Real Weddings

Catherine and John
Allely Estate

Photography by Amanda Thomas Photography

“We were celebrating our four-year anniversary when John surprised me with tickets to Greece. I was so, so excited, as I had always wanted to go. I figured that it was just a trip to celebrate our years together. When I told my coworkers about the vacation, they all insisted he was going to propose. Thinking that they were joking, I laughed this off. As the trip drew closer, however, I started wondering if it might be the case. A couple of months later, we were in Santorini together, exactly as I had dreamed. On our third day there, John had told me that he had planned the whole evening for us: we were going to take sunset photos around the caldera, then have dinner at the Old Athenian House overlooking shimmering waters. I was busy wondering why we were paying someone else to take photos for us when we could snap our own - something had to be up. John was acting pretty suspicious. We toured around the city, marvelling at buildings and taking bunches of photos. Somewhere along the line, the photographer instructed me to turn towards the water while John was behind me, feigning a candid shot. He was in on the whole thing. When I turned back around, John was on one knee, asking me to marry him so we could spend the rest of our lives together. I said, yes! We wanted a garden wedding. Lots of greenery, flowers, sunshine, fresh air - the kind of natural beauty that would only make our special day even more special. When we went to Allely Estate, we fell in love. It was also important to us that our immediate family all had roles to play at our wedding. We wanted them to feel included in our love, and it ended up giving our wedding all these magical touches that made everything even better. Things like my sister hand-making all of our wedding favours (an assortment of delectable chocolate bark) elevated our day in ways we didn’t expect, and we’re so thankful we took that extra step in including everyone. One of the best decisions was a last-minute one: getting a videographer. We weren’t really sure about it at first, but we went with JetMo Project, and it was incredible. We’ve now got a wedding film to help us relive all the little details, like gliding down the aisle to Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls. When we watched the film for the first time since getting married, we were so moved. Every moment came back to us - it was worth every penny knowing we now have this day forever.”

Thanks to all the contributing vendors:

Venue: Allely Estate
Photography: Amanda Thomas Photography
Dress: Jessica Bridal
Cake: Paula Jane Cakes
Florals: Blush
Hair & Makeup: YuYu Jin Li
Styling: Twelve Tables, Paper Darling, Euro Glam, Blush, Allely Estate
Videography: JetMo Project