Sabah & Greg

We do love a little glitz and glam around these parts and for Sabah and Greg, “All that glitters” was definitely the name of the game when it came to planning their wedding. Carefully reflective of their own unique backgrounds, it was the streets of Brunswick that held the key to this day unfolding. The bride ditching traditional cream, for black and gold, the vows removed for something a little more fun and that first dance? The best kind of the story! All captured with beautiful gusto by Alex Stevens.

The couple first laid eyes on each other at work, their fate sealed, with only two years between that day and their wedding. In between though? Greg popped the question. Sabah shares the story “We had planned a weekend away at Apollo Bay, at a B&B that we had stayed at a few times in the past. Greg was really nervous and agitated on the drive there, and I thought he was having a bad day. Once he got there, we has a bit of time spare before dinner and he was adamant that we should go for a walk on the beach. Walking was not really something he ever volunteered to do so I thought it was odd, but shrugged it off as maybe he was trying something relaxing, as we were by the ocean. Once we got to the beach, we took all of seven steps forward before he started rambling and saying nice things about me. I still didn’t know what was going on, and so I just nodded and smiled thinking he was just being overly romantic. Only when he bent down on one knee, held out the ring, and proposed was when it clicked, and I started crying and said yes.”

The couple met before their ceremony for a first look and photographs, Sabah sharing “We found our photographer Alex through a recommendation from a friend. She was absolutely fantastic. We actually hung out together and walked around Brunswick so she could get a real sense of who we are and the type of photo’s we were looking for. She was professional, funny and relaxed and was so good throughout the day.”

Sabah made a point of honouring her background but put her own twist on it with her saree. She shares “It was really important for me to represent my background, which is Bangladeshi ethnically, but New Zealander as my nationality. I chose to wear a saree to represent my ethnic heritage, and I knew I wanted to steer away from white as that was a colour for mourning and loss in Bengali, and I also didn’t want anything traditional. I spent months looking online, and my mum actually even bought me a lacy cream coloured saree, which I initially thought was going to be the one. But the more I tried it on, I realised it wasn’t me. I always wanted gold to go with the theme of the night, and as soon as I tried it on the wedding saree, I knew it was the one.”

Greg didn’t want a generic look for his style, instead, he purchased a blue suit from Sacks Menswear & Formalwear and added his own twist with a colourful bow tie from Italy.

Hand & Heart Styling worked with the couple to create bright and beautiful arrangements, Sabah noting “Emma at Hand and Heart Styling chose our flowers. To represent our backgrounds, we had a mixture of native Australian flowers but in oranges and reds, which are very common in Bengali weddings.”

Sabah and Greg chose Brunswick Mess Hall for both their ceremony and reception, noting “We chose the Brunswick Mess Hall. It seriously is the best venue we could have asked for. We were getting a bit overwhelmed whilst venue hunting, and when we spoke to Jackie and Amy at BMH, it was just so easy. They had a convenient wedding package and an in-house stylist, so a lot of the hassle of the day was taken out. We also lived in Brunswick at the time, so it was nice to be local for our big day. Not just the venue, but also other parts of our wedding (food, dessert, suit) we wanted to keep local to Brunswick.”

Guests were encouraged to fill boxes with their choice of sweet treats from Balhas Pastry as wedding favours. Sabah explained “We had a “pack your own” favours, where we brought baklava and other Lebanese desserts (Greg’s favourite). Brunswick Mess Hall served some of it up with ice cream as desserts, but we also made some boxes with stickers of our wedding details on them for people to pack and take home some desserts.”

Sabah and Greg chose to walk into their ceremony together to Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You”. Sabah chimed in “This wedding wasn’t about me or him, but about us and we wanted to show that.”

Sabah says “The main theme behind the wedding was about equality and it was important for us to mention our favour for same-sex marriage and incorporating a welcome to country.”

Debra Keating officiated proceedings. “Our ceremony was very personal. We didn’t exchange vows in front of everyone as it was private, and I’m not a very PDA type of person. Instead, I wrote our ceremony, and that was my way of showing how I felt for Greg. It was really fun and quirky and romantic I thought” tells Sabah.

“To be honest, all our vendors including the Brunswick Mess Hall, Emma at Hand and Heart Styling, Alex Stevens, Sumi from Sayuri Creations were all amazing! Best team around!”

Tells the bride “We loved bouncing off ideas with each other and our vendors, I feel like it really got our creative juices flowing and excited for the day.”

Sabah shares “The style was Brunswick Glitz, and the theme of the night was ‘All that Glitters. We wanted an atmosphere that was dazzling but also very casual.”

The choreographed first dance was one of Sabah’s favourite parts of the day, she explains I always wanted a fun first dance. We had a funky hip-hop routine to Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison.
I have always loved that song, and we both wanted a lighthearted dance where we could make people laugh. My friend Sanushka at The Secret Garden of Dance, choreographed it for us. It was actually really nice going to dance lessons together throughout the year, as it kept us connected and gave us a fun outlet during some very busy wedding planning periods.”

A big congratulations to you both Sabah & Greg! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us. Thank you also to Alex Stevens for sharing today’s beautiful wedding!