Vintage Indie Australian Wedding

When we opened our inbox to find this wedding, our jaws positively dropped to the floor. It has everything we just love: an incredible vintage wedding dress, a quirky, unexpected venue, and a couple so beautiful they make us undeniably green with envy. The stellar Julian Beattie of Kariz-Matik wisely chose to do a mini-photoshoot with the couple at the cafe where the two had their first date. Whatever you do, be absolutely sure to check out all pictures in the photo gallery!

From the bride, Chiara: Being old sentimental fools, it was important to Andris and me to have our wedding at a venue we would be able to visit time and time again without any hassle or fuss: having spent many a long, Sunday lunch (as well as numerous Oktoberfests!) with our family and friends at the Concordia Club in Sydney, it was the natural choice for our wedding. Our styling for the wedding was thus bounded by the opportunities afforded by the venue, and so it was decided we would celebrate our marriage on a sunny Saturday afternoon, as this is when the Concordia Club is really at its best: long, lazy afternoons on croquet greens, enjoying steins of German beer and homemade pretzels. Once a (hopefully) sun-filled lunch was decided, the colour scheme and details flowed from there, with a lot of input from our family and friends. The only other point from which design and styling decisions were made was that it was important for us that our guests felt relaxed and welcomed throughout the day.

A lot of the design elements ended up being DIY, however, this was determined more by economic reasons than a love of craft: Sydney is a ridiculously expensive city, which is compounded when anything “wedding” is involved. All of the tablecloths were hand made by my mum, whilst the table numbers, name cards and bomboniere were made during a ‘crafternoon’ with my the help of my close girlfriends.

As we really wanted flowers to almost “overwhelm” the tables, we purchased 2 cars full at Sydney Markets and spent the day before the wedding arranging them with the help of some very talented family members, with the overall effect turning out a million times better than we had expected. As a thank you to all our guests, we invited them to take home their favourite flower arrangements and vases as a gift.

Chiara’s advice for future brides: Don’t be afraid to delegate. Rest assured everyone around you will want to lend a hand: giving up the reins and handing over the control really makes for a stress free lead up to the big day. Think of the day as a group effort!

Don’t be afraid to try a ‘quirky’ venue. To be honest, our family and friends were slightly horrified we had chosen the Concordia Club as they saw it as no more than a glorified bowling club, however, we stuck to our guns: let me tell you, apologies abounded on the big day, with many guests noting they had never been to a more relaxed, fun and “genuine” wedding.

This Majestic Multicultural Wedding at Villa Arvedi in Verona is the Chef’s Kiss

Kariz-Matik wisely chose to do a mini-photoshoot with the couple at the cafe where the two had their first date. Whatever you do, be absolutely sure to check out all pictures in the View all wedding photos here

Wedding Music:
First dance: “Everything I Do” by Bryan Adams

Wedding Vendors (Sydney, Australia):

Ceremony venue: Latvian Lutheran Evangelical Church, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia / Reception venue: Concordia Club / Flowers: wholesale and Floral Design, Roselands, Sydney / Wedding Photographer: Julian Beattie / Wedding Dress: Steven Khalil / Wedding shoes: Manolo Blahnik / Make-up: Emma-Lee Court / Bridesmaids dresses: bespoke and Exclusively Bridesmaids / Groom’s suit: bespoke by Joe Cutrone Sydney / Wedding music: Tyrolean Echoes / Catering: Concordia Club / Wedding cake: 2 Bites / Wedding invitations: Hello Lucky / Transportation: Sydney Splitscreens and Classic Wedding Cars Sydney