It's impossible to resist the urge to post for the first time in six months (guilt, guilt) -- let alone on the last working day of 2011 -- and not share with you the beauty, grace, generosity of spirit and fun of Carolyn and Terry's wedding at
Ottoman Cuisine, by Sydney Harbour.
What was there not to love about designing, styling and co-ordinating a wedding for a woman, who, unable to choose between all the special women in her life, slipped a poem she wrote, printed in pink, into the invitations asking anyone who wore pink on the day to be her bridesmaid.
And so they did. Thirty of them. Wearing everything from just pink fingernails or shoes, to being decked out in pink head to toe. And one very dapper gent in hottest, hot pink vest.
Rising to the joyous challenge, we came up with the idea of bouquets of sweet pea in various shades of pink being handed to each delighted, pink wearing guest as a surprise on arrival. (That made for 35 bouquets created for the one wedding - definitely a Form Over Function first).
For Terry and Carolyn, this wedding was all about the love and laughs they share, the life they've built together, and the family and friends who surround them. They wanted a great party with fantastic food, wine and music. And it was. Guests were also treated to a two metre long cheese bar, a lolly station, a band which kept the dance floor packed all night, and a night by Sydney Harbour no one is about to forget in a hurry.
And speaking of generosity of spirit - a special thank you to Israel, from
Israel Smith Photographers for sharing so many of his images, so we could share them with you.
Enjoy.
Alicia
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A close up of our wall of flowers |
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Even though it was winter, we were spoilt for choice for white blooms, and had the unadulterated luxury and joy of Carolyn trusting us to pick whatever we wanted to use on the day |
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| We dipped into our hire range of vases to put together a collection of differing heights, widths and shapes to bring out the best in the parrot tulips, freesias, vendella roses, arum lilies, hyacinth, stock, gladioli, astilbe and range of foliages we selected at the flower markets to create this wall of flowers. White cymbidium orchids with the palest of pink throats featured on the ceremony table. |
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| A simple vase of beautifully shaped glossy leaves can be every bit as beautiful as a vase of flowers. |
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| Early afternoon view from the penthouse suite at Sheraton on the Park, where the bridal party got ready. |
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| So excited. Much dress twirling practice to be had. |
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| Delivered: our bouquets of hand tied vendella roses for all. |
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| Carolyn's sons prepare to walk their mum down the aisle. |
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| Detail of Carolyn's Pronovias gown and vendella rose bouquet. |
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| Pearl and diamond wedding day earrings and wedding bands, all by Cerrone. |
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| A fleet of Rolls Royces ferried the bride and the bridal party to Ottoman Cuisine, where the ceremony and reception took place |
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| Candle vases from our hire range lined the entry to the venue |
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| Trays of pink sweet pea bouquets bound with grosgrain ribbon, for guests who wore pink in honour of being Carolyn's bridesmaid for the night. Thirty guests did just that. |
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| Carolyn's two nieces hand out the bridesmaid bouquets |
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| Arrival: we created an inviting entrance with flowers and candles echoing the styling in the space just around the corner.... |
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| Terry, the expectant groom, keeps an eye out for Carolyn's arrival |
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| We created the candlelit backdrop for the evening ceremony by bringing in sleek white consoles from our hire range, and lining them with conical glass candlesticks, also from our hire range, in various heights, as well as tall bullet vases filled with masses of white gladioli - one of Terry's favourite flowers |
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| A small round mirror covered table played host to the unity candles used during the ceremony; candleholders Carolyn and Terry now have as keepsakes of their wedding day. |
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| Now that's what we call an arrival. |
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| Vows... |
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| Rings... |
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| We did it! (Could they look any happier?) |
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| We think the littlest one of the all was just as happy (love how she sneaked in souveniering a freesia along the way) |
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| Exquisite cake art from Faye Cahill Cake Design who used the pattern of the wedding stationery as the inspiration for the piping and topped the cake with her signature overblown rosess. Carolyn's response upon seeing it carried out? "Look at that cake! Oh my god. I can't believe how beautiful. Just look at that cake." We could but concur. |
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| Now that's a cheeseboard. We searched high and low for matching cheeseboards in the differing sizes needed to accommodate all the varying shapes and sizes of the most extraordinary cheese bar we have ever had the pleasure of creating. They were nowhere to be found. What to do? Buy a tree, get it sliced, assign beloved member of team to sand, oil, sand, oil, sand, oil and sand again for lots of hours, and presto, one 2m long single cheeseboard of beautiful camphor laurel wood is born. Available now for hire! |
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| Dipping into the larder of the finest cheese importer in the country goes down as one of Form Over Function's culinary highlights for 2011 (which is saying something since we got to be a restaurant reviewer this year but we digress). Not only was there an entire wheel of two year old grana reggiano from Italy, but manchego from Spain, tetemoin from Switzerland, goats cheese from France....we could go on but won't. Corella pears, mounds of fresh strawberries, Iranian dates, Barossa Bark (should come with an addicition warning), quince paste....and no names, no pack drill, we had to sneak a packet of Jatz onto the board for one very special guest.... |
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| Eighteen jars...eighteen types of lollies...way more than eighteen kilograms of lollies....two very, very happy flowergirls (and the grown ups all found their inner child)... |
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| The bridesmaids hit the dancefloor... |
