Handmade Sydney Wedding

Raise your hand if you catch yourself glued to your screen each time we have an Australian wedding! We have yet to find an Aussie bride who isn’t stylish and an Aussie groom who doesn’t look dapper in his suit. Elisa and Jason’s wedding shot by Tealily Photography was a total labor of love, handcrafted to the littlest details. Elisa was a Ruffled reader and got some ideas from here, and we’re head over heels with their wedding images!

From the bride, Elisa: We really wanted the day to be a reflection of us, very personalized. A lot of the elements were initially inspired by our surroundings and just developed from there. I knew I wanted it to have a warmth to it and the venue we chose definitely helped achieve that. One prerequisite I had was definitely NO WHITE CHAIR COVERS!!

It was definitely a mix of vintage/rustic/antique anything! We paired all the antique/vintage elements back with lots of natural elements like weathered timber, twine and hessian. Because we had the wedding out of town, we also used a lot of luggage/shipping tags to tie that into the idea of traveling on a journey with us, the bride and groom. There were lots of blues, greys and blacks present in the bridal party outfits but this wasn’t planned or the focus of the wedding (although the grooms striped bow tie did gather some attention!). Lots of DIY definitely!

With help from my family (and Jason’s) and especially my two aunties we created the church programs (we made them in the shape of shipping tags), the table place settings (hand stamped shipping tags tied with twine), the candy bar tags & hand painted jars and the seating chart (Jason’s step dad made a frame from weathered timber and attached it to a chalkboard we had bought. I typed everyone’s names onto shipping tags with my aunty’s old typewriter – we were surprised to find the ink on the ribbon still worked perfectly after 20 years! – and placed them on the board in the shape of the 3 long banquet tables we had our guests seated at. Lots of medicine bottles in various sizes that we had sourced were dressed up with twine and Jason’s step dad also made the amazing wooden flower boxes that our florist used to create the most gorgeous flower art I have seen.

Jason & I had a cute little sweethearts table set up for the two of us at the head of the room. I had two vintage forks hand stamped with ‘I do’ and ‘me too’ at our place setting (from Pretty Paris on Etsy). I also made Bride and Groom hessian bunting flags for the backs of our chairs as well as a ‘hitched’ banner that was placed on the candy bar and a glitter love hearts banner which was placed at the front of our table. I also made the vintage books ‘programs’ display for the church and the ‘yay’ waving wands the flower girls carried down the aisle after we were pronounced husband and wife.

Our wishing well was a vintage suitcase draped with a beautiful doily runner Jason’s Grandmother had made us and also included another one of my hessian banners (‘cards’). Our cake stand was actually sourced from the local timber yard – a beautiful large piece of timber that weighed more than the cake! I also made timber direction signs for both the ceremony & reception but because of the hideous weather on the day (did not stop raining one bit!) I’m not sure these even got put out?! Our wedding favours were also made by us – wine bottles with a personalised sticker tied with twine and shipping tags.

View all images from this wedding in the gallery

Any advice for brides planning their weddings now? Just enjoy it! When else will you ever get to organize the biggest party of your life the way you want it?! And personalize it as much as possible – it’s surprising and so heartwarming when your guests realize the amount of effort you have gone to and enjoy it as much as you do!

Wedding Music:
Processional: “River Flows in You,” Yiruma
Recessional: “Arrival of the Queen of Sheba,” Handel
First Dance: “Without You,” Lea Michele

Watch the video

Wedding Vendors (Syndey, NSW, Australia):

Ceremony Venue: St Francis Xavier (Berrima) / Reception Venue: Centennial Vineyards (Bowral) / Wedding Photographer: Trish of Tealily Photography / Wedding Flowers: Myra of My Violet / Wedding Dress: Johanna Johnson, “Isadora” / Headpiece and Cuff: Harlow / Wedding Shoes: Christian Louboutin / Reception Dress: Nicola Finetti / Bride’s Hair: Rita Ferraro from To Fred / Bride’s Makeup: Eve Dang / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Amsale / Bridesmaids’ Cuffs: Johanna Johnson / Bridesmaids’ Jewelry: Tilkah and Thurley / Bridesmaids’ Shoes: Vera Wang and Verali / Flower Girls’ Dresses: Tea Princess / Groom’s Suit: Oxford / Groom’s Shoes: Aquila / Groom’s Dinner Suit: Politix / DJ: Loretta of Your DJ / Wedding Caterer: Centennial Vineyards / Wedding Cake: Gumnut Patisserie / Wedding Invitations and RSVPs: Telegram Stop / Videographer: Moving Presentations / Transportation: Wedding Cars of Distinction / Bride and Family’s Lodging: Eastern Pines (Burradoo) / Groom and Family’s Lodging: The Book Barn (Berrima)