A Sydney Waterfront Wedding

Photography by Lara Hotz for Kezia and Brad

Intimate and effortlessly chic, Kezia and Brad’s wedding was held overlooking the crystalline coast of Sydney’s Palm Beach. Before a backdrop of undulating hills and the bright azure sea, rings were exchanged beneath branches interwoven with crisp, white roses. The bride adorned in a hand-beaded gown by Pallas Couture complemented the littoral surrounds, her featherweight cape floating delicately in the breeze.

Inspired by the coastal setting, a reception infused with oceanic detail followed. Perched on the edge of Pittwater, the nautical charm of The Boathouse proved to be the dreamiest of dining locations. Guests gathered communal-style at a table dressed in white blooms and tropical foliage. Amidst the languid feasting and laughter shared, tales of life and love stirred late into the evening. Behind the lens capturing every cinematic frame was photographer Lara Hotz.

Our Story

Names / Kezia & Brad

Wedding Date / 22^nd November 2018

Guest Numbers / 33

How We Met

We met six years ago through a mutual friend at a party Brad was organizing back in London. We were polar opposites – Brad an East London hipster and me turning up in a black corporate shift dress – but there were instant sparks. We stayed in London together for almost two years before rolling the dice and moving to Sydney.

Our Engagement Story

Our engagement included a real-life unicorn, a beautiful secluded Hawaiian beach, out of control drones, Shirley Bassey, guitars, singing and lots of happy tears.

Marriage to us Means

Commitment to spending life with the most special person. The beginning of our own family, under one name, one love.

The Details

Wedding Location

The beautiful location of Palm Beach is one of our favourite spots, and only a short drive outside of Sydney so easy for our International guests and the home of Summer Bay which us Brits love. We looked at lots of different venues but chose The Boathouse for its incredible views and quintessential Australian feel.

Theme & Style

Our theme was tropical elegance as we wanted to embrace the beach setting but keep it formal. Beautiful, modern sophistication paired with laid back, playful beach vibes.

Photography

Brad and I both researched photographers separately and both put Lara forward as our number one choice. We both knew that there was no one else to photograph our wedding – she is out of this world.

Fashion Notes

Bride’s Dress

I must have tried on over 80 dresses across both London and Sydney and I knew Pallas Couture was the right designer. Every dress I tried on was perfect and their modern, glamorous, fitted styles were just what I was looking for. I chose gorgeous detachable shoulder drapes as an alternative to a traditional veil and had a huge train!

Bride’s Shoes

Simple mid-heel nude strappy sandals, not too high so I could dance the night away.

Bridesmaids’ Dresses

My sister was my only official bridesmaid so it should have been easy to find a dress, but it was surprisingly difficult! In the end, we settled on a simple, full-length champagne slip dress from Shona Joy.

Wedding Rings

Brad had designed my engagement ring eighteen months prior – a beautiful oval diamond with a diamond Incrusted band set in rose gold. I opted for a very fine rose gold diamond eternity band to offset my engagement ring. Brad originally wasn’t going to wear a wedding ring (neither of our fathers has ever worn one so it seemed a foreign concept) but chose a gold Georg Jensen ring which he now wears every day!

Jewelry & Accessories

I wanted the dress to take centre stage so stuck with a very fine rose gold Monica Vinader bracelet with a blue labradorite stone – a present from my closest friends and my ‘something blue’.

Groomsmen’s Attire

Brad wore a Tom Ford suit – a white, fitted jacket, black trousers, and a black bowtie.

Hair

I always wear my hair down and wanted to feel myself on the big day. The wonderful Nicola Johnson gave me beautiful loose waves- just a more polished version than my every day look.

Makeup

I wanted glowing skin and subtle, natural makeup which Nicola did beautifully. I knew she was the perfect makeup artist when I saw her signature brows – not overdone or too bold but full and natural. I also did a lot of skin prep before the wedding including cutting dairy, lowering my sugar intake plus some amazing facials at The Clinic in Sydney.

Style Notes

Stationery

Brad is very creative and built us an incredible wedding website and animated save the date emails. We used Crum and Co for our invitations as it matched our style of sophisticated and modern.

Flowers & Bouquets

The bridal bouquet and bridesmaid bouquet were kept simple but elegant white long-stemmed roses. My dress had a lot of detail so I decided to keep my bouquet simple. The ceremony florals were white roses and tropical palm leaves (styling by Little Lane). The Boathouse answered our brief perfectly and styled our reception with a mix of unusual but beautiful plants and flowers – warm toned peaches and creams to match the golden sunset – including pineapple trees which complimented our tropical elegance theme perfectly.

Videography

Brad is very creative and worked with our videographer to create our wedding in the style of a film trailer. Coming soon…

Preparation

We rented two incredible houses overlooking Palm Beach. I got ready with my nearest and dearest and enjoyed the beautiful views while getting ready. A group of dolphins swam past the morning of the wedding and I knew it would be an amazing day!

Bridal

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Ceremony Décor & Reception Décor

The ceremony space was beautiful but a very awkward shape so we worked with our wedding stylist to create a unique floral installation complementing the trees already in the garden. We kept the styling fairly simple at the reception and let The Boathouse take care of things with their signature set up, plus some additional styling in the form of candles and repurposing our beautiful ceremony flowers.

Cake

We chose a mix of our favourite flavours (chocolate ganache and Brad’s childhood favourite vanilla with jam) and chose a semi-naked cake decorated with beautiful florals. We also had far too much cake and with the wedding diet out the window, we ended up eating it for about a month after the wedding!

Food and Beverages

We were adamant on a small intimate sit-down dinner. To welcome our guests, we chose everything we love from Aperol Spritz cocktails and Boathouse arancini to huge sharing plates of fish and beef fillet and modern, colourful side dishes. There was also a LOT of desserts including chocolate tortes, lemon meringue pies and a cake to feed 130 guests (our wedding was a total of 35!).

Wedding Songs

Music is very important to us and we had a carefully selected list. We had everything from a Love Actually-inspired ceremony, a Drake-playing string quartet, to Simply Red and Al Green!

Entertainment

Brad was in charge of the entertainment and he did an amazing job of keeping everything a complete surprise until the day itself! He organised a surprise string quartet after the ceremony, who played everything from John Legend to Kanye West. The biggest surprise of all though were the two larger than life llamas that greeted us at the wedding reception! Our guests loved them and it was definitely one of our favourite, most bizarre memories of the day!

Transport

In style In Brad’s white, 90s style Porsche. It was the perfect wedding transport although very low, so it was a little hard getting in and out!

Celebrant

Our celebrant was the beautiful Claire Belford. She was just amazing through every step of the process and bought our ceremony to life.

Readings

My mum read ‘Blessing of the Hands’’ which is a beautiful poem that was very meaningful for us.

“Love each other from this day forward, and these will be the hands that you hold tomorrow, and the next day, and into the next decade.

These are the hands that will work alongside yours as you build your life together, the hands that will touch you with love and tenderness through the years, and the hands that will comfort you like no others’ can.

These are the hands that will hold you through grief, fear, and hardship.

These are the hands that will wipe tears of joy and sorrow from your eyes, and the hands that will tenderly hold your children.

These are the hands that will hold your family together, and that will give you strength when you need it.

These are the hands, that when wrinkled and spotted with age, will still be reaching for yours.”

Special Details

Sources of Inspiration

Mainly Instagram, a few Pinterest spirals, One Fine Day wedding fair and of course The Lane!

A Memorable Moment

The standout for me was being greeted by two surprise llamas when we arrived at the reception. Brad had arranged for them to greet the guests at the ceremony and then move to the reception before I arrived! The guests loved having a llama selfie and they were definitely a talking point. The guests seeing Brad walk down to the aisle to ‘Circle of Life’ was also a great memory and doing yoga on the beach the morning after with our guests who were all a little worse for wear!  

If I could give other Brides-To-Be one Piece of Advice

Make sure you get an incredible celebrant. Saying our vows was the most important and our favourite part of the whole day. Having an amazing celebrant made it so easy and spending time on the ceremony content was so much more meaningful than stressing about the colour of the napkins!