Caitlyn and Aramis celebrated their wedding day on the 31st of October 2022 by eloping in Canberra at the Old Parliment House grounds. Lots of personal details went into this intimate celebration of love, celebrated with a mixture of Halloween and Heritage vibes, with a custom Lego cake topper and blue Docs, what more could you want!
Photography Credit: Michael Conlin of Mel Hill Photography
When did you know Aramis was the ONE?
I knew Aramis was the one when my birthday rolled around (a few weeks into the relationship) and he threw me my own little birthday party as best he could. It was so early in and he was already doing the absolute most he could to learn about what made me happy and to give me things that I never got as a kid.
Tell us how Aramis proposed - We love a good ring story!
So we had always agreed that a quiet toned-down proposal was best since we're both stay-at-home introverts, and one day he just got down on one knee in our apartment with an alexandrite ring and asked me to be his wife. When I said yes, he gave me a box of KFC wicked wings to celebrate ahahaha.
When you first started wedding planning, what where 3 of the most important things to you both about your wedding day?
We wanted our only attendees to be people who had played an active role in our relationship and its growth, so attendance was limited to close friends.
We also wanted it to be as simple as possible, so we limited our spending to special pieces we could keep and reuse such as my wedding gown (from yours truly), his suit and our flowers.
Our final piece of planning was to make the process as fun as possible and staggered out to take away stress, so I took the liberty of designing a Lego wedding cake topper with a manual so that we could take the time to build it together leading up to the wedding.
Where did you choose to get married?
Old Parliament House in the Senate Gardens (Specifically the Rex Hazlewood Rose Gardens)
What vendors did you use for your wedding?
Suit: Institchu
Dress: Desert Moon Bridal (Phoenix Aurora)
Florist: Kettle n' Petal
Celebrant: Michael Bower of Canberra Small Weddings
Photographer: Michael Conlin of Mel Hill Photography
Venue: Old Parliament House Senate Gardens
Cake: Sweet Bones Bakery
Catering: Queenies in Kingston, ACT
How did you pick your venue?
We were originally getting married elsewhere and lost our booking the month before, and the NCA (National Capital Authority) were a great help finding another alternative venue on short notice. After checking out the spot we loved the rose archways and booked it immediately.
What vendors did you spend the most time researching and trying to decide on?
Most of our time was spent researching our celebrant and photographer, as we knew they would be responsible for orchestrating not just us but our witnesses on the day, as well as creating the vision we were after with our photos.
Did you find it difficult to bring your wedding under budget? If you feel comfortable please share your budget with us.
Not really! We paid things off bit by bit as they came up so we weren't really spending large sums at a time to pay off the wedding. Altogether I think the wedding cost us between $5,000 to $6,000 for everything (clothes, accommodation, venue, food, flowers; etc).
Do you have any advice for other couples planning a wedding on a lower budget?
I would say a list of everything you want included in your wedding is key, and having it ranked by most to least important to you. It helped me prioritise what needed to be paid off or secured first so that everything I 100% wanted was there on the day.
When you look back on your day, what is your most favourite memory?
My favourite memory by far of the day was meeting my husband at the altar and holding hands. I don't think we were supposed to keep holding hands the entire time, but we're both fidgeters and it helped us both keep grounded during the ceremony.
Party all night or did you sneak off with your loved one early in the night?
We snuck off after our ceremony to debrief and get changed before heading to our alternate lunch location at Queenies in Kingston for drinks and food.
What is something unique you did in your ceremony?
Our ceremony was very brief and to the point, but we had custom vow cards with our names and the date of our ceremony to read from and keep after the ceremony in a frame.
If you eloped, how many witnesses did you choose to have?
5
Did you get any inspo from Pintrest, insta and Tik Tok?
Wedding dress and suit colours were found from Pinterest, along with some basic cake designs/colours and our cake topper. It truly is the hub of wedding DIY's.
How did you include your partner in the planning? Did they contribute to the nitty gritty stuff or leave the details up to you?
He mostly left a lot of details up to me, such as the date (I'm a Halloween lover) but was sure to add in details that were quintessentially him (his Star Wars republic cuff links, the old timey newspaper lining of his suit, and his malachite and barrel ring with our wedding date inscribed on the inside).
In three words describe your special day to us!
Halloween, Heritage, and Relaxed
Did any vendors go above and beyond to make your day perfect? Give them a shout out here!
Grace from Kettle n' Petal was great coming up with an original but very on-point bouquet for the day along with a matching buttonhole. Queenies in Kingston was also great with answering any burning questions we had and helping out any way they could. Their cocktails are also just amazing and their Berry Bramble gin has become our unofficial wedding cocktail.
What is something unique you did for your reception?
We got an entire room at the restaurant to ourselves, where we ordered a smorgasbord of breads, meats and cocktails with native influences. The staff thought our cake and cake topper was amazing though, and would have to say it was the most unique part of our reception.
Honeymoon plans? Are you waiting to travel or did you jet off straight after the big day?
We plan to jet off somewhere domestic in a year or two once our social batterys have recovered and we're ready for some exploring.
Looking back, how would you describe the atmosphere of your wedding day?
Relaxed and low-key. Everything went as smoothly as it could - the rain even stopped for almost an hour so we could have our ceremony and after-photos.
How did you find Desert Moon?
I originally found them through Facebook! I came across Phoenix Aurora right as it came out and fell in love with it, then came across in again on Tiktok and knew I just had to get it. After seeing it styled with Doc Martens, I eventually decided to wear Docs with my dress for added comfort/punk vibes.
What brought you to our website first? Price? Style? Sizing range?
The style was what first brought me to the website, but the price and size range made me 100% certain that this is where I was going to get my gown from no matter what.
Did you love your gown?
How did it make you feel wearing Phoenix Aurora?
The gown was amazing and reflected me perfectly.
It was very light and not hard to walk around in at all, and the added security of a corseted back helped a lot as I didn't have to worry about my size leading up to the wedding.
Did you have THE moment trying on your gown for the first time?
I sure did, I couldn't even keep it to myself and immediately video called family members and friends to show them how good it looked on.
Is there anything else you'd like to share about your dress?
Everything about it was amazing and I 100% recommend it to everyone (infact I do all the time).
Did you include any special traditions or unique ideas into your day?
I included a something blue through my shoes with were blue doc martens, and we split up the day before the wedding so he wouldn't see me until I was coming down the aisle. It was 100% worth it to meet him down the aisle and just let everything else fall away.
Share a photo of your fav DIY from the wedding and tell us below how you made it happen!
Our DIY project was our cake topper made of Lego. I started by designing the model on Bricklink before uploading the pieces list and ordering from multiple companies.
They also generated a manual for me so I could build the piece in real life with my husband, and we used it as bonding time before the wedding as he's an avid Lego lover.
Finally - If you had the chance to give one piece of advice to a fellow bride what would it be?
Do your venue first! I didn't and I wish I had secured it first as it caused me the most stress of any one thing to plan.
Thank you for sharing your day with us Caitlyn & Aramis, and for choosing our Phoenix Aurora gown for your big day Xx
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