A Chic Celebration on Sydney Harbor

Photography by Lucie Weddings for Eden & Bartholomew

Wildy romantic and effortlessly chic, Eden and Bart’s intimate celebration unfolded on Sydney’s pristine harbor, illuminated by the city’s iconic skyline.

Enveloped by undulating waves of calm, glistening blue water, the couple exchanged vows at the end of a dock framed by two large pillars of blush, fragrant florals.

The festivities ensued on an opulent yacht ride where guests were serenaded with overflowing champagne and epicurean delights, before dancing late into the night against a warm, fiery sunset.

It was a no-fuss, emotive and raw celebration that perfectly complemented this laid-back couple. There to capture every magical moment was Lane recommended photographer, Lucie Weddings.

Our Story

Names / Eden & Bartholomew

Wedding Date / 23 August, 2020

Guest Numbers / 60

How We Met

Bart and I met on New Years Day 2017. We were both on the island enjoying what the day could bring and he sat a seat away from me. As I was sitting there alone I didn’t find it very enjoyable, so I looked over to my right and I said to him quite aggressively, “Am I not good enough to sit next to?”. Taking that as a cue he pulled me into his lap and gave me a hug which was clearly what I had needed at that time. Once I realised I liked the hug, I nestled in and I looked up at him and then he gave me a kiss, and since then we’ve been completely inseparable.

Our Engagement Story

We never really got engaged, we had talked for years about getting married, but nothing had ever come of it. One day we were sitting across from each other and he said, “You are the one that I want to marry and I want this to be the beginning of our future together.” So within a month of planning and organizing everything, we were married.

The Details

Wedding Location

The ceremony was perfect in every single way, we had our closest friends and family there. Neither one of us wanted a big wedding; we always wanted it to be small. At first, before we decided to have a small wedding we wanted to go in elope with only two of our friends and then come back and surprise everyone that we had done it, which is honestly what everyone expected us to do. But then we realised this is one of the most important milestones in our life together and we really should start it with our family.

It was in Palm Beach at a beautiful home we found on Contemporary Homes, and we got married next to the water between two flower pillars with our loved ones all around us. The only thing that really makes me sad about the ceremony was that because of Covid-19, a lot of our family weren’t able to be with us including my mum and some of our siblings. We set up a live stream so that everyone from anywhere in the world that we loved was able to still witness it.

Preparation

We stayed in the home we got married in a few days beforehand so we could all wake up together. Neither Bart nor myself wanted to separate and sleep in separate rooms the night before, so we got to wake up and get excited together.

As for the morning of, my gorgeous mother-in-law Jenny and my sister-in-law Morgan were with me as we got our hair and makeup done and helped stop tears of excitement. They mainly tried to just get me to sit and relax, as all I wanted to do was run around and help everyone set up! My hairstylist Cara is one of my best friends and my makeup artist Ania is another one, so it was like just getting ready with the most important people in my life.

Overall Aesthetic / Style

We didn’t really have any aesthetic. At first, we wanted to get married in a log cabin because that is who we are as people. We wanted to run away and just live on a farm, but when push came to shove, we just wanted to have flowers and a beautiful backdrop with family.

We were happy to get married anywhere we were, it was almost going to just be in our living room but looking back now, I am happy we had a beautiful harborside ceremony.

Ceremony Decor

I didn’t want to have just the ocean behind us, I wanted it to have something a little bit more special, so we found a florist that was able to provide two beautiful big flower pillars for us to stand between. I had seen on Pinterest that brides would do this in less decorative spaces to make it feel more like a wedding, and I loved the way it looked and I knew it would make the day feel a little bit more special.

Reception Decor

After the ceremony, we deconstructed the flower pillars and made them into smaller arrangements to go onto Ghost II, which is a big beautiful boat that lives currently at Rose Bay wharf. We chose to have it on a boat as it could hold safely 60 of our closest friends who all arrived around 4:30pm. There was champagne and a beautiful sunset over the harbor to celebrate with. We like to make things very simple, when things get too complicated that means there would be stress and that was the last thing Bart and I wanted on our wedding day.

Wedding Planner / Stylist

I did everything myself with the help of Bart of course, but I didn’t want to let go of control of how the wedding would look, so I made sure everything was perfect before the wedding and I just put full trust into everyone who was there to make everything look perfect.

Photography

Lucy Douglas was our wedding photographer. I found her on Instagram as I was browsing and I immediately fell in love with her style of shooting. It’s very documentarian. Catching the small moments instead of having a final posed photo. The reason I wanted that kind of style was because Bart doesn’t like having his picture taken – he gets camera shy as opposed to me, where my entire career is being in front of the camera. So, I wanted to make him feel as comfortable as possible, and Lucy really made that come to life in her photos. She was my perfect wedding photographer.

Videography

We also got Lucy to do our wedding video – we didn’t want anything too much for the video, just little snippets for us to remember the day.

Fashion Notes

Bride’s Dress

My wedding dress was by Orseund Iris and it had been my dream wedding dress for years. It was ankle length, high neck, bell sleeved, backless perfection! It’s a very old Victorian style with a modern twist, and I’ve never felt so beautiful. It was everything that I could have ever wanted. It was conservative but still very sexy (at least I think so).

Bride’s Shoes

I wore Jimmy Choo mules with diamonte wrapping around the front of my foot.

Wedding Rings

Bart and I both got simple gold bands for our wedding day, I never thought he wanted to wear a ring but ever since he’s put it on, he has never taken it off. Since the wedding was planned so quickly, we never had an engagement ring, but I find that a positive because now I can help him choose what engagement ring I will eventually have.

Jewellery / Accessories

I wore By Charlotte earrings, a Nicholas Hayward diamond necklace and a sapphire earring my mother-in-law gave to me earlier that year (my something blue).

Hair

I wore my hair up in a low bun. There’s nothing I hate more than hair flying everywhere in my face, so I made sure that I had it up and Cara did the most gorgeous job with it.

Makeup

My makeup by Ania was very simple; it was a smoky eye with a nude lip. I wanted to look like myself walking down the aisle.

Style Notes

Stationery / Invitations

We sent everyone a text message saying when and where the wedding was for the ceremony and for the after-party, we told everyone that it was my birthday because the next day it really was my birthday! We wanted to surprise everyone but I ended up telling everyone that we were getting married. How could I not? I was so excited!

Flowers & Bouquets

I had seen some of Alicia’s flowers on Instagram and I messaged her two weeks before the wedding and said, “I need two pillars and a bouquet, I know it is short notice but can you please help me!” At first, I had been emailing another florist but she ended up cancelling and guided me to Alicia who ended up being the most wonderful and most kind person. She said yes and immediately started asking what kind of flowers I wanted and I said to please make them white and other than that, go nuts. I didn’t want to give her too much direction with how to style the flowers because I could see how beautiful her work already was, and I just wanted her to make it the way that she could visualize it.

Cake

Bart’s family have had a tradition for the last three generations to have a horseshoe cake at weddings, and so to honour that tradition, we had to have a horseshoe cake! It was vanilla with white chocolate frosting and it was delicious.

Food & Beverages

After the ceremony, we had catering from The Blonde Butler and it was buffet style so everyone could enjoy whatever they wanted to. On the boat, we had a big cheese and meat spread with sushi, and for beverages, we had wine, champagne, beer and whatever anyone wanted all provided by Ghost II.

Transport

We woke up at the wedding venue so we didn’t have to worry about anything! But coming from Palm Beach to Rose Bay, our friends came and picked us up in a gorgeous Rolls Royce, and we all enjoyed an hour and a half back to the east.

Honeymoon

We haven’t honeymooned yet but we’ve ve both made a promise that as soon as the world opens up again, we plan on honeymooning in Paris as it’s my favourite city in the world, and it’s somewhere that we haven’t been together yet.

Wedding Songs

Our ceremony song was ‘Lightning Crashes’ by Live. Bart and I have stood in our living room many times screaming the lyrics to that song, so we thought we should put it into an instrumental version, and I walked down the aisle to that. Then we had many Sinatra songs that we played while we were signing and giving everyone a hug after the ceremony. If I’m completely honest, I can barely remember it because all I can think about is how excited I was to marry my best friend.

Entertainment

We had an amazing DJ, our friend Jeremy Kay. We didn’t ask for anything particular with music other than to keep it fun.

Celebrant

We put out an ad on One Flair asking for a celebrant and had a bunch of replies and found Meera. We met up with her and loved her. Unfortunately before the wedding, she broke her foot so we thought we might not be able to use her, but she still came and married us, which was wonderful. We were very thankful for her.

Readings

We didn’t write our own vows, we said something very small to each other. The only reason we didn’t say our vows was I wanted my mom to be there and I didn’t want her to miss out on the opportunity to hear us say how much we love each other. But we said to each other “(Eden/Bart, with this ring, I take you to be my (husband/wife). Let it be a reminder that wherever you go, my love goes with you”.

Special Details

Sources of Inspiration

I would go on The Lane’s Instagram almost every day seeing what I could find on there to incorporate into my wedding! Then I would pull images from The Lane and put them into Pinterest to help me find more inspiration.

A Memorable Moment

When I was standing at the top of the stairs waiting to walk down, through the trees I saw Bart… and before the music started playing all I could do was scream out to him saying, “Oh my God, we are getting married!”, and it made all of his nerves go away because it made him realise, “Oh that’s just Eden standing up there, it’s no one else. It’s just her.”

One Thing I Wish I Knew Before I Started My Wedding Plans…

Some people aren’t going to be available to be there on the day whether it’s flowers or catering, but remember that this day is for you, it’s not for anyone else and there is always going to be someone that will be willing to help you.

If I Could Give Brides to be One Piece of Advice…

It’s about you and your husband, no one else. All of the little things that might go wrong don’t matter! It’s not the thing that you will remember on your wedding day. Also if you are anything like us, you won’t hear a thing the celebrant is saying and you will stand there talking to each other the entire time… but the celebrant is usually okay with it.