Music, Pom Poms and a Bride in Red

It’s Beautiful Here

August 22, 2017

Krysia and Robbie met at the Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp in Adelaide. When they came to marry, a whole decade later, they decided to incorporate this love of music into the celebration. They always wanted the day to reflect their laid back nature. It was also vital to them to use their wedding to support a charity they believe in, and female run businesses. They had a vegan menu catered by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and only hired female vendors!

“When we first started planning we were really drawn to beautiful neutral tones, laid back vibes with maybe a few pops of colour throughout,” began Krysia. “But as Robbie and I began talking about the space more we realised that we wanted to make it as much ours as possible. Our house has always been decorated with a collection of different and colourful things so when planning the theme of the wedding it just easily fell back onto the style and vibe that we feel most comfortable in! Our dream was to create a space that our friends and family walked into and felt at home… at our home. Another inspiration for the colourful wedding theme was the colour of my dress! My mother got married in red and I ALWAYS imagined myself in a red wedding dress.”

Krysia’s wedding dress was custom made for her by Stephanie from Sant Elia. “I first met Stephanie eight years ago when I was working with her husband and she made my sister’s wedding dress. I was originally going to buy a dress from a store, but I just felt so at ease with Stephanie and was able to tell her exactly what I wanted. It was a smooth process, even with her in Sydney and me in Melbourne! The inspiration for the crop top with the netted skirt actually came from Bianca’s pink prom dress in 10 Things I Hate About You which I’ve always loved”

Their reception was at Fitzroy Town Hall They arrived after the ceremony to all their guests waiting outside and a brass band which Robbie had hired as a surprise! “Robbie had written an arrangement of Baby I Love Your Way for a brass band full of our friends to play for us. It was the funniest thing because I have had Peter Frampton’s Baby I Love Your Way stuck in my head for a few years now. It was also such a surprise and when we got out of the car I just could not stop smiling. We just wrapped into each other’s arms and laughed and hugged and kissed. It was amazing.”

It was very important to them both to have their families present and involved throughout the day. “We are both very close to our families. Our mums read their favourite poem each, our fathers and siblings made speeches. Robbie’s parents walked down the aisle together first, then my parents together, then my bridesmaid and my maid of honour (my sister) and then I walked down on my own. I struggle with the symbolism associated with being given away which is why I walked down myself. I was giving myself to our relationship, to the rest of our lives.”

They did a lot of DIY for their wedding, but they wish they’d known how long it would take to make 260 pom poms! “We handmade 260 pom poms (130 napkin ties with two pom poms each) in lots of different bright colours. We were making pom poms for MONTHS! It was fun to go and get the coloured wool and to talk about making them, and being able to make it rain with pom poms at the end of it all was worth it! Everyone loved it on the day.”

“We also handmade the paper confetti cones with bright coloured paper, made the name plates for the table settings (by hand stamping our guest names into thin sheets of aluminium and gluing them onto brown folded cardboard), collected vintage dinner plates, and bought around 100 different sized and coloured glass and pottery vases and small bottles. We gave our wedding planners our lounge room furniture and lots of little decorative items from our house to decorate the venue with too! We loved that we used our own furniture as it made it feel like we were relaxing with all our friends and family at our own home. It sounds outrageous but the hall really felt like an extension of our home with bright colours, plants, pictures and decorations everywhere!”

They spent the most money on their food, stylist and photographers, but through this were also able to support a charity they believe in. “Our catering was done by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC). At Christmas Robbie’s Aunt mentioned that her work Christmas party had been catered by ASRC and I sent them an email the next day. It meant so much to us that we were able to use the bulk of the cost from our wedding to support such an amazing organisation who work so tirelessly for a community of people who are seeking support and safety in our country. Working with them was smooth, supportive and fantastic. EVERYONE commented on how amazing the food was. All of our food was vegan and it was amazing and delicious. Everyone loved it.”

“Our advice for future brides and grooms is do the things that start out as a little idea and seem a little bit crazy, because it will give you the biggest sense of joy when you see the idea being loved by your family and friends”, she concluded. “Also, if you plan to do DIY, just tackle it slowly and gradually throughout the build up. The feeling that we felt when realising that we had 50 more pom poms to make with only two weeks left was CRAZY – we thought ‘why did we do this?!’ So the more time you start with the less pressure you will feel. But it is totally worth it, because you see it all come to life on the day, and have great memories of doing it yourself!”

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