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Real Wedding: Lauren & Tyler

Real Wedding: Lauren & Tyler

Fairy tale garden by day, dark red romance by night

Romantic Wedding in the Garden by Day, Moody Red Event by Night

Magic in every detail. Tyler and Lauren's love story unfolded in the poetic gardens of Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, beside a sparkling lake plucked from the pages of a modern fairy tale. Their wedding ceremony was surrounded by natural beauty with nostalgic touches, while their reception in the National Gallery's Victoria Hall was a daring contemporary affair, swathed in the mystical beauty of red décor and blooming roses. It was here guests were taken on an immersive journey through the ages, surrounded by art of the masters and modernists, and a flamboyant dining experience. Read on to discover all the beautiful details, captured by our talented member, Sebastian Paynter.

Romantic Wedding in the Garden by Day, Moody Red Event by Night

Tell us a little about yourselves. How did you meet? What do you do for a living? What are your hobbies?

We met when we were 15 years old and were drawn to each other’s sense of adventure, curiosity and charm. If we had an anthem it would be “young hearts run free” — and that we do — from high school, to living in London and now living by the Surf Coast we both live life to the fullest with open hearts. Tyler is an International Recruitment Manager and I’m a Fashion Designer working for Australian and International brands. On the side I am building out a creative studio that includes bridal you can subscribe here to be updated www.laurenacciaritostudio.com What completes our home? Our beautiful Labradoodle Arlo, lots bowls of pasta, vinyl disco and our big lovely dining table for all the wine nights and entertaining.

Can you share your engagement story?

Tyler planned a weekend away to the Mornington Peninsula coastline with our Labradoodle Dog — Arlo. It was the 3 of us on a beautiful sunny long weekend which I was unbeknown that Tyler had planned to propose that evening. We were in the Airbnb where Tyler had set up pillows and a rug, wine and a cheese board on the deck of the house overlooking the sunset. This is a very typical thing for Tyler to do on any night so this had not given any clues. Suddenly, Tyler left to reappear with several presents stacked that he hand-carried to give me. I knew my 30th birthday was coming up so I automatically thought I was receiving some early birthday presents. For each present, I individually unwrapped with Tyler explaining what each gift meant to him all relating to how he felt towards our love. The second last present was a series of photos of the 15 years we have been together that he had printed. And finally, the final gift was the box with a gorgeous ring from our favourite jeweller Seb Brown. It was such an emotional and exciting moment in time for us, after the weekend we celebrated back home with champagne and our family together!

Where was your wedding? Why did you choose this venue?

When thinking of where to get married, Tyler and I went back to the places which make us the happiest — green leafy parks and art galleries. We loved Picnic Point at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria for our ceremony as this brought us back to fond memories living in London where we would spend many long afternoons together in Victoria Park or London Fields. Our reception at National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) also felt perfect being an iconic art gallery in Australia that always gives us an abundance of creative energy. The high ceilings and incredible mosaic art was such an incredible backdrop and we loved styling the space with a very romantic theme. Think Dark Mofo — moody and red.

What was the concept behind your wedding and how did you find your inspiration?

Our wedding mood board was harmonized around 2 worlds — fairy tale garden by day, and Dark Mofo romance by night. The gardens were overlooking an exquisite background with an abundance of plantations against the lake. We chose concrete plinths for our altar with gorgeous arrangements of roses and amaranthus’ with red ribbon interlaced by our florist to frame the setting. XFLOS did a great job with the roses and all the arrangements throughout the day. They were bold and eccentric, we especially loved the integration of tinsel into the floral arrangements for that fun surprise. For our signing table, we sourced a gorgeous vintage table and chairs from Facebook marketplace that was originally green, we decided to spray paint red to tie in with the theme. Entrance signs were in a mirrored chrome with red text that allowed the surrounding of the gardens to reflect through the mirror. This was a bespoke order printed by The Small Things co. We also chose to do this for the seating chart at NGV. We decorated the NGV with details of silver and chrome with mushroom silver lamps hired by the The Small Things co. and grape arrangements in vintage cocktail glasses were set up by Party & Plants Flowers. The bridesmaid and flower girls were almost like real life roses in bright red and pink with their gorgeous dresses by Kika Vargas that we altered.

How long did it take to plan your wedding? Did you encounter any challenges during the planning process?

Planning our wedding was challenging due to my father’s illness. As his condition worsened we made a very last minute call to bring forward our wedding date giving us a very tight 4 weeks to pull it all together. We were incredibly lucky that all of our vendors could accommodate the new date and from there we updated all 160 guests. My Dad on the day was absolutely amazing and I will always remember the biggest smile on his face throughout the day and night. Unfortunately, my Dad sadly passed away a month after the wedding. It has made the day a time of remembrance not only for Tyler and I, but the wider community of friends and family who were close to my Dad and were able to see him at the wedding. We will miss him dearly but am so thankful we were able to have this day together that we will cherish for the rest of our life.

How many guests did you have? And what was the seating arrangement at the wedding like?

With our 160 guests we decided to arrange the seating arrangements in a minimal layout but impactful. It was important for Tyler and I to sit amongst our friends and family which led to the decision of 2 long tables of 80 guests on each table.

Tell us about your outfits. How many different styles have you tried?

Tyler’s heart was always set on going to P. Johnson Tailors to get his tailored suit. We loved the idea of something different, and with the red rose pinned to his blazer, it was an obvious choice to decide on the beautiful ivory colour blazer in a wool blend fabrication paired with black tailored slim fit trousers. With guidance from Tom Walsh (P. Johnson tailor) his outfit decision was seamless and supportive despite the quick turnaround. Tyler chose a clean yet sophisticated-shaped shoe from Dolce & Gabbana in a shine black leather. My dress was a labour of love from the moment Tyler proposed to me. Being a Fashion designer and having previously designed my sister’s wedding dress, I was certain that I wanted to design mine. I knew I couldn’t create my wedding dress alone and it was important that the design journey was fluid to land on the design which felt true to me.

I reached out to Jack Hancock who manages a pattern making and garment practice called, The System. Our design collaboration was seamless, we researched different corsetry techniques and waistline shapes that felt unique and a nod to the beauty of historical dressing. For the fabric we were drawn to a gorgeous 100% Silk taffeta from Franke Stuart Fabrics, an institution that offers the most incredible vintage textiles. We chose an ivory colour which worked so complementary to Tyler’s ivory blazer — such a fluke of incredible synergy! With so many people enquiring about the dress, I decided to soon launch an occasion and bridal range that you can subscribe to via the link! My shoes were silver by Amina Muaddi, Earrings by Magda Butrym which for the ceremony I borrowed my Mum’s over the face net veil and for the reception I added a Blumarine rosette red choker.

What was your first dance song? Did you choreograph or improvise?

The song for our first dance was an old favourite ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’ by The Flamingos. Not only did we love the words, it was the feel of this song that suited the day, the venue and us. Soon after our dance, Tyler asked his Mum to the dance floor and I too with my Dad, the song ‘At Last’ By Etta James played and this was one of the memorable moments of the day. We were encapsulated by the moment of sharing this dance with our parents and more for my Dad as it was a moment that meant so much to me. To add to the love, our gorgeous brothers & sisters joined in too. It was magic!

Did you have any special performances or entertainment?

At Picnic Point in the Royal Botanic Gardens, overlooking the lake, guests were greeted with entertainment by the amazing singer Cade and his band from Like This Entertainment. Cade was a favourite of ours that we discovered at a friend's wedding, they created such beautiful melodies complementing the gardens perfectly. At the NGV, our guests were entertained by the amazing Italian DJs from DiscoMediterranea which they kindly accepted to play at our wedding. They do not usually play at weddings but they did an unbelievable job mixing music of disco tunes from the 80s. We danced all night long!

What was the most memorable moment from your wedding day?

For me, we booked an old vintage car that my brother drove with my Dad in the passenger seat and my sister, Mum and I at the back on the way to the Ceremony at the gardens. We were able to have access into the gardens which we drove into and it was a moment in time I will always keep close to my heart. It was emotional as it was just us 5, where it all began about to step into a monumental time of my life with my beautiful family — especially my Dad, right by my side. We told stories when we were young and took in such a beautiful moment in time with the 5 of us.

For Tyler, similar to, with so many special moments to reflect on, it was being able to get our couple photos in the National Gallery of Victoria with private access to the most incredible art. It was just Tyler and I and Sebastian (the photographer) and security guard which we were able to walk through with no one else in sight, admiring the art and most importantly taking in what was the day so far. An emotional time in which we both teared up in pride as we finally made it after the stressful turnaround it had been.

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

All of our vendors were amazing, they accommodated seamlessly to the new date and short turn around which we are so grateful for. Our photographer Sebastian Paynter was amazing to work with. Leading up to the wedding he provided such a personal experience which was important to Tyler and I. On the day he made an effort to connect with our family and friends and set a tone for Tyler and I, in feeling so relaxed and present. Our amazing celebrants were a joined effort by Kathryn and our good friend Ryan who we chose to tell our story. We knew from the start Ryan was the best person as he has been a close friend for so many years, which we loved the personal touch having him marry us it would bring. Kathryn was so helpful leading up to the day and navigating the ceremony beforehand. She was amazing to work with and allowed the process to feel controlled.

Our hair and makeup artists were fantastic on the morning of the wedding day. For my hair and make-up I was fortunate to have the wonderful Nigel Stanislaus who executed the brief and did an amazing job! For the bridesmaids, make up was by Claire Imbrogno and hair was by Rebekah — all being really great to work with everyone looked incredible! For dessert we had the delicious wedding cake by Nats Creative Cakes I worked with Nat to create a new look to the vintage-style tiered cake by adding a daring silver colour with sparkled cherries. It was a standout and I knew it was something very different for Nat to do — she did an incredible job!

What advice would you give to couples who are currently planning their wedding?

Our advice would be to work together as a team and enjoy the process. The process takes a consuming amount of months (or weeks for us) and it is important to simply enjoy the ups and downs through it all. The day is so memorable but it passes by so fast that it ultimately felt like the grand finale to the overall wedding journey. There is so much emphasis on the day but I also feel it’s how you get there that is also important. Also, it’s important to choose a wedding that resembles you both. We loved choosing colours and elements to our wedding simply because it’s what we loved. Enjoy that together as the day becomes the storytelling of that journey.

Did you have any special or unique elements (such as a signature cocktail or a fragrance) at your wedding?

We became obsessed with the idea of the rose and its romantic symbolism fitting so perfectly for our wedding. Flowers have always been so personal to me and it made sense to create our own artwork as we were going to be married in the National Gallery of Victoria. We spent one sunny day painting in our backyard playing with shapes that led to our final wedding invitation and the artwork for the guest names that we designed. This meant the guests had a small art piece to take home that we hand painted.

We were fortunate to collaborate with artist Jacob Hayward Art (our brother-in-law!) who did a spectacular job at painting the invitation onto a large-scale canvas. This art piece was displayed in the NGV where guests entered and it is now an art piece we will keep forever. We are so proud to have designed all our stationery — the menus, signs and seating charts ourselves. We also planned all the styling throughout the day and night — and with the help from the staff, family and friends, we were able to pull it together. This made it more personal and an opportunity to tell our story in creative ways.

Did you make a gift for guests, and what was it? What did you give each other as a gift?

The gift was our hand painted roses that were on the table for the guests to take home. This was a way to do the guest names and equally something for them to keep.