Andy Rohner & Adriano Rabelo { 6 OCTOBER }

REDLEAF, WOLLOMBI, NSW

photos captured by: Foto Grafija

Andy and Adriano first met in Hamburg, Germany. “We saw each other at a party but it wasn’t until we bumped into each other at the gym that we started talking and organized our first date. I was in Germany for a two-year work assignment and Adriano was studying there. We eventually moved back to Sydney together.” 

The couple’s proposal was two-fold. After 4 years together Andy bought an engagement ring in order to propose to Adriano at Mardi Gras. “It has always been a dream of mine to propose at Mardi Gras, amongst love, music and of course all the glitter! It was the perfect setting, surrounded by friends dressed up to the nines in all the colours of the rainbow and celebrating equal love. Little did I know Adriano was also planning on proposing and had had a ring sent from London, but I beat him to it, proposing on a float during the parade!”

Adriano then proposed to Andy in Borneo. “We stayed at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort, and after a relaxing day by the pool Adriano asked me to marry him. Why have one proposal when you can have two and celebrate twice!?”

SPREADSHEETS & PLANS |  “Adriano is an Excel spreadsheet wizard. He researched all the best suppliers and was basically our wedding planner! We made sure to tick all the boxes of a wedding checklist a friend had forwarded onto us and created run sheets and information sheets for the caterer and other suppliers. Our dear friend Michelle created our floral arrangements based on notes and photos we’d provided and we also enlisted my dear friend Trish who I’ve known for 10 years as our celebrant. She was the one who had encouraged me to become a celebrant myself. Everything came together perfectly.”  

THE CEREMONY | The ceremony was very emotional for Andy in particular. “I knew I would be crying a lot and from walking down the aisle, to the vows, right until the signing of the papers I was a mess! I had been a little stressed because it had rained in the morning but the sun came out just as we exchanged our vows. It was magical, like someone had cut into the clouds and allowed the sun to shine.”

VOWS SHARED | “Falling for you wasn’t falling at all. It was like walking into a house and suddenly realising I was home… The best thing that I will ever do is I’ll get to love you… You’ve made me a better man, a stronger man and a more compassionate man. I joinmy life with yours. Wherever you go, I will go; whatever you face, I will face… Today here in front of our family and friends I vow to love and honour, protect and respect you, now and forever, you are my husband. I love you, all of you, forever’

NAKED CAKE |  “We chose a semi naked cake with two tiers. The base was chocolate and cherry ripe and the top was coconut and raspberry jam. Luckily we had more than half the cake left on Sunday morning and famished after all the dancing, demolished it for breakfast! We loved our little cake topper of a gay couple, one man carrying the other.” 

ADVICE |  Due to rainy weather, the couple had to make a last minute decision to hold their reception inside. “It was a bit of a rush moving everything indoors. The tables and placements were a little out as we tried to fit everyone in with a different layout. This also meant pushing the ceremony back by half an hour to have enough time to prepare, dry off the chairs and get all the guests organized. While it turned out the timing and delay worked in our favour as the sun came out just before our vows, I would however recommend investing in an event manager to take the pressure off.” 

“I also recommend the application ‘appy couple’ which helped us manage our wedding information, invitations and RSVPs and was especially useful for our guests coming from overseas.”

VILLA STYLE | “Our only pre-requisite for our venue was that it let us continue the reception party until after midnight. Unfortunately that made it difficult to find somewhere in Sydney, the Blue Mountains or the Southern Highlands, however through my work as a marriage celebrant I have been introduced to the team at Redleaf, a property in Wollombi in lower Hunter Valley. We soon locked in a wedding date there.” 

Redleaf is an Italian-style villa retreat with beautiful interior design, an extensive garden and pool, and an empty barn. “We used the lavender garden for our ceremony location and the barn was perfect for our reception and dance floor!” 

In typical Italian style, Redleaf had a pizza oven which gave the couple inspiration for a pizza dinner party to welcome their guests on the Friday night. 

STYLE & DÉCOR  |  In contrast to the venue’s Italian style, Andy and Adriano’s wedding florals featured a touch of Australia with gumnuts and rosemary, and native flowers in a vast array of greens, blues and pink. 

For the reception, the tables were decorated with runners and candles and simple but elegant table settings featured silver cutlery and white napkins. Wooden place cards, chalkboard signs and balloons completed the rustic and festive design. “Instead of table numbers we named our tables after our favourite singers, Kylie, Cher, Delta, Susan Boyle etc.”

As wedding favours the couple gave each guest a shot glass of Patron Café. “It featured our names, date and had a little name tag attached.”

SEQUIN STYLE | “We didn’t want any dark colours at our wedding, so we opted out of black or dark blue suits. Adriano and I wore the same grey pants with different cuts. For me it was cuffs and for Adriano, a skinny leg style. I wore a 3-piece suit with blue checked jacket and grey vest, and Adriano had a two piece suit with blue jacket and tailored shirt.”

When it came time for their first dance, Adriano changed into his new Louboutin shoes and Andy had a special surprise. “There was a moment of transition in the music and I took off my jacket to reveal a sequined one underneath! Everyone cheered and clapped. It was so funny!” 

The couple danced for 9 hours until the wee hours of the morning. “We flew our DJ in from the US and had an absolute blast. We’d sent them 10 songs we liked and they’d mixed them just for us!” 

CREDIT TO

attire: Suit Supply, suitsupply.com/en

photographer: Foto Grafija, fotografija.com.au

wedding venue: Redleaf  Wollombi, redleafwollombi.com.au

caterer: Dan the Man Catering, danthemancooking.com

cake: Hello Naomi, hellonaomi.com.au

groomsmen: Zara, zara.com/au

bridesmaids: ShowPo, howpo.com

engagement & wedding rings: Babette Wasserman, babette-wasserman.com & Natalie Laura Jewellery, @natalielaura_jewellery

music: Global Party People, www.globalpartypeople.com

celebrant: Trish Johnson, trishjohnson.com.au

hair: Petr Vackar, www.petrvackar.com

gift registry: Zankyou, zankyou.com.au

additional suppliers: Appy couple,

appycouple.com