Monique & Lee’s 1920’s Powerhouse Wedding

February 8, 2011

Jonas Peterson weddings are like gold dust and I’m so honoured that he lets me feature so many of them (for those of you that don’t know the inner workings of blog-land, a wedding will generally go to one blog or magazine only, so being allowed to be the lucky one is really something when a wedding is as stunning as this one.)

Monique & Lee were married at Brisbane Powerhouse – a wonderfully urban and industrial converted powerhouse. It is now home to a theatre and a couple of restaurants and is right on the river. Stunning! Monique wore a gorgeous reproduction vintage dress from Le Luxe Clothing. “I never even set foot into a bridal store, let alone tried on a ”proper” bridal dress – I always wanted a vintage, flapper inspired dress but found it incredibly difficult to find one in my size – I’m an AU 14, and I’m pretty sure chicks in the 1920s had waists the size of my thigh! I spent months searching for one and really hit the jackpot when I found Le Luxe Clothing. Because it’s not enough for me to just have beads and sequins, I added a feather capelet by Ksubi, that I bought on ebay.” She chose not to carry real flowers, and instead created her own vintage brooch bouquet.

“The bouquet took a lot of work but it was worth it! It’s just a Styrofoam ball, which Lee covered in chicken wire for support. We gathered lots of vintage brooches, and he wired them onto the chicken wire. He looped the wire through the back of the brooch, and attached it by sticking the ends of the wire stick into the Styrofoam ball. He also glued some of them down with hot glue. We used some fabric to mask the messy bottom of the sphere, and the handle is just a thick bit of wood wrapped in the fabric. It was time consuming but easy (says me, who watched him work while I sat back with a glass of wine in one hand and a book in the other) thanks to hot glue guns and a bit of patience (why he made it and not me!)”

To keep their wedding personal, the couple decorated the venue themselves and asked friends and relatives to help out where they could. “We didn’t have any fresh flowers. Again, for some reason I never really considered it. We had a cocktail-style reception, so we didn’t need centrepieces or anything, which let me have a bit more fun with the ”flowers”. I decorated using a combination of button flowers, newspaper roses, fabric flowers and paper flowers, stuck in old jars and glass milk bottles. I sourced all the flower decorations from some super talented people on Etsy.”

“There’s nothing more Rock n Roll, in my opinion, than being exactly who you are and standing by that. Which is why I think there is still something super Rock n Roll in uber traditional weddings,” Monique told me. “I’d never been to a wedding until my own, so I didn’t approach it with any preconceived notions about what a wedding should be. So I just made it about the things that we like. And while I know it was different, and unique, I very rarely felt we were planning a wedding that was really out there. We did (mostly) all the traditional stuff, but just tweaked it to suit our style. For example, I wear 20’s inspired clothing anyway, so I glammed it up several notches for the wedding.”

“Lee loves zombies and Transformers and explosions, so I vowed to ”fight and die by your side in the event of a zombie invasion or robot attack”. We approached the wedding as a big fat celebration of our love, not just for each other but for the people around us. And being a celebration, our main goal was to have a lot of fun. There was tequila, and dancing, and big rock god slides across the floor. I got so drunk I could barely cut the cake and sang until my throat hurt. And we had so so so much fun.”

“I’m 24, and there were quite a few people who felt I shouldnt be getting married at all, let alone in the ”alternative” way I did it. (Funny how some words take on such negative connotations at times!) I don’t know what it is about weddings, but I found that people aren’t shy in telling you that what you’re doing isn’t the norm, or that you’ll look back and regret not being more traditional. But I’m exceptionally lucky to have family and friends that stood by me and my ideas even when they thought I was crazy.”

Big love and thanks to Monique & Lee and the awesome Jonas Peterson for sharing these today

Photography Credit: Jonas Peterson Photography
Venue: Brisbane Powerhouse
Bride’s Dress: Le Luxe Clothing
Bride’s Shoes: Mollini
Bride’s Jewellery: Diva
Cake: DIY
Cake Topper: Concarta on etsy
Band:  Simon Watson
Bridesmaid Dresses: Alannah Hill, Thurley & eBay
Hair/Make Up: The Powder Room