Sun Studios Australia Wedding

If you’re anything like us, you fell madly in love with the dotted Valentino wedding dress that made the blog rounds a couple of years ago. Electra, the bride in today’s wedding, was lucky enough to have her mother volunteer to sew her dream dress, and the result is even better than we could have imagined. Captured by Lara Hotz, who will be in the U.S in June/July 2015 for anyone interested in booking her!

From the bride, Electra: We wanted it to feel like a mid-summer night’s BBQ at our place, surrounded by friends and family. We were going for a day that was colourful, vibrant, summer, relaxed.

Flower recipe: Peonies, hydrangeas, pom-pom flowers, daisies, Arab eyes, and roses.

We had lots of DIY projects: My mother made my dress; we went out to the flower markets and did all the flower arrangements including the table decorations, bride/bridesmaid’s bouquets and groom/groomsmen’s boutonnieres; James’ aunty made the wedding cake; we made our own bonbonnieres from my grandmother’s homemade jam and chutney recipes; I designed and printed the invitations; and we made the pom-poms for decorations.

When James asked me to marry him I spent the next two nights stressing about the dress as I am not one to ever wear white or put on an elegant gown (I’m a jeans and T-shirt kind of girl.) My mother who is not a seamstress by trade but has always made beautiful clothes (she made her own dress too) offered to make me a dress which I was very excited about but I had to find her a picture. One night at James’ mother’s house his sister-in-law suggested I look at a blog on colourful wedding dresses. It was seriously the first day I started looking and the first dress I saw was this amazing Valentino gown on a beautiful Italian bride. I loved how it was basically a very long t-shirt dress with a simple tie. I also loved how it looked like polka dots from a distance but it had hundreds of embroidered flowers sewn into the fabric. It took my Mum about 6 months to complete and it involved a lot of trial and error and hand sewing. I still can’t believe she made it for me and she has already cut it short so I can wear it again.

See Also

A Bold Berry-Colored Vallejo Wedding

Any advice for couples planning their weddings now? Always listen to your Mothers (this goes for life as much as it does for weddings) and try to keep both mums happy. This usually means a lot of compromising but saves a LOT of hassle! Don’t be afraid to ask for help. We had so much help from all our family members and friends from the decorations, the wedding cake and schlepping things across the city and we couldn’t have done it without them. If your mother is going to make your dress and she’s not a professional seamstress allow at least 6 months

Wedding Music:
Processional: “These Arms of Mine,” Otis Redding

Wedding Location: Alexandria, NSW, Australia / Photographer: Lara Hotz / Venue: Sun Studios Alexandria / Wedding Dress: Bride’s mother / Groom’s Suit: P Johnson Tailors / Caterer: The Cook and Baker / Wedding Cake: Groom’s aunt / Music: Glitch Jukebox / Celebrant: Nicky Solomon / Wedding Invitations: Bride