Flannel Flowers at Wallalong House

The Journal

29 Oct

Alexia and Ed brought their families together at the beautiful and Historic Wallalong House in Feburary.
It’s a pretty special venue and one of our favourites featuring 200 year old Fig Trees, a mix of Georgian and Victorian Architecture, antique days beds by the pool and an Indian tent for the reception.

One of my favourite memories of the day was when the ceremony music began (“I’m Kissing You” by Des’ree), the maids had walked out and the music built up as Alexia stepped out of the doors in her stunning silk suit the entire crowed cheered. I had goosebumps.
Also, including your dog in your wedding is always going to get a thumbs up from me!

Read on for beautiful insights into Alexia and Ed’s day…

Tell me a little bit about yourselves and how you become engaged

We were lucky enough that neither of us ever had to go on any dating apps. We met the old school way, I was managing a bar and Ed used to sing there every Sunday and so we got chatting.
We got engaged on the beach at Forty Baskets in Balgowlah Heights. It’s a kind of a funny story, we were on Ed’s boat (well it’s a glorified tinny but he won’t like me saying that…) and he said a plastic bag was stuck in the motor, so we had to pull ashore and get it out. However, when we pulled up onto the beach, he was fluffing around rather than looking at what was wrong with the engine, and I was getting agitated as we were running late to meet my parents so I instead waded out into the water to check the engine and was puzzled at why I couldn’t see anything. He then motioned for me to come up to the beach which I was also confused about because we was meant to be looking at the engine and that’s when he proposed. He had his best mate, who is a photographer hiding in the bushes and he took the most beautiful candid photos which showed the whole thing play out. My parents where then waiting on the opposite beach, knowing full well what was happening, and they had champagne waiting for us. It was perfect!

Flannel Flowers played a really sweet part of your day, can you share how?

They are my favourite flowers. I love their soft, whimsical look and the fact they are native to Australia and grow wild in the most beautiful places. Our wedding was at the very end of the season, and I was worried we wouldn’t be able to have them but Ash was amazing and was able to hunt them down. Ed also surprised me and had them embroidered on his suite which was so special. Also I didn’t know until the next day but there was actually a glass door at the venue which was inlaid with Flannel Flowers so it was meant to be!

Tell me about an unexpected magical moment you experienced on your day:

Alexia: “For me it was when Ed surprised me and performed a song during his speech that he had written for me. All of our guests had been given the lyrics and then stood up halfway through the song and joined in and it was such a beautiful and unexpected moment.”

Ed: “For me it was at the ceremony, when the doors opened up to reveal the beautiful bride and to my absolute surprise she was wearing a spectacular suite and not a dress and it took my breath away.”

Did you incorporate any special traditions or unique elements that represented you both?

We really wanted to make sure that there was fun, playful elements throughout the day that represented us both so rather than cutting a cake we did a champagne tower and all the guests had shots. Also my dog walked down the aisle with the flower girl and page boys and rather than having preassigned witnesses to sign the marriage certificate we drew names out of bucket hats during the ceremony.

The planning process: What was your plan of attack? Budgets, making decisions, inviting guests?

We were pretty set on the vendors we wanted to use based on our aesthetic and knowing what was really important to us (good food, good music and beautiful flowers of course!) so as soon as we locked in the venue we reached out to them all to check their availability and lock them in, knowing that the finer details could be worked out later. In terms of the planning process, we divided it up based on our strengths. Ed’s a musician so he handled all the entertainment/music and there was a lot of it as that was really important to us. I’m in event production so I was comfortable looking after the rest. I had one master excel doc with various tabs including the budget, to do list, guest list and table layout, packing list, runsheet etc. Having everything in one place made it so much easier to keep a clear head and not get stressed.

Wallalong House is one of our most loved venues! How did you find it and select it over other locations? What were you looking for in a venue?

Well, we really wanted to get married overseas in a place that meant something special to us but unfortunately due to covid that wasn’t going to happen so we had to look closer to home and I came across Wallalong House whilst scrolling through Google so we went and checked it out. We only went to Wallalong House and one other venue but we knew it was the right fit as we wanted a venue where we could have a big recovery party the next day plus the house and grounds are incredible and feel like you could be transported overseas.

What drew you to Film and Foliage and why were flowers important to your day?

I was drawn to Film and Foliage firstly because of Ash’s’ floral style and aesthetic but also because of her ethos around sustainability and supporting locally grown blooms. I love the way she plays with texture and balance whilst still maintaining an element of wild and rawness to her designs. I have always had a passion for flowers and knew exactly what I wanted and that they would play an important role on the day but rather than stand out and be overpowering I really wanted the flowers to seamlessly blend in with all the other elements and compliment the surroundings.

What was your vision for the day and how did you choose your style?

Ultimately we wanted the day to be like a really epic dinner party with lots of dancing. We wanted it to feel romantic and whimsical but still have a sense of playfulness to the day as well. The colour palette was kept quite soft and earthy with pops of green in the florals, calligraphy and candle stick holders to tie in with the venue and the natural surroundings.

What’s one piece of advice would you give to loved-up couples planning their day?

Ah I have a few but I’ll keep it to two. Make sure the day represents you as a couple, so that may mean getting rid of traditions that you don’t think are relevant and don’t compromise on elements that are truly important to you.