Wedding | Cass & Lachlan

Tell us a little about yourselves!

We both grew up in Sydney, Australia - Lach from the Northern Beaches and Cass from the North Shore. We met outside a bar in Manly Beach, on Cass' first night out in the Northern Beaches. The timing wasn't right for us then, but we both knew that there was something special about our connection. Our paths didn't cross again until a couple of years later, when the timing was right!

After less than a year of dating we moved in together and grew our little family with the addition of our fur child, Koa. In a full-circle moment, Lach popped the question at home in March 2024, shortly after we bought our first home in Manly Beach - where our love story started!

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

We decided very early on that we were going to have a destination wedding in Europe because Cass has family based in Cyprus. 

The elopement came about when we realised that it was much easier to legally get married in Australia before heading to Europe, to avoid having to translate all the marriage documents etc. We also wanted to be able to celebrate in some capacity with our friends and family who wouldn’t be able to make it to our European celebration – hence the surprise after-party.

We chose the Presidential Suite of the Intercontinental Hotel for our Australian ceremony, because we wanted to lean into the modern, chic, city vibe, knowing that our Cyprus wedding would be a more traditional, fairytale, coastal style. The Presidential Suite itself exceeded our expectations – it was truly so luxurious and grand. The hotel staff were incredible and treated us like royalty the entire weekend. We were also able to get insane photos around the hotel and Sydney city. The suite was probably our biggest unexpected spend (we were initially planning a courthouse elopement), but we would do it again in a heartbeat! Our vision was absolutely brought to life.

How many guests did you have?

We only had immediate family, grandparents and bridal party at the ceremony. 

A few hours after we tied the knot, we surprised 120 of our friends and family at our ‘Engagement Party’ turned wedding reception at Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel.

What was your budget? 

Our celebration ended up costing much more than our destination wedding in Europe, but we wouldn’t have it any other way! We feel blessed to have both experiences and celebrate with our favourite people on both sides of the world!

Tell us about your outfits.

Cass has been obsessed with Kyha Studios for years, so it was an obvious choice when the time came to pick a wedding dress (or dresses!). Cass wore the Freddie Mini for the celebration because it suited the modern, elopement style of the day and was perfect to dance in at the afterparty. She also has a beautiful ballgown from Kyha Studios that she can’t wait to wear at the European wedding in July!

Lach and his groomsmen wore head to toe black tie from MJ Bale . They loved themselves sick in their tuxedos!

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?

We wanted to go against tradition and do things in a way that we felt comfortable. We skipped most of the traditional formalities like walking down the aisle and first dances. We also saw each other the morning of the wedding, opting to have photos done before the ceremony. This ended up being one of the best decisions, because we felt instantly more at ease being around each other. Regardless of what type of wedding you are having, emotions and stress are HIGH on the day. Having each other and our bridal party present in the morning was exactly what we needed to stay grounded.

We had people question our untraditional approach, but we honestly wouldn’t change anything about the day. It was our day and it was perfect to us. 

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

We wanted our grandparents to be a big part of our day, since they won’t be coming to the European wedding. For this reason, we asked both of our Nannas to be our legal witnesses. They were so excited to be involved and we feel extremely blessed that they were able to share our day with us. We decided to do the signing of the marriage certificate in a private area after the ceremony, so it ended up being an intimate and special moment with our nannas that we will cherish forever. 

Any tips for couples getting married?

Divide and conquer! Teamwork truly makes the dream work. Regardless of whether you are having an enormous wedding or eloping there are a million things to organise so delegating tasks makes it so much more manageable.

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

Our team of photographers – Bryce from Sera Luna Co. (photographer) and Kayla from Social Romances (Content Creation) were incredible. The beautiful photos are a huge testament to their talent. Everyone at the event was raving about how professional they were and how comfortable they made us. Not only did they produce incredible content, but they also acted as wedding planners throughout the process, supporting us with the creation of our timeline and making sure everything was on track. We are so excited to have Bryce from Sera Luna coming with us to Europe in July to capture part 2 of our wedding celebrations!

Photographer: Sera Luna Co @seraluna.co | Flora: Wild Forager @wild_forager | Ceremony Location: Intercontinental Hotel Sydney @intercontinentalsydney | Reception Location: Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel @watsonsbayboutiquehotel | Content Creator: Social Romances @socialromances | Celebrant: Elegant Hearts @elegantheartscelebrant | Hire: Styled by Els @styledby.els | Makeup Artist: Hayley Mciver Makeup @hayleymcivermakeup | Hair Stylist: Studio 8 Hair studio8_hair | Cake: Flour Lane @flourlanecakes | Dress: Kyha Studios @kyhastudios | Suit: MJ Bale @mjbale