Real Bride// Claudine
Claudine and Kenneth 28th October 2023
On a beautiful, clear blue sky day on the 28th of October at the charming Chapel Farm Estate, Middle Swan Claudine married her long time partner Kenneth. For 13 years these love birds have been together and decided to finally tie the knot! I had the absolute pleasure of being Claudine's bridal stylist for her first ever appointment trying on wedding dresses and I am so excited to share with you her journey!
Before the Appointments
Claudine had envisioned her dream wedding dress to be either lacey or a crepe material with long sleeves. The dress would be either fitted or an A-line style with the possibility of an overskirt to add length and volume to the look.
Claudine had begun to google bridal shops in Perth. She scoured dress boutique websites to narrow down the stores that had the types of gowns she was looking for. This is an amazing place to start when organising your appointments - if you know that they don't have your particular style then you don't need to go! Claudine also had these thoughts as she wanted this process to be as least stressful as possible and she didn't want to be trying on hundreds of dresses.
The Appointments
Along with herself, Claudine also brought along a lovely entourage made up of her Maid of Honour and her bridesmaids. Her Mum was not able to be there as she was unfortunately out of the country. When Claudine came into the boutique I could tell that she was so excited and so nervous. We tried on some of the gowns that she had previously saved that fell into her ideal dress category that weren't quite hitting the mark.
At the next store, Claudine fell in love! She ended up saying yes to a beautiful off-shoulder crepe gown. Elegant and timeless and loved how simple it was. Whilst Claudine loved her dress - she did feel pressure to buy the dress on the spot and felt that without this pressure she would have loved the gown and the experience more. She didn't feel that "overwhelming feeling" that society goes on about when finding the one but did feel beautiful in it.
Finding "the one" sometimes does not put your mind at ease. When I asked Claudine if she had any regrets or questioned her choice she replied with "100%!". In the end she was happy with her choices but that didn't come without the roller coaster of emotions.
The Day
After months and months of waiting for the big day, Claudine put on her wedding dress and still loved it and felt every bit the perfect bride! Claudine's final bridal look was sleek and simple with beautiful Hollywood waves with some pearl accents added, dried flowers as her florals and a FLAWLESS makeup application.
As stressful as she felt this whole process was, looking back now she misses it. Claudine is planning to repurpose her gowns into items a little more wearable - such a great idea to be able to wear something so special and meaningful again and again!
Wedding Stylist/Coordinator: Little Things Events
Celebrant: Daniel Delby Celebrant
Music/DJ: Wedding Music Perth
Videography: Oikos Studio
Photography: Jona Belois
Cake: Karmen Lu
Hair: Styled by Shelby
MUA: Makeup by Naomi
Wedding Dress: Essence of Australia
Boutique: True Society Perth
Venue: Chapel Farm Estate
