On a glass terrace overlooking the glistening water, Natasha and Osman exchanged vows with love, laughter and so much heart.
While many can find planning a wedding stressful, this was not the case for Natasha and Osman who set out to make decisions quickly. Being organised meant their planning was smooth sailing and the end result a dream come true.
They created an atmosphere that was bright, balmy and classically elegant and the panoramic views of the ocean only added to the romance of their day.
Dressed in a sensational Georgia Young Couture gown, Natasha truly turned heads and Lou Lou Memphis captured all the loved up moments.
In Natasha’s words…
The meeting.
As a typical millennial we started speaking after he added me on Facebook, however we did have a mutual friend who encouraged me to go on a date with him and we used to work at the same shopping centre a few years before we started speaking.
The ‘one’.
I knew he was the one when he went overseas for five weeks within the first year of us dating and I remember feeling so lost and not myself while he was away. I knew I didn’t want to be without him again.
The proposal.
It was our three year anniversary and I had planned for us to go to dinner in the city. He said that we had to leave a little bit earlier as he needed to pick something up. I thought maybe we were going to get my anniversary gift. We ended up at the botanical gardens and he had arranged a gondola ride for us on the lake. Again, I assumed this to be a gift for our anniversary. Whilst on the gondola he grabbed my hand (his was shaking) and then pulled out a box. He then asked me to marry him. I was in such shock that I dropped my phone into the gondola which almost went overboard. We then enjoyed a lovely dinner in the city and were able to celebrate with our parents later that night.
The process.
A couple months after being engaged we slowly looked at wedding venues. Once I locked in the venue I was easily able to organise everything else. I ensured that I had booked a celebrant, DJ/MC, photographer and makeup/hair as they are the vendors which require bookings in advance. I didn’t spend too much time making decisions, I made sure I was very decisive and when I loved something I just bought it or booked it. This made the lead up to the big day really seamless as all the vendors were so easy to work with and ready to go. I wasn’t stressed about the wedding at all and that allowed me to take in every moment.
Style inspiration.
My inspiration was bright, balmy and classically elegant.
The dress.
My dress was a beautiful Georgia Young Couture design. She was the second designer I saw, and I knew when I was there that I was going to get my dress from her. I wanted a dress that was simplistic with beautiful detailing. Needless to say all of her designs were like this so it was actually a hard task choosing which one I wanted. The dress that she designed had the most incredible lace detail I had ever seen and I loved the paneling on the bodice.
My shoes were the most comfortable silver heels from Mi Piaci. As I wanted to have metallic accessories, I also chose a large metallic stud from Mimco which had different shades of gold, rose gold and gemstones.
Favourite moments.
Walking down the aisle with my Dad is something that I will never forget. Our ceremony was on a beautiful glass terrace over the water, the sun was shining, and I remember walking down with him and seeing Osman at the end and thinking for the first time in my life that this is what heaven must look like. Everything was so bright and beautiful and I loved sharing that moment with my closest family and friends.
Meaning of marriage.
Marriage means never being alone again. Always having someone share with you all the good and all the bad times.
Wedding soundtrack.
Aisle: How Will I Know by Sam Smith
Recessional: We Found Love by Rihanna and Calvin Harris
Reception entry (parents and bridal party): Crazy in Love by Beyoncé
Reception entry (bride and groom): One Dance by Drake
First dance: Lost in Japan (Spotify remix) by Shawn Mendes
Funny stories (or near disasters).
Osman had the task of getting his wedding band made. We chose the design and he had to go into the jeweller and get the ring sized. He did this twice as he had black diamonds along the top perimeter of the ring, so if it needed to be made smaller or larger, it wasn’t something that could easily be done as all the diamonds had to be taken out of the setting. When he picked the ring up he came back home and I asked him to put it on (pointing to his left hand) and he put the ring on, and it was about two sizes too big for him. The ring was literally falling off his finger and our wedding was in three weeks’ time. Osman had forgotten which finger the ring was meant to go on, got it sized on his right hand the whole time and because he has played sport so much and had his fingers jarred on his right hand his fingers were so much bigger than on his left! Thank goodness we were able to get the ring resized just in time, much to the disappointment of the jeweller who was luckily his good friend.
Planning surprises.
Planning a wedding is easy if you lock in vendors well in advance, can make decisions and are organised. When it comes to the RSVP’s and making arrangements for guests, then that was a whole other story. I was so surprised at how difficult it was trying to get RSVP’s and organising guests in general. This is something that wasn’t in my control and something I assumed to be fairly easy but managing people and managing your invite list is so hard! Especially because we were (trying) to have a child free wedding.
Words of wisdom.
Be decisive, book in your vendors in advance and just accept that there will be things out of your control that will go wrong but try and stay in the moment and enjoy it because it’s all over before you know it!
Story by our friends at Ivory Tribe. You can check out more of Natasha & Osman’s wedding album here.
