Wedding | Lauren & Arthur

34 minutes ago
7 min read

Tell us a little about yourselves!

We’re Arthur and Lauren – both fly in fly out workers who travel a few 1000kms in opposite directions for work each week, but call Noosa, Australia home.

We met at a pop up beach bar in Noosa in 2022 and we’ve been inseparable since that first evening at Little Cove, a place that we return to most weekends together. We share a love of travel, food, outdoor adventures and music and centre all the time we can around these.

Our natures are opposing in many ways at times. Lauren carries her work personality as an Engineer into her personal life and is generally very planned and methodical, while Arthur is far less tied to routine and a bit more relaxed. This usually lands us somewhere in between with our approach to life.

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

We considered our wedding celebration as the perfect opportunity to indulge in some of our favourite things in life – fancy hotels, elaborate meals and winter evenings. We started out by narrowing down some locations that we love travelling to and places we love eating (knowing that good food was going to be a priority for us), which made Melbourne a clear choice without asking our guests to travel too far.

Lauren has a keen interest in design and architecture, so Hyde Melbourne Place had been on her radar for some time and once we saw the details of the Headliner Suite it felt like a perfect fit for the type of jazzy and intimate celebration we were envisioning.

We had our ceremony and afternoon drinks overlooking the city in the suite, with live piano and saxophone for entertainment (which was one of our highlights of the whole day!). We didn’t fully realise until it was all happening, but being able to spend the night before and the morning after the wedding in the room where it all happened was so special and unique and we’re so thankful to have experienced that.

We knew from the start that neither of us had any desire to have a traditional wedding reception (the anxiety and traditions are not for us!) so we followed with a long dinner at Cutler, which was so cosy and relaxed in the most perfect way for us.

And now we can return to the place we got married and recreate it in a small way every year to celebrate our anniversary!

How many guests did you have?

We had 18 in total, a mix of immediate family and formative friends. We very consciously kept it small for a few reasons – big events and gatherings make us both anxious and drain us quickly, we wanted the celebration to feel intimate and emotionally honest and we wanted to be able to invest in the things that mattered the most to us.

What was your budget?

We spent around $50,000AUD on the entire event, including our outfits and accommodation.

Tell us about your outfits.

I (Lauren) was never interested in overtly bridal designs, and in fact never even tried on a ‘bridal gown’. Instead, I conjured up a vision that was somewhere between silk robe and overcoat but it only existed in my head. There was a particular design by Lola Varma that felt close but not quite so I reached out to ask about the potential to go down a more custom route and I was thrilled when Courtney agreed to. She picked up my ideas (which I couldn’t even find a solid inspiration photo for) and turned them into a reality that was better than I could have ever anticipated – the skill involved in taking a couple of very loose (and likely poorly explained!) ideas and creating what she did was so impressive.

Ironically the gown was the part that cost me the least energy, and the accessories where what I really lost sleep over. In the end I paired the gown with some vintage Christian Dior earrings, a pair of Jude peep toe mules and a hand beaded Pura Utz bag. I also did a small outfit change for the evening, swapping my long ivory silk skirt for a silk dupion mini skirt in a dark brown and a pair of dark brown leather pumps.

Arthur took the opportunity to go down the custom route also, choosing a double breasted P.Johnson suit in a very dark brown, with an open collar shirt and no tie. He paired this with a small opal and gold brooch, a vintage gold Omega watch (gifted to him by Lauren) and pair of RM Williams boots.

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?

When we started to think about how we wanted our wedding look it was immediately obvious that imagining ourselves at the centre of a traditional wedding made us anxious or gave us the ick (no shade to anyone else, that’s just not us). So instead of planning a ‘wedding’ we started planning our dream date day/night and it evolved from there. The parts that we prioritsed and really set the tone for the following choices were a fine dining restaurant dinner, a pre-dinner show and a beautiful hotel.

We were quite intentional about only including things to enhance that feeling of the day for our guests and ourselves – the live piano and saxophone, the dimly lit dinner in a private space with a fireplace and red roses, and the touches of dark red and brown were all consciously chosen to reinforce the feeling of an intimate jazzy date night.

We also spent a lot of time considering how to minimise stress on the day and this meant we skipped quite a lot of the traditional checklist because most of it really didn’t appeal to us. We spent the morning getting ready together, we walked down the aisle together, we did our vows privately in the morning, we skipped a first dance, we had no bridal party or cake, etc. It was such a calm day for both of us because we were so intentional about this part of the planning and none of it feels like anything we missed out on.

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

The timeline of the day was very considered to maximise time together and with our guests and this led us spend the whole morning together slowly getting ready and we also did a large portion of our photos prior to the ceremony, only popping out from our post ceremony drinks for some sunset photos (which honestly was such a nice few moments in the middle of the celebration for just us to take it in and take a few breaths together).

As Lauren’s Dad (Richard) passed away a few years ago it was important to us to find ways to give some space to him on the day. We walked down the aisle together to Into My Arms by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, which was also played at Richard’s funeral. We also did a toast before sitting down to dinner and served everyone a nip of scotch which was his favourite drink. Arthur also surprised Lauren on the morning of the wedding with a locket to keep with her for the day that had photos of Richard inside.

Any tips for couples getting married?

It’s been super eye opening for us when we talk about our wedding just how many people respond with things like ‘oh I wish our day looked more like that’ or ‘I wish we had the courage to skip a bunch of the traditional stuff we felt like we had to do’. Do what feels right to reflect you as a couple so you don’t end up being one of those people!

Also, lean on your vendors. They’ve done this all before so they have the answers or ability to problem solve something far quicker than you can.

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

Tom Coburn – As Lauren has a hobby level interest in photography this felt like our most high stakes vendor to get right. Tom is an absolute magician with a camera and we keep going back to our photos and finding new favourites the more we look. He gave just enough guidance to make us feel less awkward, but still let us do whatever felt natural and the results are phenomenal.

Marry Me Tee – We initially intended to do a registry ceremony, but our day was booked out ~9months in advance so we reluctantly started searching for a celebrant. We met Tee and our introvert anxieties were immediately at rest. She handled our intimate ceremony so perfectly and delivered something so personal and warm. Many guests commented on how it felt just right for us knowing we really shy away from public performances.

Claire at Black Finn – Claire was critical to ensuring the day flowed seamlessly and that the to-do list was well managed in the lead up. She saw the vision for the intimate and minimal approach and considered this at every step of the process. She definitely kept the stress and anxiety at bay and was the reason we could relax into the day and actually enjoy it!

Cutler – Of course they were always going to serve incredible food because this is what they do every day of the year, but the way they went above and beyond to ensure our dinner and private dining space was uniquely ours made it so much more special.

Hyde – Nothing was too much trouble for Hyde, and both the lead up with the planning and the weekend of we felt so taken care of. They went out of their way to make sure it all went to plan and ensure it was a memorable weekend for us. We can’t wait to return!

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Photography & Super 8 Film: Tom Coburn @tomcoburn_ | Planning & Styling: Black Finn Weddings @blackfinnweddings | Flora: Pixie Thorn @pixiethorndesign | Ceremony Location: Hyde Melbourne Place @hydemelbourneplace | Reception Location: Cutler @cutlerandco | Celebrant: Marry Me Tee @marrymetee | Ceremony Space: Headliner Suite @ Hyde | HMUA: The Creative Directory @thecreative