These two met as a result of their shared interests in literature and the Melbourne publishing scene. “We first met in 2012 at the tail-end of some publishing drinks at a now vanished bar in the city and wound up dancing the night away together (even though the bar didn’t really have a dancefloor). We were a couple pretty soon after that, and by 2014 we had moved in together,” says Sabita.  Julian first started planning to propose around early 2016 and bought an engagement ring, which Sabita promptly found in its hiding place not long after, so when the proposal came, it wasn’t any great shock. “Julian still managed to catch me by surprise when I was returning home from an interstate trip, having lit up the apartment with candles, prepared a couple of celebratory Bloody Marys, and even put our Labrador Bucky in a tie for the occasion. He went down on one knee to propose when I came in the door, the dog jumped on both of us and chewed up the ring box, but I said yes.”

What Makes Us Tick

Sabita:  “Julian is the best person I know. I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it. I’ve always been drawn to his kindness, his laugh, his willingness to be silly with me, and how much of a gentleman he is. He also has a killer smile ­that absolutely melts my heart when I see it! Generally speaking, we’re quite different people, and we have very different approaches to life, but we’ve found that our differences make us stronger, both individually and as a couple. And together, we’ve accomplished a lot, perhaps because of our differences. Julian and I prioritise our relationship, and that’s something we’ve always done. We talk to each other pretty much constantly, and we spend as much time together as possible, both during the working week and on the weekends. If we’re not in the same place, we’re calling, or texting, or tagging, or funny GIFS and links to articles.”

Julian:  “Sabita is the absolute love of my life and I could never have imagined being this happy. We have always had a lot in common (we both love books, food, conversation, lazy afternoons, trips to the country, etc.) but we’re also very different people in a lot of ways (Sabita is quite outgoing and assertive and I’m probably more introverted) and I think we’ve come to really appreciate and enjoy the ways in which we complement each other over the last few years. But even from the first night we met, before we even knew each other’s names, we always just clicked, and I quickly found that there was no one else in the world that I’d rather be spending time with. We talk constantly, argue passionately and there’s no one who can make me laugh the way Sabita does. Every day with her is an adventure.”

What We Wore

“Julian’s suit was the easy part of this, a straightforward navy-blue suit from Politix and a crisp white shirt from Country Road. We found a great burgundy tie from TM Lewin to match his boutonniere once we’d decided on the colours for the wedding flowers. Julian wore his father’s gold cufflinks. His shoes were from Batsanis, and his socks were from Rock My Socks.  My dress took a bit more work, as I wasn’t comfortable with the look or feel of the more conventional wedding dresses that I tried. I wanted a more modern look.  Eventually, I found a feathered ripped-silk skirt by Chosen at One Day Bridal

I chose to pair this with a tight white t-shirt, which gave it casual, comfortable feel, and added a short black leather biker jacket from my wardrobe, which really brought the look for the day together, providing a sharp dramatic contrast with the skirt, and bringing a bit of rock ‘n’ roll to the day. I wore burgundy suede ankle boots (from Lipsy London) that matched Julian’s tie. I really tailored my look to mimic my own everyday personal style. My hair and make-up was done by Lanie Phelps, and I wore a silver necklace by Baby Anything.  We were both really happy with how we looked on the day – we wanted to look great, obviously, and do something special for the occasion, but we also still wanted to feel and look like ourselves.”

Wedding Day Style

“We wanted the wedding have a relaxed feel, with less of an emphasis on ceremony and speeches (though those were brilliant!) and more time for our friends and family to meet and mingle, dance and have a drink or two. As it was a winter wedding, we wanted the venue to have cosy, rustic, intimate feel – so we went for long bare wooden tables (from Pepper Sprout), candlelight, and floral arrangements with dark, dusky hues like burgundy and lots of native greenery. Our celebrant, Jon Von Goes, was really good in allowing us to tailor the ceremony to focus on what we felt was important about our lives and relationship, and help to set the right tone for the evening with a funny, direct and heartfelt manner. We’d found him via his website and immediately felt that his attitude and approach would be a good fit for us.  We’d decided quite early on that we wanted to be together through all of the day (no getting ready separately) and that we wanted to walk down the aisle together. There’s no big story behind that, just that we try to spend as much time together as we can anyway, and didn’t see why the wedding day should be any different!

Sabita wasn’t particularly comfortable with the idea of being ‘given away’, so walking down the aisle together felt right. After the ceremony, we wanted to be with our guests and to get into the party as quickly as possible, so we had done all of the wedding portrait photographs (with our brilliant photographer Cassie Sullivan) ahead of the wedding. That allowed us space to just relax and enjoy the night after the ceremony!” says the Groom.

The Venue

“We’d found Glasshaus Inside via Instagram and their website and loved the look of the space. We didn’t want to spend a lot of time worrying about flowers and decorations for the wedding venue, and as Glasshaus is a plant nursery during the day that was pretty much already taken care of. Given that it was a winter wedding, it was fantastic to be able to have the ceremony and reception in a space that was filled with rich and beautiful greenery.  While it looks small at first glance, Ainsley, the event manager at Glasshaus Inside was really great at helping us get the most from the space. On the night with fifty guests, we were able to have a sit-down dinner, a grazing table, bar service and a decent sized dance floor without it feeling cramped or crowded.”

Surprises

“We were surprised at just how much we enjoyed it! When you’re spending months planning and preparing and thinking about worst case scenarios, you start thinking about the wedding as something that you have to get through rather something you will enjoy. On the day everything went smoothly, vendors, friends and family were all brilliant, and were left feeling amazed and overwhelmed by it all. Everything went by so fast!”

Wedding Planning

“The planning process was pretty tough and frustrating at times (Sabita must have drafted and redrafted the floor plan for the venue twenty times or more by the end of it!), and we had a few false starts and dead ends. In the end we just had to try out a range of different ideas and see what would work best for us. If we’d change anything, we’d have focused more on what we wanted from the outset rather than some abstract idea of what a wedding should be. For example, we drove ourselves nuts trying to come up with a floor plan where all of the wedding party would be seated together on a single side of a table, because we thought that’s what people had to do at weddings, and once we abandoned that idea we were much happier with just having all our guests sitting together at two long tables. The I Do Crew were amazing both before and on the day itself! It was great to have someone to discuss our plans with and get helpful advice and input, and the take over the vendor management and coordination ahead of the day itself, so that we could focus on our families and each other. On the day it was fantastically reassuring to know that Christine was making sure the venue had been set up correctly and that all of the vendors were ready and prepared. Christine’s help with errands was invaluable and she was a fantastic problem-solver behind the scenes while we were preparing for the ceremony.”

Advice

“Everyone has to do their wedding in their own way. But maybe it’s a good idea to decide on what’s most important to you from the outset. For us the priorities were the venue, the food, the dancefloor and the photography, and we were prepared to economise in other areas, like how we got to the venue (we just took an Uber!), or just having a Spotify playlist instead of hiring a DJ.  We had a small wedding with 50 people, so the ceremony and reception were both in the same venue. This a lot cheaper than hiring out two different venues, and we were able to use the chairs we hired for the reception (Pepper Sprout) for the ceremony too. We also got creative. We bought a big box of white candles online and used these to decorate the venue. We got our printing done at Snap instead of buying expensive stationery. For the ceremony, we brought our favourite Persian rug from home. Also, instead of buying a big, expensive wedding sign, Sabita sourced a beautiful piece of wood and some white paint, and made ours from scratch for $20!”

Vendors

Photographer Cassie Sullivan | Venue Glasshaus Inside | Flowers Glasshaus Florist | Furniture Pepper Sprout | Catering Paella Pan | Bar Kegs on Legs | Celebrant Jon von Goes | Wedding Coordination/Set up & Styling  I Do Crew | Wait staff Our Boys & Girls | Cake Sticky Fingers Bakery Cutlery/crockery/napkins Dann Event Hire | Hair & Makeup Lanie Phelps