Real wedding: Nathan and Sam

Posted on 22 February, 2017

Old Parliament House proved to be the perfect location for Sam and Nathan’s wedding, with both ceremony and reception held in its charming and expansive vicinity. The gorgeous bride takes us through the day…

Getting ready

I got ready at my parents’ house and stayed the night with all my bridesmaids. It was like having a slumber party and was so much fun, just like old times.

I arranged for our hair and make up to be done at my parents’ house, so we didnt have to go anywhere on the day. I am so glad I did this, as the morning was so calm and relaxing and we didn’t have to stress about driving around to our appointments.

The dress

My dress was purchased from a lovely online boutique called ‘Made with Love Bridal’, which I came across on Facebook. I picked a few styles that I liked and arranged for a trial up in Sydney, however my favourite remained the one that I had already ‘chosen’ online. It was a lace, fitted dress with sweetheart neckline and a small train. I also had a tulle skirt that sat over the top of my dress, which I took off for the reception. My veil was long and flowed into my skirt, it was beautiful and I was so happy with the end result.

The ceremony

Nathan and I had always wanted to be married outside, in a garden or the likes, as we’re outdoorsy people. We started looking at places around Canberra that offered an outdoors option and just fell in love with the Senate Courtyard at Old Parliament House. We also loved the idea of guests not having to move too far from ceremony to reception, so quickly decided it was the venue for us!

The ceremony was beautiful. I was worried as there were some black clouds approaching when we were driving to the venue, but as we started walking down the aisle the sun came out and the clouds just seemed to disappear. It really was something special.

the reception

The reception was fun and casual. The styling was fairly minimal, with table runners and flowers on every table.

I didn’t really have a theme in mind for the wedding, I just wanted it to be fairly neutral with loads of flowers!

There were some speeches along with some happy tears and the most important part of the day, the cake! We had a ‘cheese’ cake, which was made up of 4 wheels of different types of cheese. It was decorated with grapes, figs and flowers and served with crackers and dried fruit, it was absolutely delicious.

We took some photos around Old Parliament House and in the surrounding rose gardens and then ventured to the Nation Arboretum in Canberra for some more photos. Our photographer was so amazing. He was relaxed and friendly and we hardly knew he was there! He was great fun and captured such beautiful photos that we will have forever.

The funniest part of the day was during my dad’s speech. He has this really old ugly shirt that he used to jokingly tell me he’d wear to my wedding. During his speech he starts talking about our little ‘joke’ and out he pulls the shirt and puts it on in front of everyone! It was quite funny/embarrassing!