Wedding Dance

Your first dance together as husband and wife will be a memory of a lifetime. It is quite a tradition and should be fun.

By the time it comes to dancing at the reception people are ready to let their hair down and enjoy themselves.

It is an opportunity for the newly married couple to show their love for each other and surprise or entertain their guests with a slow waltz or a beautiful choreographed dance routine.

The dance and music you choose should be a reflection of you both as a couple.

Here is a fabulous video of Ryan and Frankie having their first dance and having LOTS of fun!

Growing in popularity is for the wedding party to perform a routine together after the bride and groom have performed their first dance. This idea can even add to the fun of preparing for the wedding with routine visits to the dance studio.

Tradition says the bride and groom dance together first and then the parents follow. The father of the bride will dance with his daughter and the groom dances with his mother.

Then the groom's father dances with the bride and the groom dances with his new mother-in-law.

This tradition came about as a way of showing the new mix of the two families.

The first dance is usually performed after the main course is served and ideally, directly after the cutting of the cake.

If you are performing a set routine for your wedding dance you will not want your guests joining you on the dance floor so an announcement by your MC is a good idea! Something like the following:

“ Ladies and gentlemen I would now like to welcome the bride and groom to the dance floor to perform their first dance as a married couple.  I would ask all guests to keep the dance floor clear until our couple have finished their first dance together. I would also suggest you get your cameras and tissues ready as I know they have planned a beautiful routine that is sure to capture your hearts."

When it’s all said and done though, it’s your wedding day so you can always start your own tradition and have a great time!

Theme Inspiration

Picking the theme for your reception comes down to personal choice. Let it be a reflection of you as a couple. Most reception venues are happy to work with you on your theme and ideas.

You could choose your theme based on:

• Your gown design. You fell in love with your gown and the elegance or colour of it inspires your theme.
• Your wedding stationery design. You sent out those wedding invitations months ago and just love their design!
• The location of the reception! e.g. your venue is by the seaside, on a farm or in a beautiful garden!
• The season you are being married in. Winter weddings can be spectacular!
• Your favourite flower/s that are in season!
• Your favourite colours!
• a reflection of your personalities (e.g you both think it would be fun to have a gothic, pirate, or medieval wedding)
• pure elegance.

There is no right or wrong... just what is right for you and your partner!

Whatever you do bringing a bit of DIY to your wedding can help you feel more involved and appreciated on the day. Something that is handmade is more likely to be remembered by your guests long after the big day. You can have a lot of fun along the way with DIY by organising get-togethers with your friends to create the decorations too! 

DIY Idea:

When no colour at all is allowed to creep in, jet black teamed with snowbally white makes a powerful impact. The clarity of the effect is breathtaking.

Patterns appear clear and sharp in monochrome. Here black and white shows a fun side with playful dots, stripes and floral paper napkin holder.

Download the floral paper here and trim into bands any size you like. Wrap around rolled napkins and secure with double-sided tape.

Download Template
You will require Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view these pdfs. This is available free of charge from www.adobe.com

Flower Paper Template

We have just reduced the price of our archived 2007 magazines. You can download 2007 Issue 1 to Issue 4 (instant access) for $1.95 each or purchase the printed magazines Issue 1 and 4 only (2 and 3 are sold out) for $4.95 each plus postage (Australia Only). Click here for more information.

Real Wedding Inspiration!

Wedding Style Guide has put together some images from past Real Weddings for your inspiration.

Alexis Hemphill and Steven Elsea by Elizabeth Messina

Amy Moss and Mark Mandel by Jonathan Ong

Astrid Ramsden and Steven Harrison by McKay Photography

We would love to hear about your theme! You can leave a comment below or click here to upload images so we can share with all our readers what you did for your theme!

Wedding Video of Cherise & Aaron

There's something lovely about a truly gorgeous wedding video. Along with photographs, a video is a fabulous reminder and keepsake of your wedding day and is also something wonderful to share with friends and family who weren't able to attend. Curtis Heyne from Living Cinema very kindly sent us this wonderful video of Cherise & Aaron's wedding, held at Hahn Estate in Santa Barbara, California. Happy Royal wedding day!

Sophisticated Chic from Living Cinema.

Photography: Elizabeth Messina
Wedding Wedding planner: Lisa Vorce of Oh, How Charming!
Ceremony loocation: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church
Reception site: Hahn Estate
Cake: Vanilla Bake Shop
Flowers: Mindy Rice
Invitations: Papel Paper and Press
Videography: Living Cinema
Bride's dress: Vera Wang
Bridesmaid apparel: Lavin
Groom's tuxedo: Tom Ford

Posted by Emilie Harrison

A Beautiful Day

Earlier this year, we were fortunate enough to work with two of our favourite people, Lisa Vorce from Oh, How Charming! and Aaron Delesie, master photographer, on one of the most beautiful, relaxed weddings we've ever published. Day and Max were married in Santa Barbara in the US with amazing panoramic views of the surrounding hillsides.

Lisa worked her magic and created an understated, informal setting that included just the right amount of elegance and sophistication. It goes without saying Aaron's photos are spectacular – he really did capture the mood of the day perfectly. You can find the complete story in our current issue, on sale now.







A few spreads from this wonderful story in our latest issue.

And if you thought this story couldn't get any better, just wait until you watch this beautiful video of Day and Max's wedding, shot by the very talented team at Living Cinema. It is just so joyous, it brings a tear to my eye every time I watch it.

I do hope you will enjoy it too.



Posted by Jane Cameron

Oh So Coco

There's something about a truly gorgeous wedding video that really stirs your emotions. On Wed 9 June model Coco Rocha wed Interior Designer James Conran in a beautiful wedding held at Chateau Challain in the Loire Valley, France. Not only was the location completely breathtaking but her dress, by designer Zac Posen was jaw dropping. That is my dream dress right there! Coco was lovely enough to share two versions of her wedding video, by American Cinema, on her blog Oh So Coco. I've supplied you with the shorter version below however if you'd like to view the longer version visit her blog at ohsococo.blogspot.com. I can guarantee you would have seen nothing like it before. She also shared a sneak peak of her stationery and dress below. Fit for a Chateau wedding most definitely!

Coco + James // Teaser from Americana Cinema on Vimeo.

Posted by Emilie Harrison

Oh So Sweet....
Our savvy friends at SugarLove Weddings and White Designs have celebrated their 10 year anniversary in true 'Hampton's Style'. The brain child of Director Leigh Taylor, SugarLove Weddings' new home has brought her vision of sophisticated elegance with a touch of the Hamptons to life. Nestled in the tree lined streets of style hub Woollahra, Sydney - stop by for the SugarLove treatment and you will be joining an elite list of celebrity clients, including Uma Thurman, Cameron Diaz, Renee Zellweger and Cate Blanchett - all who have enjoyed some SugarLove magic.









Posted by Annabelle Kerslake

The Video King
One aspect of a wedding often overlooked by couples is whether or not to hire a videographer. In my time I have seen piles of beyond average videos that make you cringe. If a lasting memory of your big day, other than photographs, is what you want then I suggest you take our advice and speak to C2 Video. Marcus Theodor, the mastermind behind C2's fabulous videos, is a whizz when it comes to knowing exactly what you want out of your wedding video. Forget tacky music, cheesy angles and horrid colour... C2's videos are gorgeous, natural and lovely to watch. C2's videos make the truly wonderful, lasting memories of your big day even better.
Here you'll find a sample from the video of Sasha & Penola's wedding, held at Point Nepean National Park on the 28 Feb 2009. With a marquee set up on the sprawling lawns it was the perfect setting for this gorgeous wedding. Sasha arrived in a plane that was converted to a bus. How funky! Sasha made the video even more personal by writing and performing the sound track.



To speak to Marcus about an amazing wedding video for your big day visit www.c2video.com.au or call him on 03 9419 1163. You will be truly amazed by what you'll discover!

Posted by Emilie Harrison