Maggie and Sean

Maggie and Sean tied the knot on the 25^th February 2023 and had their ceremony at the picturesque Rippon Lea Estate, a heritage-listed historic house and gardens which was completed in 1868 located in Elsternwick, it is in the care of the National Trust of Australia. The reception was at Leonda by the Yarra, one of Melbourne’s most sought after venues, where happily ever-after awaits.

Sean had a special proposal in store for Maggie, she tells us, “Sean told me he planned ‘a weekend’ and to pack 3 outfits. Naturally, I packed my entire wardrobe. We went to the Yarra River where a little boat was waiting with a cheese board and champagne, strawberries and bagels, my favourite! We got on the boat and after a few minutes of going down the sparkling waters of the Yarra, Sean said some very nice things and tried to reach down into his bag, while also trying to control the boat at the same time! Of course, the boat started swaying all over the Yarra since he couldn’t control and reach at the same time, and the man who was patrolling the river started yelling at us: “GO LEFT! GO LEFT” …at which point I yelled back “…I think he’s trying to propose!”  Maggie continues, “Minutes later, we got the boat back to its steady self, and Sean got down on one knee and proposed, again! It was so beautiful and out of sheer luck a person on a nearby boat turned out to be a professional photographer and started taking photos of us, which he sent to us later. When we got off the boat, even more people wanted to take photos with us! It was like we were celebrities or something. Afterwards we went for dinner at an amazing French restaurant and stayed overnight at The Grand Hyatt. Truly unforgettable!

Belle et Blanc bride ‘Maggie’ came into our bridal store and picked out the stunning ‘Mackenzie’ wedding dress, an A-line gown full of romance, with intricate textured hand beading and lace. Maggie tells us how she came to choose her dream gown, “My wedding gown was so beautiful and also really light and comfortable. I had already gone to 5 other stores and this was the last one on the list. I walked in and saw one dress hanging near the very front of the store, and thought, ‘Guess I’ll try this one on,’ I put it on and it was PERFECT! Exactly what I’d been looking for – so pretty and it just felt like the dress I wanted to get married in. My parents and Maid of Honour all agreed, and it was an instant ‘Yes!’

Maggie shares how her wedding day was truly the best day of her life, she tells us, “the day we got married was perfect, but we had a few things go wrong in the lead up to the day, including our wedding singer cancelling on us because she got through to the Top 12 of Australian Idol, who would’ve thought, which luckily meant that on the day itself everything was perfect! Everyone always says, ‘It’s the best day of your life’, and I never really thought much of that, but now I’m one of those people who say that too!! Rippon Lea was beautiful, even though it did rain for all of 10 minutes – we were just so excited to see each other. Maggie continues “We had a wedding painter create an amazing painting of us, and do a whole big reveal at the Reception. We perfected Russian dancing, fed each other cake without dropping it, heard some beautiful speeches, made full use of the open bar, somehow managed to perform an entire dance medley in front of everyone, and exited on a boat while fireworks lit up the sky and our guests drunkenly sang ‘Sail Away’ by Enya. It was perfect.”