Real Australian Wedding - Jessica and Nidal - Adelaide, SA - The Hens Nest Wedding Planning Directory

Jessica and Nidal's Wedding Day

the hens nest | weddings | Jessica and Nidal

the love story

Tell us about your love story so far. How did you meet, what was the proposal like?

We met each other in late 2000 we were both working in retail at the same company whilst we were both studying. We started out as friends but the attraction was so powerful we fell madly in love within a few months. In 2002 our individual career paths separated us from working together however our relationship continued to blossom.

In 2006 my human resources career took a new direction and I started working in the resources industry. This sparked an interest for Nidal and a few months later he was offered a position within the same company and went off to work on an oil and gas drilling rig in central Australia. This meant he would be away for 6 months of the year, working 3 weeks away at a time. This was a hard adjustment, which in reality just brought us closer together.

We built our first dream home together in 2007 and were so excited to finally live together from April 2008.

Together we share the best of what life has to offer and surround ourselves with love from our family and friends.

The proposal was on Christmas Day 2008, our first Christmas together in our new home. We awoke that morning and exchanged Christmas presents. We were preparing to have family over for a late lunch. A couple hours prior to our family arriving, Nidal walked over to me and he opened a little black a box displaying the most gorgeous white gold diamond ring I had ever seen. This was a complete surprise and I was totally in awe.

He expressed his love for me and admitted he could never live without me and our amazing love. He asked me to marry him and of course I responded gently with “I love you and I will”. The acceptance was sealed with an embrace and a passionate kiss. We celebrated with family and friends over Christmas lunch. We held our cocktail style engagement party on a Sunday afternoon of a long weekend in March 2009 at the gorgeous beach front Largs Pier Hotel.

How long was your engagement?

Our engagement was a total of 15 months

Tell us about “The Dress”

One winter day in August 2009 I took my Mum and my best friend to Bridal on Pulteney. The 3rd dress I tried on (at the request of my Mum) was a Fiorenza design named “FIFI”, as soon as I walked out to the mirrors I fell in love! The next weekend I returned to the bridal store with my Mum, my sister (my maid of honor) and my grandmother. With their seal of approval I ordered the amazing gown right there and then… I also ordered a custom made veil to compliment the dress perfectly. For the next 7 months my Mum, sister and my grandmother nicknamed me “Fifi”

The Grooms Attire:

My groom purchased an incredible black suit and white shirt from Hugo Boss in Grenfell Street Adelaide. He coordinated it perfectly with a vest hired from Gerry's Suit Hire and bought a ‘one of a kind’ tie from Ignition for men.

What were the elements that made your wedding unique?

We had such attention detail, from the Save The Date invitations, to the bonbonieries, to the table numbers at the reception.

Jessica and Nidal's Easter Egg Buffet

As we were married on Easter Saturday I came up with the idea of having an
Easter Egg Buffet for guest’s favors – this looked awesome!

Jessica and Nidal's Stunning Centrepieces

I hand made our table numbers using a professional photo we had taken the morning
of our engagement party, which also appeared on our save the date cards. They were
made to be hung off our amazing centerpieces, which consisted of stunning tall mirror
mosaic vases with blossom branches. Hanging from the branches were 7 Swarovski
crystal strands, 5 hanging candle votives and 10 orchid strands. These centerpieces
set the room off perfectly; they glimmered all the night and were completely startling.

I could continue as I feel so many aspects of our wedding were amazing special touches
but I wont.

Flowers:

Our flowers were created and provided by Blooming Bridal. I had the most startling bouquet consisting of approximately 60 ‘amazing’ white roses. These were framed with white organza, the stems were completely covered in white satin and of course I had Swarovski crystals scattered within the flowers, finished with a gorgeous crystal cross pin on the stem of the bouquet. The bridesmaids had purple Lisianthus flower bouquets, framed with purple organza. The stems were completely covered in purple satin and finished with a crystal love heart pin on the stem of the bouquet.

Ceremony Location:

Brougham Place Uniting Church

Reception Venue:

The Sebel Playford, Adelaide

Photography Hot Spots:

Our creative portraiture was within the beautiful Adelaide Botanic Gardens, our photographer
Kim Stevens from Panache Photography was very professional and so much fun to be around.
Our photos utterly speak for themselves and reflect just how creative and talented Mr. Stevens is!

Was there a theme?

We never really had a ‘set’ theme. My mind changed many times throughout the planning phase, but we always steered towards a traditional white wedding with a modern feel, so I guess you could define our wedding as ‘Modern Traditional Wedding’.

Details about the cake:

Jessica and Nidal's wedding cake - made by How Sweet It Is, Adelaide

Our cake was a masterpiece made by How Sweet It Is, which was a total of 8 tiers in height. 5 tiers were cake and the remaining 3 tiers were made up of roses that matched my bouquet. Every second tier of cake was a hexagonal shape and was covered with Swarovski crystals. The other tiers were round with pipe filigree and lavender ribbon (matching the bridesmaid dresses).

We had the following flavours

Hazelnut and Frangelico Dark Chocolate Mud
Raspberry Dark Chocolate Mud
Baileys and Almond White Chocolate Mud
Mixed Berries White Chocolate Mud
Top Tier was fruitcake to keep

What moment took your breath away:

Throughout the day and night many moments took my breath away! But the most special moments were:

The moment when I started walking down the aisle with my Dad and saw my Husband’s smiling face, he was absolutely beaming and the gaze of love in his eyes looking at me will be something I will remember forever, and
The moment when the time came for my husband to stand up in front our guest at the reception, he spoke from his heart and expressed the essence of love we have for each other, the words he spoke took my breath away. He then asked for my hand and we walked to the dance floor together for our first dance as husband and wife. I fell in love all over again.

Where did you go for your Honeymoon?

On the Monday following our Easter Saturday wedding we flew to Cairns and then drove ourselves to Pam Cove, where we spent the next 5 nights relaxing by the pool and beautiful beaches. We then drove further north and spent the next week in Port Douglas enjoying gorgeous tropical north Queensland.

Tips for brides and grooms planning their wedding:

The number one tip would be to ‘just enjoy it all’, every single bit of planning. Do it all together and embrace the real true reason why this day is happening.

My number one question throughout the whole planning process was wondering if everything would match. If everything would just fall into place? You spend a year, if not more, planning one whole day, the feeling of accomplishment and amazement seeing it all unravel on our day is very rewarding. Don’t stress over the small things and don’t question yourself. 99% of the time not knowing what I wanted, it was my first instinct of what I thought would go or wanted is what I ended up with.

We met some extraordinary people / suppliers through the planning stage, which have shaped into new friendships