Today we sat down with Renae Ayris, former Miss Universe Australia to chat about how she pulled off her dream wedding to her now-husband, Andrew Papadopoulos. The pair married in November in the Hunter Valley, NSW. We spoke about Renae’s inspirations, her wedding vision and how she could have stressed less. Here are her tips on how to do your big day right:
How to not have regrets on your wedding day:
“A few brides told me if you’re considering getting something, definitely go with it, because you don’t want to look back on something that you kind of wish you had, so I kind of went along with that the whole way.”
via @renaeayris
On advice that rung true for her from others:
“Definitely have a videographer. And also, make sure you sit back on the day and take a moment to take it all in because it goes so quickly… which it definitely did! It’s kind of like an out of body experience.”
via @renaeayris
Don’t make the same mistake with stationery from overseas:
“I did everything myself. I’d love to say my husband helped me, but he didn’t!” she laughed. “I wish I could go back and take off all the stress I had, planning it. I really do wish that I hadn’t stressed as much. There were a few things that I did… I ordered confetti stickers that never arrived. I ordered them about three months before the actual day, I ordered things that were online that were from overseas. Vistaprint has a range of services for before the wedding, after the wedding. I could have has all of those things on time which would have made a big difference. Definitely try to go with Australian if you can!”
via @renaeayris
On her favourite part:
“Walking down the aisle and seeing Andrew crying at the end of it. That was definitely a highlight. And because it was such an intimate wedding, seeing everyone I love in one room… so it was just walking in, and having that overwhelming feeling.”
On wedding dress designs:
“It definitely wasn’t simple. It was probably one of the hardest things, I would say, deciding what kind of design I wanted. I always knew I wanted a big, princess dress, but then I would change my mind pretty much every week on what kind of design I wanted up top, so I had to design mine.”
via @renaeayris
How she chose her wedding suppliers:
“I went with people who I’d seen at other weddings. I had a good friend who had used Soda… actually the first supplier I locked in was Soda Films, I’ve always been obsessed with their videos.”
On what to do with your wedding photos after the big day:
“Definitely do something with them! We literally had 2,500 photos sitting in Dropbox for about four months. So now we have canvases and wedding books. You definitely don’t want them sitting in dropbox. You need to print them out! Give them to people. I will get canvases for my nana, my grandma, have them in everyone’s house! Definitely look into Vistaprint, the quality is insane.”
via @renaeayris
Vendors:
Venue: Enzo Hunter Valley
Photographer: Blumenthal Photography
Videographer: Soda Films
Flowers: ELLEBORE⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Dress Pallas Couture⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Suit: MJ Bale⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Hair Suzanne Henderson⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Makeup: Brittany Ivery⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Cake: Michelle the cake chef⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Celebrant: Sydney celebrant Glenn Millanta
