Our Wedding - Saturday 24th 2022
We got engaged when I turned 30 in Postanio 2019 so after living in London, multiple covid lockdowns we finally were able to get married. We originally were supposed to get married 30th October 2021 the same days my parents but covid lockdown made us reschedule. It turned out for the better. Due to the late reschedule there weren’t many dates left to choose from. We wanted a Saturday so we settle for 24th September 2022 which was the same day as the Grand Final. Luckily, most of my families and friends aren’t big AFL supporters.
We managed to settle all our wedding tasks a week before the wedding so the week leading up to the wedding was quite relaxed. A few days before the wedding I got my nails done and facials.
The day before the wedding we booked a hotel for 3 nights at Shadow Play by Peppers. The bridesmaids stayed at the hotel with us the night before so they didn’t have to travel to the hotel in the morning. Nicole flew in from Sydney and Dan, the best man, came from Amsterdam were all in town for our wedding. The whole bridal party and Nicole joined us a lovely BBQ dinner at Meatworks. We were all in bed by 10am.
The next morning the girls got their hair and make up done first and Matt got us breakfast. The groomsmen joined us a bit later. They got ready at home and when they arrived Matt and the groomsmen did some pre wedding photos. I got ready last I chose a up do with natural glam make up. I was very happy how the whole look turned out. Special thanks to my glam team Kelvin (hair stylist) and Jen (Make up artist).
Matt and I filmed and took photos our first look at each other and made our way down stairs where our chauffer who picked us up in the Silver Phantom Rolls Royce. Bill the chauffer was amazing he made me feel like a princess. He droved us to our photo locations: Carlton Gardens, Parliament, Windor Hotel, Chanel store and South Melbourne Town Hall. The photo shoot went very smoothly we were even ahead of schedule. After the photoshoot, we went to the reception.
The wedding was held at Luminare, South Melbourne. The reception was on top of shopping mall. We held the ceremony on one of their balcony. Our reception was a seated down style wedding where the room had large glass windows that looked out to the city. That was one of the reason why we liked the venue. We also wanted the ceremony and reception to be all at the same place.
At reception, the bridemaids and I touched up our make up. We had issues with our lighting which eventually got resolved. We wanted fairy lights across the whole ceiling but we only got it over the dance floor which were place crooked. After the wedding we got the full refund. They were minor hicups on the day. The bridal party helped usher the guests for the ceremony. The celebrant was Mike Larkan was the channel 10 weather man who did an amazing job, he briefed us all on the day what to do . He made the ceremony interactive and engaging. I would highly recommend him.
My dad walked me out for the ceremony. The ceremony was 4pm. It was a clear sky, cold but sunny. All my dearest families and friends were there. I was so happy and excited how the day has unfold so far. The ceremony went for 30 minutes our mothers were witnesses to our marriage. After ceremony, we took photos with guests and guests got to enjoy canapes and drinks for an hour before being seated inside.
We managed to take all the photos with the guests. Once, everyone were seated inside. Cam, who was our Mc, welcome all the guest and introduced the parents, bridal party and us. We walked out to ‘Feel so Close’ by Calvin Harris. Matt and I met at Sterosonic when Calvin Harris was headlining.
We all stood in front of our table while our parents sat down. We had a toasted with everyone and quickly cut our cake. We organised a three course banquet for everyone and an ice cream cart as an extra treat.
The speeches was kick started by Matt’s parents and then my parents. After my parents’ speeches their friends performed a Vietnamese song for us. We had more speeches from the two maid of honor and the best man. We did our speeches last.
We did our first dance to ‘A whole new world’ from the Aladinn movie and we also did a group pop dance with our bridal party to open the dance floor. Ice cart was rolled out when dessert came out. Finally, we were free from our duties. We were free to drink, dance and chat to people.
The wedding ended at 11pm however, we kicked on with an after party at the Albion Rooftop bar. The last song for the night was ‘Sandstorm’. We booked a private room at the Albion. Most of our friends all went to the after party. It was so fun. I cried on the dance floor just so happy how everything all turned out. I was in bed by 4am. It was a very messy end for me hahahahaha. Thank you to my best friends who looked after me all the way to the end.
It was happiest day of my life just to be with all the people that l love and care.Thank you to everyone who made time to attend the wedding and those who wished us well.
To my hushband, Matthew Volders, thank you for sharing your life with me. I look forward our future together. I love you.