Around 4 months ago I received a phone call from a gentleman by the name of Frank. He, and his then fiancé Irina, who live in Melbourne, were planning to get hitched in Sydney. Although Frank’s family are based in Sydney, Irina’s, on the other hand, were all flying in from Russia! We agreed to meet up at Maisy’s Cafe in Neutral Bay to discuss their plans for a Le Montage Wedding.
With both sides of the family arriving into Sydney for this couple, the day was always going to be action-packed. Most weddings that I have the pleasure of photographing where the couple reside interstate or internationally are always really interesting. Two different cultural clans coming together to celebrate the joining of two families – and in this case, to drink Grappa and Vodka, and yell “Gorko!”.
In case you were wondering, “Gorko, Gorko, Gorko!” means ‘Bitter, Bitter, Bitter!’. After a vodka toast, guests yell “Gorko”, where the bride and groom should kiss to remove the bitterness of the vodka. You learn something new every day!
I think that Le Montage can sometimes be overlooked as a venue to host a charming wedding for only a few. Frank and Irina’s wedding was off to the side in the Marquee, where the afternoon sun saturated the table settings and made the flora and silverware glow with a beautiful orange rim. Most of the Le Montage wedding rooms are quite grand, holding in excess of 400 people, but when your decorate your room to your individual style, I think that you can truly turn an otherwise grand parade into a wedding reception that is more personal.
The venue sits right on the water’s edge at Iron Cove, where the tree-lined foreshore is illuminated with fairy lights in the evening. At the couple’s request, I mostly focused on telling the story of their two families coming together, but the sunset was too perfect not to miss! I convinced them that we should quickly duck out for a quick sunset session to make the most of the time we had together.
Irina and Frank also wanted a wedding film to tell their story. I teamed up with a friend of mine to help me with this, and you can see both the highlights and Mini-movie below. If you are considering a wedding film for your special day, this page will show you an option that might interest you. Some other video samples are available here, and also on my Vimeo channel if you want to see more.
Share this story
