Gathering the photos for this post made me smile from ear to ear because with Reza & Derek around, that’s what you do. As Wedding Photographers, we re-live your day multiple times when we review, cull and edit, then again when we upload and deliver your online gallery, then again when we check and send on your prints, and again a little later when we prepare your wedding albums, journal posts and magazine/bridal blog submissions. Reza and Derek are both people who make everyone around them feel content and lovely and the best thing is when they do that thing to each other and just lose themselves in moments busting with all the feels, completely unaware of anything going on around them for a little while.

As you can see from the long list of our post-production pipeline for each wedding, we spend a lot of time with our couples, not just to get to know them, to prep their wedding and on the wedding day when we support them and work our hearts out to catch every moment, but also after. With all that goes into each wedding, it is so important to us to feel a true connection with each couple before we commit to their wedding because when there is trust and a common wavelength, it absolutely shows in the photos and it makes the entire process a smooth and completely enjoyable journey for all involved, whether that’s us, our couples, other vendors or their bridal party, family & guests. It’s all about relationships, communication and connection, not just between the two people getting married, but between their team of vendors and supporters. That’s what makes the day extra special.

Reza thanked us personally in her wedding reception speech in front of all their guests for all our support and for being by their side throughout everything, which was so special to us. This has happened before that we got a special mention and the fact that you guys acknowledge our role in your day means the world. Making your day a little extra fabulous and helping to make it run smoothly is all we could ever hope for.

We met Reza & Derek in person for the first time earlier in 2018 for an early morning graffiti engagement session in Fitzroy, Melbourne, that we had organised with them. You can check out their beautiful engagement photos here - we adore them. After their engagement session, we had coffees and chats about their wedding. One thing I loved was that we talked about the best way to incorporate the element of the traditional tea ceremony into their day in a relaxed, yet respectful way. If these tea ceremonies are done in the strict traditional way involving visits and ceremonies of the couple and guests at each parents’ house, the traditional tea ceremonies can take up no less than 4 hours of the entire wedding day, turning it into a massive logistics situation if the parents live far apart from each other or from the getting ready and wedding ceremony locations. We have witnessed massive, full tea ceremony wedding days, for example at Thi & Anthony’s wedding as well as modern, abridged, yet lovely versions of it at Meila & Dat’s wedding. After a longer chat about it all with Reza & Derek, the idea was to follow in Meila & Dat’s footsteps and incorporate the tea ceremony in the reception. After Reza & Derek entered their reception, they held a beautiful, heartfelt tea ceremony for their parents and grandparents, lasting around 15 minutes. It had all the love of the full ceremony in it without taking up a significant part of their wedding morning and everyone really loved it.

We had our caravan parked at our favourite, Tahbilk Winery in Nagambie, where we were working on our annual photography assignment before, and had Miss Amber snug as a bug with a beautiful sitter in Melbourne City when we started our day for this epic big fat Melbourne wedding. Driving the 1.5 hours out from Tahbilk Winery, we must have taken the wrong turn on the highway somewhere as well because later on when we were back in Brisbane, we found a toll road invoice in the mail for that day. We parked at the reception venue, The Sketch, at Docklands {Atlantic Group}, got a coffee, enjoyed the calm before the storm and then caught Ubers to our respective getting ready locations to start our day with our bride and groom.

You will see in the photos that it was a cracker day and a very special mention should go to their reception venue, The Sketch, which created heaven on earth to welcome their guests. On each table, absolutely heavenly flowers were waiting, but even more importantly, there were antipasti and charcuterie platters ready to go on each table to welcome guests as soon as they entered, which was so perfect to me. Guests entering a reception are often starving and to have amazing food waiting for you right on your table is just as it should be. In addition to that, super friendly staff was constantly circulating trays of delicious canapés. Also, did I mention they had a whiskey bar? Oh, it was so good.

One last thing I’d like to emphasise is that it’s nice to allocate 15 minutes during your wedding reception to sneak out for sunset photos or night time photos. It gives a completely different light and vibe than the romantic photos after the ceremony and in Reza & Derek’s case, we had agreed on this during our planning process and then I just stepped out at some stage and the light was magical, so we made a run for it.

We will let the photos tell the rest of the story of this wonderful wedding day and hope you enjoy them. If you do, feel free to leave us a comment. xx

Reza & Derek - thank you for being the radiant and loving souls that you are. You have brought us so much joy. We hope you guys stay in touch over the years and we will see you again soon in Melbourne, hopefully. xx Tina & Doruk

Modern Romantic Melbourne Wedding Vendor Team:

Bride Getting Ready Venue: Quay West Suites Melbourne
Wedding Ceremony Venue: Gardens House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne {Atlantic Group}
Wedding Reception Venue: The Sketch, Docklands, Melbourne {Atlantic Group}
Bridal Gown: Jessica Bridal Coutures
Groom’s Suit: The Spectre Collection
Flowers: Hello Blooms
Hair & Makeup: Makeup by Stella Tu
Catering: Atlantic Group
Celebrant: Benn Stone Melbourne City Side Celebrant
Cake: Mill and Bakery
Cinematography: Film My Wedding Melbourne

If you’re currently planning your wedding or if you have any questions, drop us a line via the button below. For editorials, styled shoots, collaborations and winery coverage, please email lovelenscapes@gmail.com.

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