Emily & Jonathan

“So many amazing memories and such a great day, making it hard to decide. From our first look at the beautiful Calile, to having our dogs present (another reason we chose The Refinery), having our family/friends all around us, to the amazing cocktails and food, the speeches, cutting the cake and our first dance. But to pick our two favourite memories/moments aside from the obvious, big ones would be:

1. Popping a bottle (or two) of sparkling wine out the front of The Refinery. You can definitely get this look if you don’t have a bottle of champagne. This was such a fun time with our bridal party and made for some amazing memories and photos (and a good .gif).

2. Anthony (Lover of Mine) providing us with a sneak peak of our wedding photos on Polaroid film. Whilst we ate our dinner, he spent his time editing and printing the Polaroids. Just shows you how much of an amazing person he is and so talented at his job!”

“Doing a first look and pre-ceremony portraits was one of the best decisions we made for our day. We wanted to do this so we could fully enjoy ourselves after tying the knot and spend time with our guests. Other weddings we’ve been to the bride and groom disappear for a large chunk of time and that’s something we didn’t want to do.

The Callie Hotel was the perfect getting ready location and we didn’t need to travel far for the perfect shot. The private rooftop area is like your own inner city garden oasis. Anthony captured some beautiful shots of our families and the bridal party, meaning this was one less thing to think about after the ceremony.”

“Sarah from Sphere Bridal was amazing in helping me find my dream dress (+ top), bringing many items up from Sydney for me to try. It took me ~4 trips to the Sunny Coast but we found it eventually. Any brides looking for their dream dress look no further than Sphere, Sarah and her team are amazing at what they do.

From the get go, I knew I wanted a simple silk gown with a sheer top. Something timeless but with a modern edge. My dress was the Vincent slip from Lola Varma, which I loved being able to support an Australian designer. I struggled to find the perfect top but had been eyeing off the Gem top from Elizabeth Fillmore for a while, thankfully Sarah brought this one up from Sydney for me to try and it was perfect. I love this combination as it is something I can wear again, the top or dress out to a nice dinner or formal event. I can’t wait to pop it on again and reminisce of our wedding day.

It may sound silly but my favourite (and first item) I purchased for my wedding look was the Shrimps Antonia bag, which I absolutely love! Keeping with the timeless look I wanted to complete my outfit with some simple slingbacks. I spent hours trolling the internet and eventually found the Holli slingback pumps from Amina Muaddi, which went perfectly with my slip. To finish the look I went with the Mia earrings from Natasha Schweitzer.”

“I collated a lot of the inspiration for our wedding from Instagram. After finding the perfect venue in The Refinery, I also followed all the vendors I adored and found my inspiration from here. Jonno was supportive in the process, with the occasional ‘mmm, that looks nice’ in agreement with my choices.”

“We did the non-conventional honeymoon, but something that is very much us. We travelled to Tasmania, a place we love, and spent the two weeks doing multiple overnight hikes (The Three Capes and Walls of Jerusalem) and in between relaxing and enjoying amazing Tasmanian food and wine. The perfect escape (in our eyes).”

“It was amazing. We had such a great group of vendors for our wedding who worked seamlessly together without much effort on our part. They went above and beyond to make our day so much fun and filled with many great memories. Everyone was so friendly and they obviously love their jobs. It’s sad we won’t get to work with them again.

Given both of us are not from Brisbane and only moved here this year, we largely chose our vendors based on The Refinery’s recommendations. Emily also spent a lot of time on Instagram getting inspiration. We started searching for our dream venue whilst living in Townsville and loved that The Refinery was an all in one package, not only to mention the amazing food and wine - which was very important to us. Given most of our guests travelled interstate we loved that they didn’t need to travel any further and only had to choose which side of the bar to stand on.

We felt it was extremely important to choose vendors who were familiar with the venue, as they know what works best in the space. This is why we went with The Refinery’s recommended vendor list as you know they will all be fabulous. Having people that have worked together countless times before, you can’t go wrong.

Janise (Jdolls) and Paula (Paula Maree Hair) were the best team to get the bridal party ready. They are such lovely people and are fantastic at what they do. Everyone felt and looked so beautiful.

Our celebrant, Paul Voge, spent over 2 hours on our initial phone call getting to know us and took so much time out of his days prior to the wedding to make sure the Ceremony was perfect. Not only is he a great celebrant, but wrangled everyone for photos (including our dogs) and always ensured we had food and a drink in hand.

Mrs Gibbons amplified the venue with her amazing florals. We gave her a basic colour palette and ideas and let her talent run free. The florals were dreamy and everything we could have asked for.

Petal + Peach (Rebecca) provided the most scrumptious cake. You know it’s good when there is barely any leftovers.

Our DJ Jai Waterhouse, from Noble Weddings, kept everyone on the dance floor for the remainder of the night. We were going to make our own playlist, but this was the best decision as it took the pressure off us and he kept the energy up in the room until the end of the night.

Lastly, Anthony, the man behind the camera for Lover of Mine. We changed our wedding date to secure Anthony and this was such a great decision. He is such a happy person, always up for a laugh, but most importantly an amazing photographer. He makes you feel so comfortable behind the camera and gives great instructions to get the perfect shot. We also did engagement photos with Anthony which made us feel so much more comfortable and prepared for our wedding day.”

“The Refinery is such a fantastic venue. We chose it for its inner city location, intimate atmosphere and industrial but soft and romantic look. We loved being able to have our ceremony and drinks in the courtyard and move only a few metres to the amazing reception space.

Another big hit with The Refinery is the food and drinks. Dan, Rach and their team have done such an amazing job creating a fine dining experience for a large crowd. We are big foodies and wine lovers and you can’t beat this experience. All our guests were raving about the food and drinks. They also made us cute bride and groom cocktails which were so delicious - a great alternative to a champagne tower.

Lastly, having Amelia and Rach as your wedding co-ordinators is a dream. It made our job so much easier and nothing was a big ask. It made our day feel effortless and stress free. Everything went perfectly thanks to them!”