Liz and Shaun...

Friday the 2^nd of July marked the day that Liz Chang would become Liz Yow, and Shaun would make Liz his wife. 

The beautiful setting for the wedding was The Tearoom at Gunners Barracks for the reception, with the ceremony taking place in the courtyard. Liz said it was the view that absolutely sold them on the venue, along with the recommendation from Karen, who had attended a function at the venue before.

Karen and Geoff arrive for the wedding

When Liz’s Dad walked her down the aisle, he felt the emotions of the situation and began to cry, which in turn set Liz off, and a number of other people. Fortunately the celebrant, Christine, was prepared with tissues for a quick fix of make up and to clean up the wet cheeks.

Working for Karen and seeing the exceptional gowns and craftsmanship involved in each of her designs was reason enough for Liz to decide to wear a Karen Willis Holmes gown on her wedding day.

After trying on a selection of the ready-to-wear collection, Liz ruled it down to two gowns, and engaged in the opinion of her mother, sister and two best friends, along with Karen to confirm that ‘the one’ was the ‘Gemma’. Karen then customized it to a couture gown especially for Liz, incorporating some delicate lace along the bust-line and throughout the bodice, adding pretty cap sleeves, and taking into account her petite frame.

The magical feeling of wearing a wedding dress was not lost on Liz, even though she is exposed to these gowns every day. ‘It made me feel sophisticated and graceful’. Not only did Liz feel beautiful but she also looked amazing and felt comfortable all day!

Liz’s veil was a Karen Willis Holmes glimmer tulle veil, with a pearl and diamante comb in her hair to attach the veil.

While Liz only wore drop, pearl earrings on the day, her mother-in-law gave her a beautiful diamond necklace as a gift during the reception, which she proceeded to wear for the remainder of the night.

Shaun wore a suit, belt and tie all from Prada, His shirt was from Valentino, as the Prada shirt did not fit him as well – otherwise he would have been in Prada from head-to-toe!

Liz and Shaun’s bridal party consisted of four bridesmaids and four groomsmen. All friends with one another (even another engaged couple in there), ensured that the group had a fabulous time together enjoying all the festivities of the day and the lead up to it all.

Liz made use of a print she had designed herself for her own collection for her fashion label. Using this print as the basis for her day, the result was purple as the main colour theme, along with ivory and a beautiful warm red.

Each bridesmaids was allowed to choose their own dress, just so long as it was purple, creating beautiful contrast that carried beautifully, especially with the purple palette used in the flowers. Liz also had purple silk flowers made, based on her print, for each of the bridesmaids to wear in their hair.

The groomsmen also wore black suits with white shirts, and beautiful purple ties from Armani that Shaun gave to them as thank-you presents.

Shaun’s mum also chose purple attire for the colour theme of the wedding, which Liz said “was very thoughtful and so lovely”.

Another special outfit for the day was that of Liz’s mum, who wore a beautiful Korean costume, which is tradition for the mother of the bride to wear in Korean culture. Not to be outdone, Liz’s dad matched his suit with a fantastic black hat and Christian Lacroix tie which Liz chose for him.

Something extra special about Shaun and Liz’s wedding was that they chose to incorporate their heritage, by including a traditional Korean ceremony and Malaysian tea ceremony before the reception. This involved them dressing in traditional Korean costumes, which are stunningly beautiful with their amazing shapes and colour.

Liz said that the guests loved being able to see the ceremony and experience firsthand the contrast in the ceremonies.

Liz said, “My favourite part of it was when our parents threw dates and chestnuts at us (that represent sons and daughters) and we were supposed to catch some with part of my costume. Shaun, not realising what they meant, thought he was meant to catch all of them! Based on that we are supposed to have something like 14 children!”

Liz made use of her artistic skills and designed all the stationary for the event – invitations, table charts and menus based on the print from her own designs. As Liz said ‘I spent lots of time on Photoshop!’, but in the end it was worth it, as it offered a beautiful personal touch.

Keeping with the personalised elements, the MC for the event was Shaun’s ex-flatmate, who he had lived with in various apartments over the past four years. Thrilled with the intimacy of his close friendship with the couple, Liz said ‘he was fantastic, he had everyone laughing’.

The florist employed for the event was Ria floral. Liz simply couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to have Ria do the flowers, as the Karen Willis Holmes store in Paddington is lucky enough to have their floral arrangements completed by Ria each week and they are nothing short of amazing each time. Liz simply gave Ria the print she had used as the inspiration and let Ria take charge, and without a shadow of doubt Liz knew her flowers would be perfect on the day – which they were. 

The music for the day involved a brass quartet made up of some of Shaun’s brass band members during the ceremony. Then for the reception they had an iPod with a list of suggestions for songs that the guests requested. This ensured the dance floor remained full all night.

One very special dance was the first dance between the couple as husband and wife. Liz and Shaun had three or four lessons, even though Shaun was in Melbourne for work in the leadup to the wedding. They kept it simple and traditional and in Liz’s words, chose a ‘lovey dovey’ song in the form of ‘Feels like Home’ by Chantal Kreviazuk.

The team at Gingerbread Folk made the bonbonnieres in the form of little gingerbread boys and girls, which doubled as the place card settings, each with the guest’s name on it. 

Instead of going for a traditional, white-iced cake, the couple decided to have a completely chocolate cake – inside and out – as chocolate is Shaun’s favourite, plus it looked so delicious that they couldn’t possibly pass up on the chocolate mud cake with chocolate icing.

The cake tied in all the elements of the other suppliers, with Ria decorating the base of the cake with matching florals to the bouquets and then Gingerbread folk making the cake toppers of gingerbread with Liz and Shaun’s names on them.

The photographer selected by Liz and Shaun was Raoul Tackelburg, whose studio is in the Flourmill Studios, which is where Karen’s couture studio is and where Liz is based. Liz said, ‘He is such a lovely guy, and I loved the natural candid style of his photography.’ The other thing that helped the couple to decide on Raoul was that he had worked at weddings with the traditional Korean ceremony before. ‘ We knew he would be able to take good photos for that too. On the day, he captured some great moments, and because I knew him, we felt more comfortable as well.’

We are thrilled for Liz and Shaun and Liz will be deeply missed when she leaves to join Shaun in the UK, but we sincerely wish the couple a very happy, long and prosperous life together.