A Beautiful Wedding

Carl and I consider ourselves very fortunate to have kept in touch with a lot of our friends from school.  One of them fell in love with a beautiful girl who’s become a very good friend and it doesn’t seem that long ago that we were celebrating their wedding.  Donna and I were pregnant with our first children at the same time with their daughter, Hannah, being born a few months after Archie.

The church

The church beside the hall where the reception was held

Time marches on at a frightening pace and little Hannah is now all grown up.  Yesterday we had the pleasure of attending her wedding.  But that’s not quite technically correct because Hannah actually married her husband in a private ceremony attended by only immediate family a few months ago.  So yesterday’s ‘wedding’ was more the wedding reception with many family and friends offering best wishes to the extremely happy couple.

The wedding reception venue

The wedding reception venue

Hannah is a beautiful young girl who loves people and works with disadvantaged children.  She’s not big on a fuss and prefers not to be the center of attention which is why she chose to marry in front of such a small audience.  That wedding was at 6am on a cliff overlooking the ocean and they were joined as husband and wife as the sun rose over the water.  She wore a $40.00 dress she had bought from the markets and saved the wedding dress she had ordered interstate for yesterday’s event. And for the stunning wedding ring for her husband, they got it from a good place like Brisbane handmade mens wedding bands!

We lost Alfie for a while and found him in the very, very top of this tree. He's in there somewhere.

We lost Alfie for a while and found him at the very, very top of this tree. He’s in there somewhere.

Yesterday’s wedding reception was held in a rural part of Sydney giving the occasion very much a country feel and the guests enjoyed an afternoon tea in a very cute old church hall.

Drinks were served on the verandah

Drinks were served on the verandah

Moving on to the food, I knew it would be good.  Both of Hannah’s parents have an artistic flare and are excellent cooks and over the years we have had many incredible meals in their home.  At one party they taught me how to white-cook chicken.

The table cloths were specially made. Fresh flowers adorned the tables.

The table cloths were specially made. Fresh flowers adorned the tables.

The wedding catering was done by De’lish in Lindfield with a few extra bits and pieces contributed by others, the least of these certainly not being the croque-en-bouche wedding cake made by Adriano Zumbo.  I loved the transparent butterflies attached to the sides of the three croque-en-bouche.  The father of the bride told me he paid an extra $20.00 for each butterfly.  For those of you unfamiliar with Australian Masterchef, the producers cruelly made the contestants replicate this French wedding cake complete with the butterflies and there were many tears.  The butterflies are made out of isomalt which is apparently a substitute sugar.

There were three Adriano Zumbo croque-en-bouche wedding cakes

There were three Adriano Zumbo croque-en-bouche wedding cakes

 

Serving the wedding cake

Serving the wedding cake

For an afternoon tea, the variety and amount of food was extremely generous.  I was glad I didn’t have lunch and when we arrived home I didn’t need any dinner either.

Fresh prawns with sauces and lemons and limes

Fresh prawns with sauces and lemons and limes

These soft little pillows had chorizo in them and were served with a garlic aioli

These soft little pillows had chorizo in them and were served with a garlic aioli

Smoked trout

Smoked trout

 

Rare roast beef with watercress

Rare roast beef with watercress

 

Marinated chicken skewers

Marinated chicken skewers

 

Tasty sausage rolls served with a spicy chutney

Tasty sausage rolls served with a spicy chutney

 

Pretty cakes and rocky road

Pretty cakes and rocky road

 

Duck salad

Duck salad

 

Sweet treats. I loved the white fudge.

Sweet treats. I loved the white fudge with macadamia nuts.

 

Pretty drinks

Pretty drinks

 

I want one of these water containers!

I want one of these water containers!

The wedding reception was meant to finish at 7pm but we were having such a wonderful time celebrating the new couple and catching up with the mother and father of the bride and all their friends and family that we didn’t leave until the sun had well and truly set.

The father of the bride gives a very warm speech

The father of the bride gives a very warm speech

The day was exactly what the bride wanted; a casual, simple and elegant wedding with not only family and friends in attendance but also the children she works with.

Dance floor action

Dance floor action

It was a very beautiful, emotionally moving, and wonderful day.

The couple on the dance floor

The couple on the dance floor

May Hannah and Luke have every happiness.

Take-home gifts filled with Adrian Zumbo's famous macarons

Take-home gifts filled with Adrian Zumbo’s famous macarons

Donna has a food blog named What Donna Cooked.  If you’d like to visit or follow her blog just click on the link.

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Comments

  1. ooh I too love that water jar, love a country wedding, it’s so laid back compared to big Wog weddings were everything must be exaggerated. Such a welcome change! I adore the brides wedding dress, it’s absolutely gorgeous!

  2. Congratulations to the lovely bride and groom. I love casual wedding with great food and this one looked wonderful. I especially loved those dessert towers.

  3. Casual wedding are usually the best. The food looks really lovely.
    Carolyn

  4. What a wonderful day, even if you did have to go and search for Alfie up a tree. I’d love to try an Adriano Zumbo confection, the croquet en Bouche looks amazing. GG

  5. Beautiful wedding! They all look very happy! 🙂

  6. Thank you Charlie for such a gorgeous account of my daughter’s wedding!
    The best thing about the wedding, after the joy of Hannah & Luke, was the bringing of lifelong friends together. And the food & drink . . . a way of sharing the love around.
    Donna

  7. Sounds like Alfie is getting fearless with his climbing!
    Looks like a gorgeous wedding and it’s nice the bride and groom did it their way. Food looks great – I’d love to try a Zumba macaron.

  8. I love how casual the party was and yet still so elegant!! Croquembouche wedding cakes! I totally love it.

  9. What a gorgeous wedding, wishing the couple all the very best.

  10. What a simply beautiful and elegant wedding in such a relaxed setting. Hannah sounds a lot like my daughter.

    Congratulations to the newlyweds!

  11. Congratulations to the newly weds! The food looks amazing! And I love the tablecloths and the beautiful flowers. Love simple weddings.

  12. This Hannah absolutely adores that Hannah’s dress.

  13. What a sweet and lovely wedding! Tony and I also chose to get married with only immediate family and then had our reception a month later. Less stress and we could actually have fun!

    Hannah’s dress is gorgeous! 🙂

  14. I love the pink gingham and just the simple, romantic feel of it all. Honestly, when you come down to it, love, pure and simple is what a couples should strive for, not all the fluff and stuff!!

  15. What a beautiful celebration! I love that she was able to invite some of the children she works with, they would have loved the day! Everything looked perfect.

  16. What a magnificent and beautiful wedding. Hannah sounds like an exceptional young lady.
    🙂 Mandy xo

  17. This looks like a beautiful celebration. Congratulations to the young couple and the best to you all!

  18. What a beautiful wedding and reception. All of the food looked delicious. And the drink too. I love a happy occasion!

  19. It looks like it was a wonderful party!

  20. Aww what a beautiful and simple celebration with only the nearest and dearest. It sounds perfect to me. I love all the foods and drinks served – you can get drink dispensers at Victoria’s basement now (though not quite the exact some one) and it’s pretty affordable!

  21. The wedding may have been casual but the banquet was casually elegant. I love the water container too. 🙂

  22. Congratulations to the gorgeous couple – they look absolutely lovely 😀
    Their celebration was as perfect as their union 🙂

    Cheers
    CCU

  23. I want one of those drink dispensers too Charlie! What a beautiful celebration and such a spread of food. No wonder you didn’t want dinner.

  24. I wish them all the happiness in the world…(The FOOD! Oh, my!)

  25. That water cooler is awesome, and love the look of the wedding dress 🙂

  26. What a beautiful wedding! Everyone looks so happy and relaxed. I want one of those water containers too!

  27. What a lovely wedding and a nice story of old ties. And croqe-en-bouche as a wedding cake–how delightfully original.

  28. Congratulations to the lovely bride and groom…how time flies! The food looks delicious, and such great company…

  29. G’day! What a beautiful wedding and lovely food and croq indeed Charlie, true!
    GREAT to see in these days of extravagant “productions” on the day, Hannah and Luke did what they wanted incorporating the most precious and priceless memories that will last their whole life through!
    New follower of Donna now too! 🙂

  30. Charlie, that’s a fantastic wedding – weren’t you lucky to be invited! I’m off to meet Donna 🙂

  31. Oh, how lovely – I have an affection for small and low key weddings, having had such an affair myself!, but like this idea of having the small wedding and then a larger celebration. How wonderful to have watched your friend’s daughter grow up and then be able to share in this with them.

  32. Looks like a really lovely day. So many nice , imaginative and thoughtful things. can’t believe Alfie disappeared up that tree

  33. What a lovely celebration. And I’ve done a croquembouche and that was stressful enough without making butterflies! 😮

  34. Pure abundant fabulous elegance!

    I love EVERYTHING about this wedding.

    WOWWWWWWW~! xx

  35. I have never seen a wedding cake like that.

  36. Congratulations to the newly wed 🙂 Such a sweet young couple hard to find these days because I find people are getting married later and later hehe ~ I remember that episode of Masterchef it was so crazy and those little butterflies are amazing! Would love to try some hehe xox

  37. What a diverse food spread…love the beautiful simplicity of this, just gorgeous!!!

  38. Mmm. What a very sweet event, and now I’m STARVING. Her dress was gorgeous, and my goodness, is there anything more wonderful than that room of people who love and are so excited for the couple? Thank you for the beautiful pictures.

  39. Foodie’s delight, old friends, and a wedding. What could be better? the wedding cake is amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it.

  40. it does look great. and the food AMAAAZING!

  41. How lovely that the bride had exactly the day that she wanted! It certainly looked beautiful and full of love and laughter xox

  42. Congratulations to the lovely young couple! Time does fly for sure, were we ever that young? I love simplicity in weddings, they’re more relaxed and so much fun for everyone, aren’t they? We had a small wedding outside the Banff Springs overlooking Mt Rundle.. just family and the few friends who found out and crashed the wedding:) xx

  43. What a lovely occasion and such a beautiful bride. I love her dress. And the “cake” was a surprise, too. Weddings are so good time to get caught up with friends. I enjoyed the photos!

  44. How cool to have such good, old friends. Looks like it was an absolutely gorgeous wedding! Gorgeous dress.

  45. What a sweet little church…I love the food, it’s all so dainty! That cake was magnificent! I’ve never seen anything like it. AMAZING! The bride’s dress was beautiful. You are blessed to know such wonderful people… They are blessed to know you!!! xo

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  1. […] known the groom, Shinji, since I was 16, I’d only met his fiance once and that was at his daughter’s wedding where, because of the volume of people, we didn’t have much of an opportunity to get to know […]

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