Ballara Wedding Receptions

We chose our wedding venue, Ballara Receptions. We liked the look and feel of Ballara Receptions and felt it reflected our appreciation of Australian nature and suburban life. It wasn’t too far from the city or our place, and we jelled well with the people running the venue. As a Chinese couple, we felt that a tea ceremony would be lovely and honouring to family tradition and our culture. This is normally conducted in the bride’s home. Ballara is where the wedding photography took place.

Wedding gown // Rachael made both her wedding gowns
Suit // Gabriel’s Suit is from Briggins Clothiers
Hair & Make up // Pheny Soecitra
Conducting the service // Praba Nagaratnam
Flowers // Melbourne Event Florals (Floral Arbour)
Wedding Cake // Priscilla’s Cakes
Cars // Enrik Limousines
Video // Passion8 Photo & Video
Band/DJ // Matt Jefferies Entertainment

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How we met: We met at the University of Melbourne in our first Chemistry lab practical. Rachael sat at the back of the lab to hide, and Gabriel was late, so he crashed her party and later into her life. We have been together nearly 10 years since then. Gabriel thought Rachael was really smart and could be a good lab partner for the semester. Rachael thought Gabriel’s experiment went horribly wrong yet he somehow managed to wing a good grade.
The Proposal: The proposal took place at my family home during the pandemic lockdowns in 2021. Gabriel cooked a lovely steak dinner and serenaded A Message by Coldplay on the ukulele before proposing. I thought the proposal was really sweet and intimate. No fancy tricks, setting or plan. The ring fit me really well too. The diamond wasn’t too big and Gabriel said he chose quality over size to match my smaller hands.