katie + matt
(December 28, 2022 in Sydney, Australia)
In this blog post, we hear from a bride who planned her second wedding from abroad with the help of her mother-in-law. She shares her experience of wedding dress shopping and the joy of having her two best friends pick out "the dress". On the day-of, the bride got ready with her new family and enjoyed the special moments of walking down the aisle together and having family members do readings. The reception was filled with good food, laughter, and dancing, with the bride and groom even performing a choreographed dance-off. The bride's advice to future brides is to make choices that make them happy and to remember to root all their choices in love and kindness.
Katie looked stunning in our Calla Blanche gown. The glitter tulle and lace appliques sparkled in their fantastic reception setting. The off-the-shoulder dainty sleeves with lace detail bring an ethereal, whimsical look to this classy gown. The beautiful, long train with the horsehair trim is striking and floats behind the couple as they celebrated their special day!
By our real bride, Katie:
How was wedding dress shopping and wedding planning for you? What was your vision?
This was actually our second wedding. We got married in June with my family and our American friends and then went to Sydney over Christmas to have our marriage blessed in a church and celebrate with Matt’s family. Planning it from abroad was somehow both more difficult and also much easier. Thankfully my mother-in-law was able to really make big choices and provide insight from down under for us! But planning a wedding sight unseen, meeting people only via email until the day-of provides a level of excitement to the day that was very different from June! Shopping at Dearly was probably the best planning part. I used to work bridal so I knew exactly what I liked and looked good in, and the stylists were so helpful and responsive. My two best friends ended up picking out “the dress” which was so special and such an incredible way to have my friends with me on the day of!
How did it go the day-of?
The day of was so seamless. Matt, his brother, and his dad went golfing while his mom, aunts, and cousin got ready at the house altogether with charcuterie and champagne! My two favorite “ch” words! Since my family couldn’t make it I spent a long time on the phone with my mom before starting to get ready. It was special to get to do my mother-in-law’s hair and then getting to bond with my new family. I did my own hair and makeup which went super well thanks to lots of practice—shoutout to Urban Decay setting spray! The boys got back from golf and I was able to get dressed with Matt which felt so special and low-stress for him to be the one zipping me into my dress. When we got to the church we waited outside and greeted our guests, which felt so nice.
It was important to us to have a church ceremony after our June wedding, and it was one of my favorite memories to walk down the aisle together at Matt’s childhood church which just happened to be painted my favorite color yellow! His cousin (and mine too now!) Brooke was the best and so kindly held my bouquet and rings, and we had family members do four incredible readings. We walked out of the church and went straight to the Epping Club! I had never been and was blown away by how kind and helpful they all were. On such a hot day, it was amazing to have the bridal room that we could go to with air conditioning. We felt really lucky to get family photos done with Matt’s grandparents and some fun portraits of us. We felt so loved by everyone there even though they probably see weddings daily!
Our coordinator from EC, Zoe, saved the day leading us into the room to the applause of family and friends. We ate good food, had a slideshow of our relationship going, and laughed so much. Matt’s mom gave a wonderful toast and his dad read one my mom had written back home in Spokane. We cut a cake and then tore up the dance floor! Our first dance was “Like a Virgin” by Madonna. We both had it stuck in our heads for weeks during covid and thought it would be funny for the first dance—a very choreographed dance-off! We couldn’t have had more fun and danced so hard with the kids and friends and each other. So much of it was just “winging it” because we planned it overseas and had already legally gotten married, but it ended up being beautiful and one of my favorite days with my husband.
What would be your advice to future brides?
Make choices that make you happy and it will come together as a cohesive beautiful day in the end. In the end, you end up marrying the love of your life, the details won’t matter and it will be a happy memory no matter how it goes! Remember to root all your choices in love and kindness.
Dress: Calla Blanche
Venue: The Epping Club
