Real wedding: Shannon and Ben
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Shannon and Ben’s wedding at Hall was a nostalgic nod to the couples’ rural upbringings, with the location providing the beauty and simplicity that’s characteristic of the country. Shannon takes us through the gorgeous day.
Getting ready
My bridesmaid, Alex, and I arrived early at my parent’s home in the north of Canberra to frock up for the day. My cousin worked her makeup magic for Alex and I, while a long-time family friend, Rae, styled my hair. Playing on the nostalgia theme, Rae also styled my mother’s and her five bridesmaids’ hair on her wedding day in 1969!
The dress
After several hours of searching through amazing fabric shops and not feeling inspired by sewing pattern designs, I stumbled across a gorgeous dress made by Flannel and fell in love with it immediately. It is made from tea-coloured silk chiffon with an embroidered silk crepe de chine slip, in a simple column style with ruffle detail down the front, around the shoulders and waist. I embellished the bodice of the dress with crystals and my mother, who is a wonderful sewer, made me a gorgeous bridal jacket out of silver-threaded linen, which I embellished with pieces of silver guipure lace and crystals.
The ceremony
Ben and I chose Hall Village for our wedding ceremony and reception because it is a place full of nostalgia and happy memories for me and offered the simplicity and country beauty we were seeking for our wedding day. We each spent our childhood and youth in a rural setting, on the other side of the world from each other.
The reception
The reception venue is a very basic space and the interior was dressed up with lots of fresh flowers, tissue paper puff balls and fairy lights draped across the ceiling. The decorations reflected the kind of day we wanted to share with everyone – relaxed, fun, with a bit of elegance and charm thrown in. Our wedding photographers, Vicki and Jacques captured all these details of the day, the people and Hall and its surrounds.
The highlights were seeing my young son dressed up in his linen suit I made for him, my nieces in their pretty dresses and my handsome husband in his suit. Most of all, we loved being surrounded by all our parents, family and friends, some who travelled from the other side of the world, at the church and reception afterwards.
One of the band members, who arrived at the reception in his open-top Model A Ford, took Ben & I and a bunch of kids for a joy ride around the showground. The kids were giggling, wind blowing in our hair; it was a lot of fun after the formality of the day.
The little details
Ceremony and reception venue: St Francis Xavier’s Church, Hall ACT; Hall Pavilion, Hall Village ACT
Photographer: Best Day Ever Photo
Celebrant: Father Stephen Fletcher
Dress: Flannel (the bride’s mother Karen made the bride’s jacket. Both the jacket and dress were embellished by Shannon, the bride).
Bridesmaids’ dresses: Bridesmaid’s own dress
Groom and groomsmen’s suits: Ken Cook Menswear Canberra; Cufflinks from Georg Jensen.
Bride’s hair: Rae Palmer (family friend who also did Shannon’s mum’s hair on her wedding day in 1969!)
Bridesmaids’ hair: Rae Palmer
Makeup: Lily Daniel Makeup Artistry
Bride’s jewellery: Earrings from Juel; Purse from Vintage from Japan
Bride’s shoes: Deseo Bridal Shoes, Sydney
Reception stylist: Shannon and Ben, bride and groom.
Flowers: By family friend, Heather
Caterer: Capital Roast ; Karen (mother of the bride) made the cakes and slice, the bride’s cousin Lito made baklava
Cake: By Alexandra, the bridesmaid
Band: Doctor Stovepipe, Canberra
Stationery: Minted
First dance song: Harvest Moon by Neil Young
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