Such a lovely wedding to share with you today. Our gorgeous bride is wearing a beautiful mantilla veil and an original 1950s wedding gown and has lots of lovely rustic detailing.
I’ve loved reading all about Jodie & Alon’s big day and pouring over the gorgeous images captured by Ben Clark – if you love lots of vintage detailing, burlap, hessian and lace – this home-made wedding is for you!
Words by Jodie. Images by Ben Clark Photography.
I wore my mother’s wedding gown from the 1950s. She had borrowed a petticoat for her wedding and so a private local dressmaker made another petticoat for me.
Other than changing the belt and a couple of tiny lace repairs, no alterations were needed. My mother’s sister in law’s mother made the dress for her and so it was lovely to have my aunt there at the wedding as well.
When I had it dry cleaned soon after we got engaged, the staff commented on how well the dress had been kept. I didn’t tell them that my mother had it rolled up in a plastic bag and stored it in a cupboard!
I went to a few bridal stores and tried on some gowns – all of them were beautiful but I just couldn’t get past the idea of wearing my mother’s dress. The fact that it was in such good condition and fit me perfectly just sealed the deal.
I love the dress and intend to look after it so that perhaps my future daughters will want to wear it (if that style is still in fashion!).
I had decided quite early on that I wanted to try and do my own bouquet… but really wasn’t sure if I would be up for the challenge!
One of my bridesmaids found a one-day floristry course in Melbourne, run by a professional florist and so we decided that this was a perfect chance for me and our two bridesmaids to take a crash course. Georgie ran the most amazing workshop (we just can’t recommend her enough) and so from there, there was plenty of Pinterest research in determining what our bouquets would be.
I sourced all the flowers (for the bouquets and the flowers decorating both the ceremony and reception venues) from the Rocklea Flower Markets in Queensland – the vendors here have the most amazing array of flowers to choose from.
I knew I wanted tulips in my bouquet but other than that – no clue! I just ended up purchasing flowers I liked, including some beautiful dusty pink roses for the bridesmaids’ bouquets. We included quite a mix of flower varieties, with a white / pink / purple colour palette for the bridesmaids’ bouquets and my own tending more towards a brighter pink, orange and yellow.
I loved doing our own bouquets – but the poor bridesmaids had the tedious job of wiring and taping all the flowers the night before, in the middle of a torrential storm. Their fingers were quite battered and bruised the next day!
My veil was by Madame Tulle (found on Etsy). I had decided I had wanted a mantilla veil and saw the Madame Tulle veils online. I ordered it and just crossed my fingers that it would match the dress – and it was perfect! It was just beautifully made.
Alon, my bridesmaids, our best man and Alon’s parents were all able to stay onsite the night before in the various rooms and cabins – it was great not having to rush around on that morning.
Alon and his groomsmen had a “steak & scotch” lunch on the BBQ at one of the cabins the day of the wedding – I think this may have been one of the highlights of the day for them.
My dad walked me down the aisle. He whispered to me as we started off “Too late to back out now”, which gave me the giggles.
We walked down the aisle to Moon River, played by our quartet. They found an arrangement for us after I requested it and it was chosen for no other reason other than it is a beautiful song!
I heard the first two bars of the song and then I saw Jodie and didn’t focus on much of anything else – Alon
We met in 2009 at work – we were working on the opera La Traviata in Brisbane. I was the stage manager and Alon was a mechanist / rigger.
I had heard through a friend that he liked me, and after a few days of small talk and following a conversation where I said the worst injury I would ever get in this job was a sore finger from pressing buttons, he turned up at my desk only a few minutes before the show was about to begin with a Band-Aid, and proceeded to place it on my finger so that I could avoid any injury.
It was very cute and I was a little distracted for the rest of the show.
Alon proposed on our fifth anniversary of our first date. I had suspected a proposal was imminent but had no idea how he was going to go about it.
We had decided to stay in &and cook dinner, and so I was on the couch, in my pyjamas, when Alon instructed our four year old Maltese, Jake to “Go to Jodie”.
Alon had been teaching Jake this command for months, but I had no idea it was all leading to this moment. Instead of Jake coming to me and jumping on my lap, he sauntered over and then lay down at my feet. Alon then had to come over and try and get my attention onto Jake, by saying “I think Jake has lost his council tag”.
I immediately swore at the inconvenience of it all, and when I went to check Jake’s collar, there was the engagement ring attached. I’m not sure how many brides swear like a trooper during the proposal (‘swear like a trooper’ is putting it mildly – Alon).
Ben was the only photographer we met with and the first vendor we picked. I had seen his photos online previously and was thrilled when he was available for our wedding.
Alon and I had made a deal early on that we wouldn’t have any vendors who weren’t lovely people (we figured the day would just go by too quickly to be dealing with people we didn’t like), and Ben fit the bill perfectly.
He was like another member of our bridal party and he kept our families in line during the photo session after the ceremony (and his photos aren’t half bad, either).
We just couldn’t recommend him any more highly.
I love all things vintage, so this was such a lovely element to incorporate into the day. I wanted the day to feel personal and friendly and even though it was a huge effort from all our family and friends in the lead up (and a big clean-up the next day!).
It really felt like a wedding which belonged to us (rather than an event which could have been designed for any other couple).
Plenty of old bottles, jars and wine bottles collected in the months leading up to the wedding were used as tea light holders and vases. Some were decorated with lace and ribbon and we left others plain. Alon’s mother made the table skirt for the bridal table and sourced the hessian and burlap table runners for the guest tables.
We sourced vintage crockery and cutlery for the reception – I wanted the dinner to feel more like a big friendly family-like dinner, rather than an anonymous restaurant-type meal.
Alon said this crockery sourcing just fueled my addiction for second hand stores! This also fit with our theme of not really having a theme at all – it was just a combination of items we liked, all thrown together (with great thought and planning!).
We hired vintage champagne flutes for our afternoon tea following the ceremony from Elegant Vintage Hire based in Toowoomba, Queensland. Helen was a pleasure to deal with and has the most amazing collection of all things vintage.
My brilliant sister-in-law made the fruit cake which we cut. I exclaimed when I first saw it during the reception (she wouldn’t let me see it any earlier) – it was just the most amazing thing I had ever seen (and it was delicious).
We had been sharing Pinterest photos of cakes for months leading up to the wedding, but this cake was by far and away the best I had seen. My brother (unknown to us) made the cake stand and the toppers for us – brilliant!
Alon’s mother made the chocolate cake and the coconut and chocolate cake which we served as dessert (neither lasted very long).
Our first dance was to Moondance by Van Morrison. We took a few lessons from Dance Corp. in Brisbane, Australia and given we really had never danced together before, I think we did quite well!
It was lovely to take these classes in the lead up to the wedding when the planning was all getting a little hectic – such fun!
If you could impart any words of wisdom to future brides planning their wedding day, what would they be?
Make lots of lists, be definite in your choices (but be prepared to be flexible as well!), and just have fun! It’s so true what they say – the whole day goes by so fast.
Pick vendors who are lovely people, invite all the people who you really want to be there, and no matter what happens, it will be a lovely day.
What was your most memorable moment of the day?
I had a quiet moment during the morning, placing flowers around the ceremony venue. There had been torrential weather the day before, and we had worked out our wet – weather contingency and had prepped our lace-trimmed gumboots which one of my bridesmaids had arranged.
We woke to brilliant sunshine and warm weather on the day of the wedding (which is quite unusual in Warwick during May) – such luck!
Other than that, the whole day was great. I had a realisation when I saw Alon during the ceremony that despite all the stress and mad planning leading up to the wedding, at the end of the day the result was still going to be the same, and that was the most important thing of all.
Massive congrats to Alon & Jodie and thank you so much for sharing your wedding day with us!
Ladies and gents, please do leave them some love.
wedding credits / photographer: ben clark photography / wedding venue: r on the downs / brides dress: original vintage / brides veil: etsy / grooms suit: / roger david / bridesmaid dresses: review / hair: michael green / makeup: lydia johnston, peacocks and lillies / wedding cake: sister in law
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What an amazing wedding dress!