Cultures come together at Netna and Darren’s East meets West wedding

Netna Nguyen and Darren Johnstone are living proof that opposites attract.

When she met Darren, Netna, 29, was a shy IT technician who could often be found with her head in a book. Darren, 30, was the complete opposite, outgoing and sporty with a social circle “bigger than Ben-Hur”.

“We couldn’t have been any more different,” Netna says. “It’d be years later that we’d discover through a Jung and Briggs Myer testing that our personalities were completely opposite.”

Netna’s family originally hails from Vietnam and now lives in Sydney, while Darren, 30, is from Melbourne and from a large Irish family. They wanted an East meets West wedding that celebrated both their backgrounds.

They wed on October 15, 2016 at St Francis of Assisi in Paddington, Sydney. Celebrations with their 250 guests continued at The Ivy Ballroom.

“It was an epic East meets West affair, this wedding was grand, luscious and opulent,” Netna says of the big day planned with help from EventZen.

“In a magnificent ballroom with a giant crystal chandelier and florals expertly adorned, who could ever suspect that this was a DIY event from years of collecting jars, old paper and ribbon?”

Photos courtesy of Clarzzique Photography & Video.

Netna added some personality, and a touch of Asian style with her wedding shoes.

The beautiful bride and her bridesmaids had their hair and make-up done by Faces Makeup and Hair.

Flowers by Mary Contrary featured throughout the big day.

“The wedding planning, began with collecting jars… moving to hiring Natalie, our event planner… to finally placing the deposit on The Ivy Ballroom in Sydney which ticked the right boxes: convenience for our Melbourne guests and prestige for our Sydney ones,” says Netna.

“We worked hard to make the wedding as meaningful to us and our roots, an East meets West union and as cost effective as possible,” Netna says.

The couple danced the night away under a huge chandelier at the grand Sydney venue.