Chantelle & Stefano's Observatory Hill Wedding, Sydney
Chantelle and Stefano were married under a Moreton Bay fig at Observatory Hill Park in Millers Point, on a July afternoon, with the Harbour Bridge behind them and about fifty people standing in a loose half-circle on the grass.
No aisle. No arch. Nobody walked anybody anywhere. A few chairs went out for family and everyone else stood where they wanted to. I met them at the park. No getting ready, no hotel room, no morning, just the ceremony, their families, and the hill afterwards.
Chantelle wore a sequined mini with feathers and orange platform sandals. Megumi, their celebrant, turned up in orange too. Their dog came in a collar of eucalyptus and white roses, the same dog Chantelle already carries tattooed above her elbow. Beyond those roses there wasn't a flower at this wedding. No bouquet, nothing standing in for anything.
Observatory Hill is public land, which means people walk past your vows and a cruise ship crosses the background whether you booked it or not. Some couples would hate that. These two were completely at home in it. They were married at three. Afterwards everyone went up to the rotunda for tea from a thermos, champagne, and cake, and by half past four we were done. The light goes fast in July, the sun is behind the buildings before five, so the ceremony, the tea and the portraits all fit inside sixty minutes.
Dinner was at Bodhi Restaurant. Long tables in the courtyard, gas heaters running, fairy lights wound up the trunks, blankets rolled at the end of the benches. Moreton Bay figs overhead again, the same tree they'd stood under three hours earlier, on the other side of the city. The cake was three tiers of piped pink and red buttercream, scalloped like something from 1962, cherries on top. I took a few frames of it captured some candid moments, had a lovely meal then left them to their evening.
Bodhi served its last meal five weeks later, after thirty-four years.
Dreaming of a small, intimate wedding in Sydney? Whether it's twenty of your favourite people or a quiet celebration somewhere unexpected, I'd love to hear about it. Get in touch
Vendors
Venue: Observatory Hill Park
Celebrant: Megumi Carver
Photographer: Anetta Kirk
