Bringing you Brad and Brendan’s wedding is such an honour as we had the privilege to be present and celebrate this beautiful day with them. Their love of the city certainly shone through. The city skyline, the rooftop setting… it truly was a wedding reflective of the couple they are.

Location Melbourne, AUS | Photographer Madeline Kate Photography

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Tell us a little about how and when you met? We met online as many couples do back in March of 2011 in Sydney. Brendan had recently moved to Sydney for work, whilst Brad had just bought his first apartment in Waterloo. We took our chat offline very soon thereafter and organised to catch-up for a drink. After a few dates we knew this was something really special and our relationship continued to grow. Within a few weeks Brendan had a spare key to Brad’s place, then it was a drawer and a shelf and soon enough we were ‘unofficially’ living together.

Who proposed and how? Brad proposed to Brendan on the 19th September 2015. One thing was a must, it had to involve city views. Under the disguise of a birthday present for Brendan, they were going to float across the city in a hot air balloon and Brad was going to ask Brendan to marry him! But, the weather meant they had to fly over Templestowe (no offence to Templestowe but it’s a suburb not the city!) and it was way too confined in the basket to get down on one knee. It just didn’t feel right to Brad… so he waited. When they got back they took Poppy and Rolo (their two miniature dachshunds) for a walk around the Tan, a quintessentially Melbourne thing to do, maybe the perfect spot to propose… but there were too many people around, so Brad waited. By this time the ring was burning a hole in his pocket, Brendan was thinking Brad was quite unusually distracted and Brad’s phone kept dinging away with messages from those who knew it was planned to have happened by then!!

But sometimes the best things in life just happen with no plans at all! So after the walk, back home, on the balcony of their brand new apartment, with the city views, the sun setting and a glass of wine in hand, Brad got down on one knee, said some beautiful words and asked Brendan to marry him. There was a flood of tears, an inability to speak and the pure overwhelming emotion of the moment. So Brad confirmed with Brendan that all of that was in fact a ‘yes’? And YES of course it was. It was perfect!

When did you get married? 17th November 2018

What kind of wedding did you want? We wanted a bespoke modern, sophisticated and lush wedding with city views, of course, that felt personal and quintessentially ‘us’. We wanted one big party for our family and friends to celebrate our love that had incredible food, wine and music with plenty of laughs, dancing and fun.

What was the main influence behind your wedding day? Our main influence behind our wedding day would be our love of city views and great food & wine with our friends. Our venue had to have that ‘heart of the city’ feel and great views, and the food and wine had to be amazing. In come Tommy Collins and their incredible menu and the unique rooftop space of Tonic House. People always remember the food and wine at weddings, whether good or bad, nothing worse than having been to a wedding where you leave hungry because there wasn’t enough food or the food was not that great. The roving canapés were plentiful and like works of art, and the mains were just flawless.

What was one thing that you both just had to have at your wedding?... no if’s or buts.... City views and French Champagne!

Where did you find the bulk of your inspiration? With Brad being a designer, the creative side of things came quite naturally. We had a vision and it was just a matter of bringing it all together. Inspiration came from online resources such as Pinterest and Instagram, however this became overwhelming early on so we restricted our research to save confusion. Our love of copper became the base for our colour palette (and linked with our choice of rose gold for the rings!) with the addition of navy and white to complete the look. We made moodboards for the things we wanted to include and to visualise ideas we had, then sourced these for the day. It made our suppliers jobs a whole lot easier.

What song did you walk down the aisle to? I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by Sleeping at Last (Acoustic Cover).

We chose this acoustic version because it’s an unexpected cover. The song takes on a new perspective as an acoustic version sung by a male, it was just perfect!

The lyrics say it all really – “When I wake up, well I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who wakes up next to you”. It’s about knowing you’re going to be with that person for the rest of your life and that they’ll be by your side no matter what.

What song did you have your first dance to? Feels Like Home by Matt Johnson (Acoustic Cover).

We chose this acoustic version because of the lyrics. With Brendan being away frequently for work as cabin crew – the song takes on a double meaning of being with one another which ‘feels like home’, but also the idea of coming ‘home’ from a work trip overseas to the one you love.

How did you choose your suppliers? We chose our suppliers through a lot of research and process of elimination. Once we chose our events team (Tommy Collins), everything else flowed particularly with venue and event hire. Other suppliers such as flowers (Tremella Botanicals) and our gorgeous Celebrant Kate were all recommendations from friends. Nothing is more reassuring when a friend recommends someone, it gives you peace of mind as there are so many options out there, it can be overwhelming.

Any stand out suppliers? All our suppliers were amazing! Particularly all the events team at Tommy Collins for pulling it all together, incredible group of people who made the day perfect. Their event managers/co-ordinators were a huge help in putting us in touch with different suppliers and keeping things moving along in the right direction. But if we had to choose one, it would be our florist, Bek from Tremella Botanicals. Of all the styling items, flowers were the one thing we couldn’t see before the day so we were a little nervous. But when we saw all the arrangements on the day we were blown away – Bek nailed the brief!

Did you find it difficult to translate more common traditions into a ‘same-sex’ wedding? We found some aspects ‘tricky’ more than difficult. Particularly ensuring we had a wedding party/grooms party that didn’t have sides like traditional weddings. They were ‘our people’ with a best person each. To ensure this our celebrant worded the ceremony accordingly and our party stood to one side during the ceremony. No bride at this wedding! So it took people some getting used to in calling it a ‘grooms party’ and not a bridal party. We followed some traditions in the structure of our wedding, but also threw the rulebook out the window on others. We were walked down the aisle by our parents, side-by-side.

What was the most difficult thing about planning your wedding? Sticking to budget! Many people try so hard to keep the budget under control but unexpected costs come up which you can’t avoid. Our advice would be not to stress too much about it, it can kill your vibe on what should be the happiest day of your life. In the end, you only get to do this once so don’t compromise or go without something if you really want it on your wedding day.

Any valuable advice you can pass on to other couples planning their day and finding it difficult to navigate the journey? Don’t do too much research if you are starting to get overwhelmed. There is so much content out there online, in magazines and social media. It can be very confusing and stressful. Only look at content that is relevant to you and the vision for your wedding day. Collate your vision into moodboards so you can visually see how it’s all coming together. This will help you make decisions and see if things are working or not.