Here is one eclectic bride you would probably want to get to know. Li & Tim also met in the most unusual places you would consider finding The One – through speed dating. Their story is as inspiring as the “4 Minutes to Forever” feature that we published for this week. I’ve said it before & I’ll say it again, there are only a lucky few in this world who can meet someone & know that they are with the right one in the first few minutes that they meet. It only took a small voice inside Li’s mind to tell her that Tim was THE ONE. According to her, it was the most surreal feeling she ever had for someone. You could say that it was quite a crazy experience. She never thought she could fall in love with someone that quickly. But that’s just how mysterious love works. And she finally understood how it felt to meet someone & just know that they are going to be part of your life forever.
I loved the variety of details in this wedding. Everything is different from one another. The bride wanted to incorporate her eclectic personality into the wedding & she pulled it off perfectly! It also works when both you & your partner take time to talk about the little details of your wedding together. Remember, it is just not the bride’s day but it should also feel special for the groom. And don’t make it feel that planning a wedding is a chore — rather think of it as a fun experiment that you’re both exploring to do. This wedding is definitely all things fun, colorful & eclectic! Congratulations again to such a lovely & wonderful couple!
What is your story as a couple, how did you meet & fall in love?
Tim and I met at speed dating. I went along with a friend as I had heard lots of funny stories about speed dating, and wanted my own to be able tell (and embellish) at parties. I think Tim went hoping to meet someone, but I didn’t have any expectations! He didn’t find me straight away, as I was sitting off to a corner. When we started talking though, it only lasted about a minute before a voice in my head told me that he was The One. It was so surreal, I had never felt that strongly about someone before, let alone so quickly! I honestly thought I was going mad. We went on a proper date two days later, and it was just magical. I finally understood what people meant when they say that when you meet the right person, you just know. Since then, we’ve pretty much been inseparable. We went overseas together, I moved to a new city and we were apart for 6 months before he joinedme. After that, we just knew we would be together forever, so we decided to get married!
What makes the two of you a perfect match?
We’re both really laid back and value simplicity in our lives. Neither of us really takes anything too seriously, and if one of us starts to stress about something, the other one will become extra patient and calm to diffuse the situation. I guess we are good at complementing and grounding each other.
What was the best advice you received when you were planning your wedding?
To enjoy being engaged, as it would only be brief. And to really focus on the ceremony: the vows, readings and anything else of symbolic value we wanted to include. We had a really great celebrant, who lent us a bunch of books for inspiration on writing our vows and romantic readings/poems we could consider.
What inspired your wedding decor? Why did you choose the things that you did?
I am a pretty lazy person, so I wanted to do the least possible work to still have a beautiful wedding. Hopefully I can offer some light at the end of the tunnel for other similarly lazy brides-to-be! Once we picked the venue – we both wanted a public, outdoors place that we would be able to revisit again and again – and settled on a spring wedding, it was pretty easy to decide that we wanted nature to have a focal point. I had been admiring our florist’s work at my local coffee shop for months, before realising I could find her and ask her to do the wedding flowers! I told the florist I wanted something fun, colourful and eclectic, but still fairly simple and natural with a focus on native flowers, and just let her do her magic. I actually had no idea what the wedding would look like until the day, and it suited me just fine. We also let our bridal party wear what they liked, so it could look more eclectic.
Do you have advice for couples still in the planning process?
Don’t look at Pinterest too much, or you’ll go crazy with indecision! Seriously though, the most important thing really is to have fun with each other. It’s a cliche because it’s grounded in years of acquired wisdom! When Tim and I went to look at potential venues, or meet our photographer, or see our florist, we would make sure that afterwards we explored the surrounding neighbourhood and had a bit of time with each other that was not wedding related. It made the process feel more like an outing and exploration of our city, rather than a chore. Once the wedding day has come and gone, what you’ll remember are the smiles on everyone’s faces, the love in your new spouse’s eyes, the terrible jokes your parents cracked during their speech, not (for example) the fact that your tablecloths were the exact shade of champagne as the ribbon on your shoes.
What were some challenges you faced planning your wedding & what would you have done differently to avoid them?
We probably could have made a list of all the things we needed to do, rather than leave things til the last minute and have a bit of a mad scramble. For example, I ordered my wedding dress 4 weeks before the wedding, and my mum was altering it two nights before the wedding! I also ordered our custom cake toppers after stumbling across the seller on etsy, and as they were coming from the US and were handmade to order, I only received them the day before the wedding… I think a bit of planning definitely wouldn’t go astray.
What was the wedding budget?
We made the age-old mistake of not setting a budget… But I guess we must have been fairly financially conscious, as the total spend was not too ridiculous. (About AUD20,000)
Where did you save the most money?
My wedding dress was $300 (AUD). I wanted something easy and simple and really didn’t want to go to dress shops. I also wore jewelry that I already owned.
Can you share some tips or tricks that you learned along the way leading up to the wedding or after?
Have an idea of what you like and the look you’re going for, and then leave it to the experts! But really try to find vendors whose work you can see (and like!), read reviews about them (if any), and meet them beforehand to make sure you like them. And then just trust them!
Where did you go on your honeymoon?
Thailand. We spent a week in Bangkok, a week in Chiangmai, and a week in Ko Phi Phi. It was perfect! But again,we pretty much decided, after landing in Bangkok and staying for a few days, what our itinerary would look like.
What are you most excited about for the future?
Taking each day as it comes, and seeing where life takes us and the crazy adventures we’ll go on!
What were the highlights from the ceremony & reception?
Hearing my processional song played by a string trio for the first time was pretty spectacular. During the reception, the speeches were definitely the highlight. But I also enjoyed seeing the reception decoration for the first time, and realising it looked perfect!
How many guests were invited in your wedding and what was the final guest count?
About 160. Final count was about 110.
What inspired the wedding day outfits?
A desire for simplicity on my part. Tim just really wanted a grey-coloured three piece suit and green tie (green being his favourite colour). The rest of the bridal party were allowed to wear what they liked, as long as it was all different! And so that their personalities could shine through.
Was it difficult to narrow down your guest list?
Extremely. Tim has a large extended family, so they were all invited of course! I found it very hard to narrow down my friends, but ultimately I decided they had to be people who significantly contributed to the person I am and/or the person I was when I met Tim. That made it easier, but not by much!
What songs did you use during the ceremony?
I was probably one of the luckiest brides out there, as Tim composed my processional song, which was performed by a wonderful string trio. Our recessional song was ‘Here comes the sun’ by The Beatles (on strings). Our first dance was to ‘They can’t black out the moon’ by Harry Roy & His Orchestra.
What was your favorite part of the day?
The ceremony – seeing all our friends and family looking at us with happiness and love, watching us commit our lives to each other, and being with us as we took our first step towards our married life was definitely unbeatable!
Was there any Do it Yourself (DIY) projects? If so, can you describe them in detail?
We made all the bonbonnieres! They were little paper bags with love hearts on them, filled with a large variety of Chinese lollies and snacks I had eaten as a child. I thought it would be fun to introduce most of our guests to the strange flavours of Chinese lollies. None of them had any English on them either, so it was extra fun watching everyone try to work out what they were. The bags were all tied with different coloured and patterned ribbons. My bridesmaids helped me make them all on the morning of the wedding, it was crazy but fun! I also collected a bunch of our childhood photos, and put them in a photo album on display at the reception, I made sure to select the childhood photos where we were in similar poses or wearing similar outfits and put them next to each other, for an extra bit of fun.
Was there a theme for the ceremony and reception?
Just simple, colourful and fun. I am really against themes and insisting on perfection or a particular look, so I wanted it to be casual and eclectic, but not plain. I suppose it did turn into a kind of theme in the end, not deliberately though!
Vendors
Photographer: Finessence Photography
Reception Venue: THE TERRACE RECEPTIONS