Lucy & Richard

How did you meet?

My sister used to be the PR Manager for Paspaley Pearls and organised their national Polo events. When she came to Melbourne, where I was living at the time, I went as her guest to the Polo in the City event and met Richard there towards the end of the day. We then met briefly at the after party but I left early. He asked my sister for my number, and we never looked back...

What was your vision for your wedding day?

We wanted something intimate with only our nearest and dearest. We wanted to spoil our guests with amazing food and wine and Cucinetta in Woolwich did not disappoint.

Lucy, what did your journey entail to find your stunning wedding gown?

The journey was not smooth sailing! Initially I wasn't sure whether I would choose a bridal gown or simply a beautiful formal dress. I decided on a whim to go to a bridal store, unaccompanied. The sales woman was extremely pushy and obviously good at her job. She sold me a dress that was a size too small and not at all what I would have pictured for myself. Of course, it was non-refundable. After 2 months of virtually starving myself, I called Helen Rodrigues who scheduled an appointment with me the following morning. She was amazing. So warm and genuine. I bought the perfect gown, aptly named "Isla" after my youngest daughter. It is now preserve wrapped and ready to hand down and I felt comfortable and beautiful in it on the day.

What was the biggest decision you had to make when planning your special day?

Whether to invite the "plus ones" and the various tense conversations we had with family members about it. Our desire for an intimate wedding didn't really go according to plan and we ended up with around 20 more people than we initially had planned for. Now that the wedding is over, I don't know why we were stressing and wish we had invited the neighbours, too.

What was the highlight of your wedding day for you?

When we returned from our photos it was getting dark. I looked over to the Harbour Bridge and there, hanging very low in the sky, was the most spectacular full moon. It was huge! It was so unexpected and I thought, wow. That is something special.

I also loved walking down the aisle with my uncle Tommy who flew over from London. I thought I would hate that experience, not only as it would make me think about my dad who passed away but I didn't like the thought of everyone watching! He joked the whole way down and my daughters and nephew were so excited walking in front.

Wedding film created by Loop Studios

Is there anything you would do differently?

We have two daughters who both spent the day separately with our mothers. When my youngest daughter came home, I was horrified to see her hair. It wasn't at all what I had wanted. It was glued to her head with an immense amount of hairspray and had a big 80's fringe. I immediately had a complete meltdown and my mother in law put her in the bath and washed her hair. My brother in law then did her hair with extremely limited time. In the end, it looked like she'd had an extremely adventurous day at daycare. I really wish I had just made a huge fuss of her and told her how beautiful she'd looked, and not worried about the hair.

What advice would you give other couples planning their wedding?

I guess for couples like us who are paying for their own wedding and very aware of their budget, I'd say try not to get too stressed about how much everything is costing (within reason!) because now looking back I wish we'd gone for the open bar and invited a few more people. It would have been an extra few grand but really, if this is my one wedding for this life time, it would have been totally worth it.