Gretta & Greg’s Wedding | Bringing Country Style to One of the World’s Most Iconic Venues!

Our first event showcase is a beauty! Think country hospitality meets elegant, iconic Sydney. With a flock of Event Birdie suppliers on board, this wedding was one super stylish day.

So sit back and relax (that is what this gorgeous couple did too) and enjoy Gretta and Greg’s elegant country wedding at the Sydney Opera House.

Let’s start with their love story!

Gretta and Greg met 5 years ago through a mutual friend at a gathering in Sydney. At the time Gretta was an international air hostess and flew out the next day. Four weeks later, that same mutual friend (later to be a bridesmaid) set them up on a blind-date.

Plenty of to’ing and fro’ing ensued, from both Greg & Gretta, before they started dating on Valentine’s Day. From then on it was a combination of world adventures and holidays, lazy Sunday afternoons on the couch watching bad TV, and finally getting a beautiful chocolate labrador together – Molly.

Greg proposed on Tamarama Beach in May 2013.

What was your favourite part of the day?

G&G: The church service was very beautiful. We were married at St Anthony of Padua in Clovelly. The inside of the church was beautiful, the three-piece violins were elegant, Father Pawel was great and stepping out and seeing the ocean with fantastic weather was a definite highlight.

Given the organisation of the reception, it was easy to forget the ceremony in the lead up, but it turned out to be one of the most beautiful moments of the day. I guess it makes sense in retrospect – that was the point-in-time that we got married.

What was the best advice you received leading up to the day?

G&G: A lot of birdies advised us to “do want you want to do, it’s your day”, which is much harder to implement then it sounds. All we really wanted was for everyone to just have a good time. Being able to bring together our thoughts on what we wanted and communicate to the suppliers was the key.

Country style meets iconic Sydney beauty

Event Birdie: Both Gretta and Greg’s families are from rural or coastal New South Wales. However, with a strong friend base in Sydney, they wanted to host their wedding somewhere local to them. “We wanted to bring the country to the Opera House”, explains the couple.While rustic country weddings are certainly ‘in’, Gretta and Greg wanted to recreate the charm of a country wedding with an added touch of class.

How did you choose your suppliers?

G&G: We knew many of our suppliers beforehand through Gretta’s work at ARIA Restaurant, but many of them were also found purely through Googling.

The important part (after finding a heap of ‘known-suppliers’) was to Google the blogs/references to get some independent and honest feedback on each supplier.

Opera Point Marquee, Sydney Opera House (the venue)

Event Birdie: Located right on the harbour foreshore with one of the best views in town, the Opera Point Marquee is one of Sydney’s most popular wedding venues. What Event Birdie loves most about this space is that it is a blank canvas – you can truly create any atmosphere you want – even a country wedding!

Designs By Boo Shi (flowers/ styling)

G&G: Kristy from Designs By Boo Shi was fantastic. The flowers were the largest unknown aspect of the wedding to us both. It was the hardest part for us to communicate what we wanted, yet the largest contributor to the ‘feel’ of the reception. We showed Kristy the rustic invitations we made, and the G+G hessian-bags we made for favours – just to portray the feel of the night we were after. The result was fantastic! She turned the marquee into a wonderland of ivy, flowers and fairy-lights and created an overall theme that brought all the other parts (food, favours, invitations, cake) all together. Thanks Kristy!!!

Event Birdie: We love to see how florals and foliage have been used to style this wedding. The collection of pinks, greens, yellows and whites give this wedding a country garden atmosphere. The fairy lights and hanging tea-lights give the space a secret garden feel once the sun goes down. We love love love!

ARIA Catering (oh the food!)

G&G: Using ARIA Catering was an easy choice for top quality food, drinks and service. Again – we discussed with Tara the rustic and casual-yet-classy feel that we wanted to put together. Then Tara did her magic – the Chiswick-style* shared food, the circular table layout that got everyone moving around all night, the tiffany chairs, the breakout-space and the outdoor canapés area where many people spent the night under the stars & sails – all came together.

P.S. The food was awesome!

*For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of dining at Chiswick Restaurant, it is renowned for its casual yet delicious ‘collective’ menu – large platters of food to share with a group of friends or family. We’ve said it before – this is one fabulous menu style for weddings and events!

Gretta & Greg’s Menu

Canapés by the Harbour

Kingfish sashimi with edamame and horseradish

Pickled heirloom carrots filled with goats cheese and celery salt

Mini steak sandwich with gruyere, tomato relish and mustard

Entrée – served to share

Scallop ceviche with apple, radish and yuzu

Jamon with celeriac remoulade, pickled beetroot and walnuts

Chickpea salad with eggplant, heritage tomatoes, mint and basil

Main – served to share

Roast chicken, pearl onions, barley, cos

Wood roasted Moran family lamb, chermoula, cous cous

Fish and prawn tagine, saffron cous cous

Steamed broccoli, garlic, chilli

ARIA’s famous truffle mash

Dessert

Wedding cake served with berry coulis and cream

What have your family and friends been raving about since the big day?

G&G: The food and the service.

ARIA Catering were fantastic. Both Tara & Stuart knew exactly what we were after and delivered 100%. It sounded like Stuart talked to more of the guests than we did!!! Nothing was an issue – they knew what they were doing – the food was quality yet familiar & fun, and all the guests were unbelievably surprised by the quality of the service & staff.

The service can definitely be underrated at a wedding/event – but if the staff are helpful and enjoying themselves too, then the whole event is nothing but fun.

And capturing the day?

G&G: We met with a few photographers, and were after someone who would both take the standard family-shot (for our parents & aunts/uncles) but would also capture all those subtle and casual shots that we knew would best represent our day. After meeting Milton and seeing his work we knew it was the right fit.

During the reception Milton took us both out for some shots near the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. In one shot he had us close our eye, and place our foreheads together while he took some photos under the Opera House sails, while the wedding was continuing on in the background. It was a beautiful and timeless moment.

What is your best piece of advice on planning a wedding to other Event Birdies?

If you find the right suppliers and communicate exactly what you want – just let the experts do what they do best – and enjoy your special day.

Event Birdie suppliers that featured in this gorgeous wedding:

Photography | Milton Gan Photography

Venue | ARIA Catering at Sydney Opera House

Catering | ARIA Catering

Flowers | Designs by Boo Shi

Tiffany chairs | Decorative Events and Exhibitions