We wanted a very relaxed, informal ceremony. Our celebrant is a good friend of ours (she actually introduced us!) We had one reading. Lyrics from the song ‘The way you make me feel’ by Michael Jackson.”

The newlyweds were pronounced married with confetti cannons that exploded into bursts of colour. “We also had confetti cannons for our nephews to pop at the end of the ceremony which added a colourful surprise to the day” tells Liz.

Of their chosen photographer, Liz remarks “Jonathan was amazing. He has a really creative eye and does a wonderful job capturing candid moments. He is very good at being stealth. Most of the time you don’t know he is there!”

Liz shares “Our place cards were pretty special. Everyone’s place card was a personalised CD featuring songs played that day including the song I walked down the aisle to, our first dance and fave songs picked from the day. Each one included an individual message about that guest.”

Pomp and Splendour styled the beautiful floral details for the day, including, in the bride’s words “Dusty silver and sage green foliage tones with ivory, blush and soft pink notes. Australian natives, South African Natives and wildflowers in amongst softer summer blooms. Flowers included King Protea, succulents, Geraldton Wax and small wildflowers, Dahlias, David Austin and garden style roses, Lisianthus, Tetragona, Olive, Eucalyptus varieties and seasons best flowers and botanica. The feel was to be wild and natural but not ‘messy’, textural and interesting while still being pretty.”

The speeches were a highlight of the night. “Our friends and family who spoke did the most amazing job and said some very touching things”, but they were kept to a minimum, explains the bride. “We were very keen to have the wedding as a big party so we had the formalities kept to a minimum and made sure they were over early so we could get plenty of dance floor time in.”

“We danced to ‘Slave to Love’ by Bryan Ferry. We didn’t learn a dance (maybe to our detriment!)” tells Liz.

Tells Liz “We were so thrilled with all our vendors. Our florist – Pomp and Splendour create beautiful arrangements with the most amazing blooms. Our videographer, Matt Cook from C2 Films was wonderful on the day. He helped ease our nerves with his hilarious humour and captured some special moments beautifully. Our DJ – she was incredible! She got the party started and kept it going all night.”

C2 Films captured this beautiful film of the day – watching those confetti canons pop is definitely my favourite part!

A big congratulations to the newlyweds! Thank you for taking the time to share your story with us! Thank you also to Jonathan Ong for sharing today’s beautiful wedding with us!