Located in Melbourne’s theatre district, Fortyfivedownstairs is one of Australia’s leading theatre and art spaces and Melbourne’s most unique wedding venues. This 19th Century building is where Aubrey and Matthew exchanged their vows.
This wedding is giving us summer vibes! The couple’s special day is full of vibrant details that significantly enhanced the overall look of the venue!
Where did you get married?
Fortyfivedownstairs for the ceremony and Chin Chin for the reception.
Why did you choose to get married at Fortyfivedownstairs?
We had planned to have our ceremony at Treasury Gardens in the JFK Memorial, but the weather meant we had to move our ceremony to Fortyfivedownstairs. Chin Chin was a no-brainer. The food, decor and ambience was a great starting point for a fun, party vibe.
What was the most memorable part of your wedding day?
This is a hard one! I suppose the most memorable part for me, was getting ready with my daughter.
Aubrey, paint us a picture. What was the theme, style, colors, and overall vibe of your wedding day?
We have a daughter already and have been together for 11 years. We wanted a fun and relaxed CBD wedding. Our main concerns were good food, music, and having a great time. We wanted to make it easy for everyone to get to and to get home. I love watching sunsets so took the colour inspiration for our flowers and decor from those images. I used images I had captured of my favourite sunsets, with blue, pink, peach, purple, and red, and sent them to our florist. We basically just planned a very expensive party to celebrate our life as a couple and as a family.
What was your favorite part of planning your wedding?
How easy it was. I loved using my creativity in making a customisable wedding website, invites, and stationary like our signage. I had listened to a lot of wedding podcasts so I felt like I had a good idea of how to plan a wedding in under 12 months.
What was the best investment you made for your wedding?
The greatest investment was in the food and venue. We love Chin Chin and we knew the food and venue itself would be amazing. Another great investment is in the music we chose – we had a dj/saxophonist and he was amazing, everyone had a blast and was so surprised when he pulled out the sax!
Is there anything you would have done differently?
I probably would’ve gone with an Australian-made dress maker. I loved my dress but I did feel like I missed out on the dress experience from start to finish (calico cut-out, several fittings etc) as it was made off-shore and had to be altered.
What was your favorite part of using WedSites for your wedding?
I loved how customisable it is. I literally made it my own, the colours, headings etc. It was very easy to use and I thoroughly enjoyed the process of creating our own wedding website.
Wedding planning is notoriously stressful. Now that you’ve gone through the process, do you have any advice or words of wisdom for couples who are currently in the midst of planning theirs?
Decide on the top three things that are most important to you as a couple and plan your big day around that. Create a new email address for all things wedding so you and your partner can keep it all in the one place. Use a spreadsheet to keep track of payments to vendors and enquiries. Lock in the big suppliers as soon as you have a date and venue – eg. photography/videography, florist, make-up and hair, dress, celebrant and entertainment. Most of all, have fun!
The amazing team of vendors involved with this wedding
Venue: Chin Chin for reception | fortyfivedownstairs for ceremony
Photographer: Valley and Peak Weddings
Officiant: Vow to Love
Caterer: Chin Chin
Entertainment: Solution Entertainment
Florist: Bloom Boy
Hair Stylist: Hair by JC
Makeup Artist: Tahlia Liapis
Wedding Dress: Jane Hill Bridal
Bridesmaid Dresses: Zimmermann
Attire: P Johnson
Jeweler: Cushla Whiting | Grew and Co
Rentals: Weddings of Distinction
Videographer: CKCS Films
Wedding Website: WedSites
Others: At the beep
