Here at Fashion Journal, we make no secret of our love of weddings. We’re suckers for a bit of romance and have a soft spot for weddings that do things differently, whether it’s a Las Vegas elopement, a tropical getaway or a Town Hall celebration.
There was no elaborate proposal that came before Melbourne couple, Alison Willoughby and Denny Louis‘ decided to get married. Instead, after many conversations over the years about why they wanted a wedding, and what it would it would like, they agreed to start planning one.
Interested to hear how others navigate the world? Head to our Life section.
For them, celebrating the many talented, local creatives in the community was an important part of their nuptials. Their wedding bands were custom made by Naarm jewellery designer, Rhiannon Smith and Alison’s dress was made by independent label Kateri, using material from the Fabric Lab in Fitzroy. Her purse was customised by another local designer, Perple, with her and Denny’s initials stitched into the lining.
Wanting a relaxed ceremony, the pair invited their immediate families to join them at the Registry Office in Melbourne, before hosting a reception with 60 friends at the Thornbury Bowls Club. “We found this was the perfect balance of small and intimate, yet still gave us the chance to celebrate,” says Alison. After playing lawn bowls as the sun set, the party kept going with a DJ, dance floor and taco truck, followed by a cannoli cart.
Fashion Journal: Hi Alison! How did you and Denny meet and why did you decide to get married?
Alison: We met many years ago in TAFE where we both studied graphic design. We were friends for a while but became a couple by the time we were in university. There was no big proposal for us, more of a conversation over the years if we would want to get married or not.
Covid made me stop and consider it more and we agreed it would be a nice thing to do. It’s not very romantic actually but we wrote up a plan to see if having a wedding, within the budget we would want to spend, would even be possible. Once we worked out how it could work, we decided to do it.
I decided I didn’t want an engagement ring and liked the idea of just doing wedding rings. So we got in touch with Rhiannon Smith. I own a few pieces by Rhiannon and liked the idea of working with an independent jeweller to create something special. I opted for a gold ring set with some coloured stones. Denny had a gold ring made from the same recycled gold as mine.
Tell me about the venue you chose for your wedding.
We decided to have a small ceremony with just our immediate families at the Registry Office in Melbourne city. We knew we wanted something small and relaxed for the ceremony. Afterwards, we had a party of 60 people at the Thornbury Bowls Club. We found this was the perfect balance of small and intimate, yet still gave us the chance to celebrate with our friends and family across the day and evening.
Where was your outfit from and what was the process of sourcing it?
I knew I really wanted to support local, Melbourne labels if possible with my outfit and I’m so happy I was able to do so. My dress was custom made by Kateri, a small independent label. I met with Ruby, the designer and she took my ideas and inspiration to design the dress. She sourced fabric options and we ended up choosing a special bonded chiffon from Fabric Lab in Fitzroy.
After a few fittings over a few months, it was all complete! The process was so fun and easy. I love the pieces Ruby makes for Kateri and my references and ideas worked really well with her aesthetic. I knew I wanted a more casual and relaxed bridal dress but with some special details, and I knew that a traditional bridal store dress wouldn’t feel like me.
My bag was custom made by Perple. It’s the Nami Bag but I customised it by choosing a special pink fabric. Although I was initially thinking the bag would be white, I knew I would get lots more wear out of a pink bag after the wedding and I really wanted to keep wearing it. I initially saw [Peple’s designer] Hol’s pieces at Melbourne Fashion Week last year, including a gown in the same pink fabric and fell in love with her designs. She customised the inside lining of the bag with mine and Denny’s initials stitched in, which was such a sweet surprise.
My pink polka dot veil was a DIY project I made with my mum, and I wore gold daisy flower earrings with freshwater pearls by Adelaide jeweller, Naomi Murrell. My pink sandal heels were Camper but I changed into some Birkenstock Arizona sandals in the exact same shade of pink when the sun was setting for the lawn bowls and dance floor. A nod to my German family perhaps!
What about Denny’s outfit?
Denny’s suit was by YMC and he found it at The Standard Store in Fitzroy. He knew he wanted to wear something more casual than a suit but not too casual. This was the perfect in between and the navy seersucker fabric had a special something extra to it. He wore a white Norse Projects shirt and Thom Browne shoes he already owned.
In terms of beauty, tell us about the look you went for on the day.
One of my good friends Lisa is a makeup artist but by the time we had planned our wedding date she was already booked! She did a makeup trial with me and suggested what kind of bridal look would work, as she knows me so well. I ended up taking this plan to Mecca and had my makeup done there on the morning of the wedding. It was actually really relaxed and my best friend came with me to get hers done as well.
Lots of makeup artists wanted to book for a whole wedding party but considering as we weren’t having bridesmaids and groomsmen, booking at Mecca was actually great (and budget friendly). I went for a natural, glowy look with some pink tones for my eyes and lips, matching back to my outfit. My hair was really simple – I kept it out and straight with a centre part, which is how I always wear it. I went to my hairdresser Lucky Buster in Brunswick East on the morning of and clipped in my veil when getting ready.
What did you do to celebrate after the ceremony?
We had a party at the Thornbury Bowls Club and it was the perfect venue! The weather was so good to us so we were able to play lawn bowls as the sun set. We had a DJ and we were on the dance floor most of the night. We honestly had so much fun!
We had Taco Truck at the bowls club for dinner. It was so yum and the perfect casual food for our wedding, everyone loved it. For dessert, Cannoleria came with their cannoli cart and we had a small wedding cake by Bakes By Her. We wanted a simple, vintage looking cake, so we went with this classic, frilly, all white cake with cherries. The cake topper of the bride and groom was my parents wedding cake topper from the 1980s. We really lent into all things vintage!
Tell us about the photography. How did you capture the event?
Our friend Edwina Hollick was our photographer. We took photos with her around Brunswick before the ceremony, then at the Registry Office and onto the reception at the Bowls Club. I scouted some locations around Brunswick for the earlier photos as we wanted to capture this time in our lives of where we live and sneak in a few photos with our dog Crumpet too.
We felt really comfortable with Ed as I’ve worked with her over the years on many jobs and personal projects – it was just a no brainer to ask her to shoot our wedding! I also have a love for film photography and knew the vintage vibe of the bowls club looked so incredible shot on film. So, we hired April Crivelli to shoot some rolls of film at our reception as well. I work with April and knew her love for all things vintage and film photography would be perfect. We love the combo of the digital and film images from across the day!
Did you have any other fun or unique quirks that you incorporated into your wedding?
Denny is a designer and developer, so instead of doing printed invitations, we designed and he built a custom website. It incorporated some of my film photos I had taken of the venue, coasters from the Bowls Club, photobooth strips of us and some fancy animations. We were able to collect RSVPs through the website and used the same branding for a few things on the day like our signage and colour palette.
We also worked with a lot of small businesses local to our area – Taco Truck, Bakes By Her and Babylon Flowers (who created my flower bouquet) are all Brunswick-based which was important to us and we loved having them be a part of our day.
We spent a few years interrogating what aspects of a wedding really mattered to us and what didn’t so much. Focusing on what did matter kept costs down and made the whole thing feel a lot less stressful than what it could’ve been. We went with our initial gut feelings for pretty much every decision and that really worked for us!
Keep up with Alison here.
This article Inside a vintage-inspired Melbourne wedding with a cannoli cart and lawn bowls appeared first on Fashion Journal.
2025-04-17 10:07:00
#vintageinspired #Melbourne #wedding #cannoli #cart #lawn #bowls
Source link
