Weddings of the week: Wedding planner and bridal hairstylist find love

IT COULD be the plot of a rom com: professional wedding planner meets bridal hairstylist among matrimonial mayhem, they share a few drinks, fall in love and plan their own spectacular wedding.

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RANIA KHOURI and JOHN ALTEN

Dress: Steven Khalil bespoke wedding gown and Steven Khalil bespoke going away dress

Honeymoon: Maui, Cancun and Waikiki for three weeks

When and where married: December 5 2015, St Michael’s Melkite Catholic Cathedral in Darlington and Sydney Town Hall

IT COULD be the plot of a rom com: professional wedding planner and MC meets bridal hairstylist among matrimonial mayhem, they share a few drinks, fall in love and get to planning their own spectacular wedding.

But as always, in real life, there’s a little more to the story.

Both John Alten and Rania Khouri knew of each other from their work in the wedding industry, but had shared little more than a few cursory greetings before they both found themselves working at the same celebration in November 2012.

“You do your job and go home,” Rania says.

“I knew John through the industry; he had this personality, or so I thought, that you couldn’t really talk to him.”

Once both of their duties for that particular wedding were over, the pair started to chat over drinks.

“I told him I was a scotch drinker,” Rania laughs.

“He was thinking I drink scotch on the rocks, but I drink it with Coke and was too shy to tell him.

“By the time I got to the fourth, I was like ‘I usually drink scotch with Coke’ and he said ‘you could have fooled me’. I think by the second or third it didn’t taste too bad.”

During the conversation, Rania, 33, told John, 42, she was considering a move to Dubai for work.

Despite her plans, John asked Rania out, but she took some convincing before accepting the date.

Rania admits she was intrigued, but hadn’t initially considered John as a romantic prospect.

“I just thought he was a great guy. At that time I was looking into moving overseas, but obviously that didn’t happen,” she says.

After the first couple of dates, their romantic connection grew. Then several months into their relationship, the couple started discussing marriage.

Despite working in the wedding industry, both say their life experience had made them approach the union with a pragmatic outlook.

“The way we did everything was so different to past relationships,” Rania says.

“The way we tackled things, everything was together.”

John agrees that when it came to progressing through different stages in their relationship, they wanted to write their own script

“A lot of couples think after a while they’ve got to propose — they are probably getting married with blinkers one, but we made sure we all the cards were on the table.”

John decided to pop the question over a picnic in November last year, and Rania initially thought he was joking.

“He said in a roundabout I want you to be my wife and I said ‘shut up, you’re talking crap’. He said no, I’m being serious, and he had the box with the ring. I hadn’t said yes until then, I was too excited.”

When it came to planning the wedding, John called on his professional experience.

“The theme was regal, so we had to make sure everything was regal; from invites to wedding dress to what I wore and what the transport was. Even menu and food-wise, we wanted to make sure it wasn’t over the top,” he says.

The couple’s 425 guests witnessed the December wedding ceremony at St Michael’s Melkite Catholic Cathedral in Darlington before welcoming the couple to the reception at Sydney Town Hall, with people in attendance from Melbourne, Lebanon and the United States.

The couple employed classic elements throughout the black tie event. They used a specially designed crest for invitations, Rolls Royces for transportation, floral design by Vesna Grasso, and a seven-tier cake from Faye Cahill.

Entertainment was provided by traditional Lebanese drummers, two Lebanese bands and contemporary music from soul outfit Brown Sugar.

Their first dance was to Mark Antony and Tina Arena’s song I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You.

“We used to sing that in the car when we first started dating,” John says.

“I’d do Mark Antony and she’d do Tina Arena.”

Despite the glamorous touches to the day, the couple were keen to keep their relationship at the heart of the day’s celebrations.

“We wanted to make sure the wedding was a reflection of both of us and what we wanted rather than what was impressive,” John says.

“We wanted to make sure people understand the reasons why we were getting married - we want to be with each other.”

Rania says the couple love to reflect on their special day.

“As beautiful everything was, people forget about that — the atmosphere at the wedding was phenomenal. Looking around and seeing everybody smiling you could see that people was genuinely very happy for us.”

Picture credit: GM Photographics

* THE Sunday Telegraph celebrates the love stories of couple’s around NSW in our weddings of the week feature. Send your recent wedding pictures to [e-mail] with your contact details.

ZEYNEP BENLI, 27, and HUSSAIN ALAMEDDINE

Dress: A couture French designed by Personalised Wedding Couture

Honeymoon: Thailand for 14 days

ZEYNEP and Hussain met in 2013 on a night out with friends at Sydney club Marquee. Zeynep and

Hussain noticed each other and began talking. Attracted to each other’s personalities, the love between the two quickly blossomed.

Hussain proposed with a pear-shaped diamond engagement ring at a picnic on the harbour in May 2014. They were married on September 25, 2015, in Zeynep’s garden.

Picture credit: Ultimate Wedding Photography

BROOKE NEIL, 24, and NATHAN CAMPBELL, 32

Dress: Beaded original dress by Melanie Jayne,

Honeymoon: Hired a house on the cliff looking over the ocean at Sapphire Beach

BROOKE and Nathan met on the South Coast of NSW in March 2011.

While working in Narooma’s local pub, Brooke caught the attention of Nathan.

The pair chatted regularly and before they knew it, they were living with each other and expecting their son LeBron.

It was a stroll along the beach when Nathan got down on one knee and asked the question.

They were married barefoot on Emerald Beach with their closest family and friends on August 30, 2014.

Picture credit: Karina Smith Photography

KRISTIELLE TANAKA, 27, and ONDER OZLUK, 28

Dress: White silk couture gown designed by Personalised Weddings Couture

Honeymoon: Plans to spend five weeks travelling around Europe

KRISTIELLE first met Onder in April 2007 through his cousin and began dating three weeks after they met.

The pair refers to themselves as “not your average couple” and tend to disagree on everything and wouldn’t have it any other way.

Onder popped the question on a cliffside walk in May 2013.

They tied the knot at Oatlands House with the celebration shifting to Macquarie Paradiso with 200 guests and a special performance from Brazilian dancers and a surprise song from Kristielle’s younger sister.

Picture credit: Splendid Photography