Wedding | Tayla and Khy

Tell us a little about yourselves!

Khy and I met through mutual friends whilst living in Sydney. We were friends for a couple years before finding ourselves on the dancefloor one night locking lips. And then the rest is history! We’ve been together for 8 years now and have been lucky enough to fill our days with good food, good friends, and incredible travels around the world.

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

Khy and I had recently moved to Adelaide at the time of our engagement, which is where I grew up. With most of our guest list living interstate or overseas, we thought it was a good opportunity to show them the beauty of South Australia. We chose Lloyd Brothers in McLaren Vale because the moment we stepped foot on their lawns it felt immediately calm and serene. The landscape felt different than most wineries, with their lush green lawns lined with olive trees and having the rolling vineyards of the Fleurieu Peninsula in the distance. It was perfect!

How many guests did you have?

92 of our favourite people.

What was your budget? 

We did go over our initial budget and this was expected by both of us. When we could see ourselves going over budget, we looked back at our priorities and dropped the things that weren’t necessary or would normally be overlooked. We also DIY’d where we could!

Tell us about your outfits.

My dress was made by the wonderful Couture Love Madness. After searching endlessly for a wedding dress and nothing feeling right, I went down the custom route and it was one of the best decisions I came to. The girls were like fairy godmothers at each fitting. The brocade fabric was chosen for the skirt to resemble a little like kimono fabric. I wore my mum’s vintage pearl earrings and necklace - a last minute decision that tied it all together.

Khy got his suit custom made at Couture Menswear in Adelaide. To pay homage to my mum’s heritage, the lining of his suit is an image of Hokusai’s print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa - which is where my family grew up and still visit. 

Our wedding rings and engagement ring are from Louise Jean Jewellery.

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

Good food and good alcohol was a main priority for us, so having a venue with a menu that would reflect us a couple was how we began our planning. We also had personalised elements that we wanted to incorporate on our day, so these are what drove us to choose Lloyd Brothers Winery. Mark, our venue coordinator allowed us to do whatever our hearts desired. He was a key aspect of making our day run smoothly, even chiming in with ideas to make it that much more special. We wanted to have a venue that could allow us to truly personalise the night for our guests.

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

It felt important for me to incorporate my Japanese heritage on the day. We held a sake ceremony to begin our night, and had one of our guests - an old family friend - to perform the ceremony. We had the sake barrel and wooden masu cups shipped from Japan. Sake was shared amongst our guests and the barrel was finished by the end of the night! 

Khy’s Pop owned an oyster farm and he has fond memories of this - so in honour of him, having oysters at our wedding was a non-negotiable. To our luck, our venue knew a local oyster shucker, so they organised a live oyster shucking station. It was fantastic. 

We also wanted to have customised beers on the day and as a gift for our guests. With the help from Yellow Matter Brewery and our lovely friend Alice who created the artwork for the beer can label, we managed to do just that. To tie it all together, the artwork was a drawing of us dancing, featuring a crane and a turtle from an old Japanese fable to symbolise longevity.

Any tips for couples getting married?

Find a nice bar, order a Negroni, and sit down with each other to make a list of your priorities, then everything else falls around that. Think about alternatives if you can’t fit something in particular into your budget. We knew we couldn’t fit a videographer into our budget but also wasn’t keen on the idea of having one either. Instead, we had a camcorder that our guests took for the night. They filmed messages and took videos of the night from their POV. My brother filmed content on his own camcorder and put together a wedding video for us, which turned out to be one of our favourite things from the day. 

It’s easy to get caught up in the trends and traditions of a wedding, but what everyone will remember and enjoy the most is when the day is authentically a reflection of you and your partner.

Lastly, the day truly does go by in a flash so remember to pause, have a look around at all your loved ones there to celebrate you and soak it all up!

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

Our photographer Sebastian Paynter really captured our day perfectly. His presence was calming and being in front of the camera felt natural. He was a dream to work with and the photographs he got were incredible.

Our florists, Evebud, also created the most beautiful floral and sculptural elements for our day. From day dot I knew I wanted to work with Evie, so it was an absolute dream come true! 

We also felt so honoured to have our friend and singer, Mitch Faoa, fly down from Sydney to sing during our cocktail hour. He has an incredible voice and it was beautiful to have him there on our day.

Photographer: Sebastian Paynter @sebastian_paynter_photo | Flora: Evebud @evebud | Videographer: Camcorder by Tayla's brother | Ceremony & Reception Location: Lloyd Brothers Winery @lloyd.brothers | Celebrant: Amy Harrison  @amy_harrison_celebrant | Hire: (Table Lamps) Honoured Hire 

@honoured_hire & (Lighting) Venue Productions @venue.productions | Makeup: Alisha Babadimas @_alisha_makeup | Hair: Amy Smith @amysmithhairstylistau | Catering: Cargo Catering @cargocateringco | Welcome sign: Tootsi Creative @tootsicreative | Seating Chart & Bar Sign: One Mimosa Please @onemimosaplease | Cocktail Hour Music: Mitch Faoa @mitchfaoa | DJ: Entertainment Adelaide  @entertainmentadelaide | Personalised Beer: Yellow Matter Brewery @yellowmatter.beer | Dress & Veil: Couture Love Madness @couturelovemadness_ | Suits: Couture Menswear  @couturemenswear | Engagement Wedding Ring: Louise Jean Jewellery @louisejeanjewellery | Shoes: Tony Bianco @tonybianco | Necklace & Earrings: Vintage | Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Hansen + Gretel 

@hansenandgretel & Significant Other @the.significant.other