Inside Queensland couple’s stunning Gold Coast wedding

With a red carpet, trees, stunning floral displays and 250 guests, this Queensland wedding was a showstopper.

3 min read

October 11, 2023 - 10:11AM

QWeekend

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Christine Liu and Ivan Tan created the grand and extravagant wedding of their dreams.
The Brisbane couple, who have been together for three years, celebrated their “enchanted forest”- themed wedding on June 4 this year at The Grand Ballroom at The Star Gold Coast.

Florals filled the room from ceiling to floor, the bride walked down a red-carpet aisle lined with trees and the couple’s 250 guests were treated to delicately packed favours including individual candy bags.

The showstopping elements continued to the wedding cake, with an engineer helping to pull together the design, made by sought-after baker Ekaterina from Ekats Couture Cakes.

There were more than 250 guests in attendance at the wedding of Christine and Ivan. Picture: Eric Wang

How did you meet? We met in 2012 at a mutual friend’s house-warming. However, it wasn’t until later that I found out Ivan had already Facebook stalked me as we had quite a lot of mutual friends. Through later events, we grew to be close friends as we have similar backgrounds and values growing up.

The wedding of Christine and Ivan. Picture: Eric Wang

The proposal? It was on April 9, 2022. We had our usual date night. Ivan took a detour to a suburban street in Newstead, which held a great significance to him. It was a place of regret where we were supposed to have our first kiss but Ivan “stuffed it up”. After a suspicious stroll, Ivan got on to his knees and popped the question, wanting this place of regret to become a place that both of us will never forget. After I said “yes”, Ivan surprised me with another “detour” to the W Brisbane hotel. A suite was prepared with rose petals laid out throughout the room while all family members were on standby via video call.

The wedding of Christine and Ivan. Picture: Eric Wang

First dance song? Only You (And You Alone) by John Splithoff.

How did you choose your wedding venue? We required a place that was able to accommodate a large numbers of guests, was convenient for guests to stay, protected from weather and able to accommodate guests with disability.

The wedding of Christine and Ivan. Picture: Eric Wang

How did you choose your wedding dress? Christine: I started looking for wedding dresses three months prior to the wedding. I went to multiple local providers and struggled to find what I truly had in mind that could be available at such short notice so had it made overseas.

What were your thoughts waiting at the end of the aisle for Christine? Ivan: This is it. This is it. You can do this. Don’t freak out. Stay calm.

The wedding of Christine and Ivan. Picture: Eric Wang

What was the most stressful part of wedding planning? Finding the right suppliers to create the looks we wanted. There was no one-stop shop that could fulfil our vision.

Any surprising details about your wedding? The fate of meeting Eric the photographer. Our original photographer had to pull out last minute – leaving us scrambling around three weeks out. Stars aligned. We met with Eric and instantly clicked.

The epic cake at Christine and Ivan’s wedding. Picture: Eric Wang

What was the standout moment of the day?Ivan: The first look of the wedding venue. From aspiration to actualisation. The feeling of awe and satisfaction. Christine: Same and also the realisation that everyone at the venue was there to celebrate us. The feeling of being surrounded by people who we love and who love us back.

Can you describe the details at your reception? Christine: We had sourced white arched table number plates with gold fonts on them. A large cherry blossom tree on each of the tables as the centrepiece and electric candles around them.

The wedding of Christine and Ivan. Picture: Eric Wang

What was the budget for your wedding? $100k

Top wedding hack?Ivan: Just let one person plan everything.

Christine: Silk flowers are just as impressive as real flowers, it could save a lot of money. Focus on the big items first, such as the centrepieces, table flowers/decor. Then use the leftover budget for smaller items such as table number decorations, cutlery, placecards etc. I wrote the placecards after buying them at Kmart. But we spent $8k just for the ceiling wisteria. Have all the bridesmaids help you with wedding favours, two of my bridesmaids flew over from Canada and Shanghai just to help me wrap 250 cups; stuff 250 bags that came with rabbit ears (2023 is the Year of the Rabbit) with candies and decorate each candy bag. My family helped too!

Christine and Ivan were both in awe of the venue. Picture: Eric Wang

Tell us about your cake. The cake was by Ekats Couture Cakes, made by the talented Ekaterina, who is based in Brisbane but flies around the world to deliver her highly sought-after cake-decoration classes. Decoration of the cake was a brainchild of Ekat who consulted with her husband who is an engineer. The cake features a floating spiral floral halo and the flavour was Russian honey cake. It was love at first taste for us – and it was one of the raves of the night. The cake was $4k. It was so popular that there was none left.