Revealed: Sydney’s top wedding planners reveal most impressive, challenging events
Sydney’s top wedding planners have shared an inside look into their most challenging and elaborate weddings as couples race down the aisle in a post in a post-pandemic wedding boom.
North Shore
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Sydney’s wedding industry is back with a bang after two years of Covid-induced lockdowns as the sudden burst of celebratory demand throws up new challenges for the industry.
Latest figures from the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages show the number of couples tying the knot in NSW topped more than 4000 in February this year after a pandemic-imposed drought forced 64 per cent of couples to put their nuptials on hold since 2020.
While the wedding industry is once again booming, the surge in demand has presented new challenges including supply chain backlogs, labour shortages, and inflation.
The rush down the aisle has also been fuelled by couples who went ahead and got hitched during stricter pandemic times are now on their second go-around with larger groups of family and friends.
Sarah Johnston from girl Friday Weddings said couples are having to plan their special day well in advance to secure venues.
“Ever since lockdown has lifted we’ve had to produce a backlog of weddings which were postponed as well as new events,” she said.
“Workload almost doubled since the end of lockdown, with many popular venues being completely booked out, and we’re seeing a rise in midweek weddings.”
Kerrie Wood, planning and styling team leader at Luxe-Unforgettable Events, said securing wedding vendors and staff was another key challenge.
“It’s created a backlog in the delivery process and we’re still are being impacted to a smaller degree by Covid causing further postponements to bridal and wedding parties,” she said.
“When weddings or life celebrations are postponed it becomes a logistic nightmare to garner the venues, suppliers and vendors already in contract plus wedding guests to be available all on the same day for a reset. Basically it becomes an entire replan,” she said.
Wedding planners say current trends dominating the post-pandemic wedding include “intimate wedding experiences” focusing on “life celebrations” with family and friends, midweek weddings to secure venues, along with outdoor weddings and events staged at home estates.
“The most common trend we’re seeing is the ‘little formalities’, most couples now just want the day to be a big party instead of formalities dragging out throughout the day,” Emily Barnes, from Emily Jean Events said.
Diane Khoury, of DK Events, said there was also increased focus on the experience of family members and friends attending weddings.
“One of the key wedding trends we have seen come through in recent times, are couples making their wedding more of an experience for their guest instead of just a dinner or lunch for a reception,” she said.
“Another big trend we have observed are destination weddings and more intimate weddings.”
Despite challenges facing the sector, many planners say working in the industry is a labour of love.
“I joined the industry around 14 years ago and much has changed - it’s not the glamorous job that many think it is. It’s long hours, late nights, early morning bedtimes and doing jobs that sometimes no one else will do,” Ms Johnston said.
”Despite all of that, that moment before guests arrive and everything looks exactly how it should be, you know you’ve created an unforgettable day for your couple and their
appreciation means more than anything. That’s the pay-off.”
We take a look at some of the top wedding planners in Sydney who have shared a look inside their most impressive and challenging work:
JOSIE GITTANY – EVENTS BY JOSIE GITTANY
We are proud of all our events no matter how elaborate they are, however the wedding of Bobby and Bianca involved a complete transformation of the venue. Everything from the walls, flooring, chairs, tables, staging all was brought in to completely transform the space into something truly magical. The transformation began at 8pm the night before the wedding, it took 20 hours straight plus a talented team of individuals to bring this wedding together.
The actual set up of the venue happened with little to no challenges, however the custom trees that were designed for the special day made from iron meant sourcing and ensuring that the new manufacturer could complete the task in time. The inspiration behind these trees was taken from the Gardens by the bay in Singapore, mixing man-made with nature’s beautiful florals creating that wow moment when you walked into the room.
EMILY BARNES – EMILY JEAN EVENTS
The couple had come on board 18 months prior to their wedding day. Over this time we had established a really good relationship with the couple. The wedding was held at Ottimo House, Denham Court in April this year. The day was a wet one so we did have to move the ceremony indoors, but it was still a gorgeous occasion despite the floods affecting the area. The reason we found this wedding the most rewarding was the vendors chosen to work on this wedding were an A team – they all worked well together and there were no issues on the day. The couple and guests had the best time ever, and so did all the vendors. Everything about this wedding came together so seamlessly
The inspiration behind the design was minimalist. The venue itself was so gorgeous that we really didn’t need to do much to bring the space to life. The colour scheme was nude tones with hints of elegant style, and a mix of high and low centrepieces. We really try to get the florist involved in this process as much as possible to help with bringing the aesthetics to life. The wedding style really reflected them as a couple which is what we love to see in our weddings.
SARAH JOHNSTON – GIRL FRIDAY WEDDINGS
The ceremony was held at Mosman Art Gallery followed by Zest Boathouse. We produced and planned the wedding from start to finish, and it’s one of my favourite events. For me, there is no going past the quicksand rose and the phalaenopsis orchid, and we had lots of them. The brief from the client was refined and I loved the client’s eye for detail and style. Both venues were challenging in that they entailed substantial floral installations. This always requires lengthy sequential set ups, particularly where we are rigging any lighting or fresh hanging gardens from the ceiling.
It’s difficult bringing someone’s vision to life, no matter how small or big the event may be and it all just comes down to leaning on thorough planning because there is only one day to execute. If we are working with a client on styling an event, the initial process is to get a sense of what their style is, look at any images of decor they love (and equally what they don’t). We then put a brief together which is a snapshot of all the design elements we can incorporate to achieve their look, build the budget and engage suppliers.
DIANE KHOURY – DK EVENTS
The wedding of James and Leith was held at Rivermead Estate nestled in the Gold Coast Hinterlands. Inspiration for this wedding was drawn from the location and its surroundings. The aim was to allow guests to travel through the estate and to experience it in its entirety. On arrival via private coaches, guests were dropped off at the front gate where they were escorted onto buggies and driven down to the main house gates. From this point they were met with some champagne and enjoyed a short stroll to the ceremony area.
The ceremony area was positioned off-side at the front of the house which allowed the house to shine, while equally allowing the ceremony area to take centre point. Following the ceremony, guests enjoyed the sounds of a string quartet and were served canapes and drinks while lounging on furniture on the lawn. As the sun began to set, guests were escorted down a narrow driveway in buggies where they were met with a Scotsman playing the bagpipes. Truly a magnificent and touching moment for many, namely the family who are of Scottish descent. The reception was held on the polo field – a large open and flat space surrounded by lush foliage and impressive trees.
The event included an Atrium – a glass 390 sqm marquee which was built from the ground up – and dressed in a ceiling installation featuring steel planter boxes filled with flowers and an abundance of crystal. This event came with more than we expected – the rain in Queensland was something few people have seen and the polo field was approximately two metres under water a few weeks before the wedding. The ground was wet and access to the property was becoming limited. The build of the marquee started eight days before the wedding and four days in there was an enormous downpour that led to the entire site being closed. Trucks were bogged and equipment was out of reach.
The owner of the estate was questioning if there was another location to move the wedding to. This was not an option! With 14 hours to turn things around, we had to source 1000 sqm of a specific lightweight truck mat which holds machinery. After hundreds of phone calls, we finally found it in Sydney. The next challenge was to find a truck which could pick up and drive direct to Queensland. Again after many attempts and endless calls, we secured a semi trailer and within three hours, the goods were picked up and on their way. Once the floor covering arrived on site it delayed the entire production by a day and a half. Suppliers worked long hours to bring it up to speed, and to finally deliver a flawless and spectacular event.
DIVINE EVENTS
The wedding of Breeannah and Daniel was held in the Dalang Ballroom at Taronga Zoo Function Centre on May 14. The couple approached us with an elaborate wedding theme of ‘70s retro’ / ‘disco fever’. This theme pushed the common design boundaries in weddings of everything needing to be white, blush or gold.
The challenge with this design was to preserve the wedding aesthetic while bringing in as much colour and fun as possible to mimic the couple’s personality and vision. The wedding was brought to life by our stylist Chloe who used the layering of textures and reflections of light rebounding to create ambience. The unique concept of rotating disco balls on all guest tables, complemented by bright coloured flowers, tinted cut glassware and assorted citrus’ fruits for added texture is what elevated the design.
KERRIE WOOD – LUXE-UNFORGETTABLE EVENTS
We have just delivered a wedding day that had to be re-visioned, replanned, and restyled for Jane and Harlan. The couple, their families, and every wedding guest who commented on the day and continues to comment on the delightful warmth, ambience, and intimacy of smaller wedding day activation overwhelmingly embraced the intimate “vintage country romance” new look and style.
There was still such a feeling of joy, celebration, and beauty, just like any traditional wedding. Of course, this direction will not be for every couple, their families, or friends. It is a very personal decision and no couple should ever feel pressured to reset their planned wedding day within the Covid parameters if that is not what you both really want at this time. It is after all your day.
MELISSA MURRAY – ASHDOWN + BEE
We produced a destination wedding at Emirates One & Only Wolgan Valley, which involved exclusive use of the luxury resort near the Blue Mountains, and several events over the course of the weekend. From arrival dinner on the Friday night, to the wedding ceremony and reception on the Saturday, a recovery lunch and then a ceilidh and dinner on the final night. Events were scattered throughout the property, and each event we designed had a different theme and style brought out through the custom menu created by the chef to the event design we put together for each event.
Inspiration was taken from the couple’s vision, as the venue space and the surroundings to come up with a bespoke design that was unique to them. Yellow wattle featured heavily at the main wedding events, which was seasonal and was scattered around the landscape at the time of the wedding. We brought this inside through hanging pieces from the ceiling over the dining table, and displaying it along the tabletops along with crystal glassware, leather handmade place cards, oatmeal linen and beautiful gold trimmed crockery and gold cutlery.
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