For Sophia Martin and Christopher Kakoliris, a tumultuous period like a global pandemic might as well have been a bow from Cupid’s arrow. The two had known each other for a long time, and when lockdowns began, Sophia had just moved back from New York—and the two reconnected in Sydney. A dalliance kicked off over the course of six weeks, before she had planned to relocate to Sweden to work at Acne Studios, which left Chris with only three days of notice that she’d be gone. What was initially meant to be six months of living apart turned into a year, and as time passed, Sophia moved back to Melbourne to close the distance.
Fast forward to 2023, and the pair were due to attend two weddings in Greece. Quietly, in the background, Chris had been working secretly with an old friend of Sophia’s, jeweller Craig Spark, to mint a ring for themselves. The plan involved a proposal in the natural caves of Zakynthos, the Greek island his family hails from, but a mix-up ensued with the bookings, and Chris got down on one knee in the spa reception, with a proposal that Sophia deemed “very unexpected, but very us.”
Just like the engagement, their ceremony had to be a mirror of their own experiences. “We wanted one big celebration that honoured both our Greek and Italian heritage, something that felt more like a festival rather than a formal wedding,” Sophia tells Vogue. She wanted to recreate a relaxed, unfussy celebration, which focused at heart on bringing her community together, and throwing a soirée like no other—one that a guest would find difficult leaving.
Sophia engaged Lucy Benbow of LB Studios to execute her vision, who gradually inherited 17 chaotic spreadsheets—which magically became the most seamless, uninterrupted day. Sophia’s family farm in Woodend, situated in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges, was selected as the setting for the big day. The property, tucked between a pine plantation with its sprawling panorama of Mount Macedon, had been in the possession of Sophia’s family for over 60 years. Four generations later, it would become the backdrop for the most memorable celebration to come.
With a ceremony that fused their respective Greek and Italian heritage, it was important to Sophia and Chris to provide spoils and sustenance straight out of Roman mythology. Throat Kitchen Catering worked around the thematics of an ancient feast day called Matronalia, which honoured longevity in marriage. Matronalia was celebrated at the start of March, coinciding with Sophia and Chris’s wedding.
In preparation for the ceremony, the bride’s parents tended to the farm—hoping for full blooms to align with the timing of the day. A bed of sunflowers blossomed just in time and became the backdrop for the wedding. French-beaded floral centrepieces accompanied the rustic fauna, as did hand-beaded sunflowers, daisies, lavender and hanging trestles of amaranth. A border stationed at the entrance to the field became a natural welcoming point for guests. Seasonal produce and pops of florals were introduced to the high tables, and the centrepiece of the bar featured a coil of sunflowers, harkening back to the ceremony in the open field.
In the lead-up to the wedding, the bridal party received bead kits to darn florals of their own as a forever keepsake. Personal touches were also incorporated through mismatched plates—courtesy of the mothers of the bride and groom. “We had originally ordered entrée plates, but a week before the wedding discovered only one box had been delivered,” Sophia recalls. “Given our Greek and Italian heritage, we spoke to our mums and, between them, had enough plates for all 160 guests. Family has always been at the heart of everything we do, so it felt meaningful to have those who are no longer with us represented on our day.”
Over 200 napkins were also sourced from Sophia’s nonna’s ‘cassone’, an ornate Italian marriage trunk from the Renaissance. Curtains plucked from nonna’s house festooned the high tables, and the seating chart was printed on one of her old tablecloths. Sophia’s bridal bouquet was also wrapped in her Nonna’s linens.
When it came to her wedding day, Sophia—a fashion designer herself, and currently the design manager at July—had a meticulous idea of what she wanted to wear. In her words, the gown had to deliver an architectural silhouette that could double as an art piece. Having previously worked at Thom Browne, Acne Studios, and most recently as Head of Design at Lucy Folk, the bride was instinctively drawn to intricate beading, timeless design and a silhouette that leaned sculptural rather than bridal. Moiré was the fabric of choice, with its easy shift and ripple—and the movement was captured entirely through beadwork.
“I called on a supplier I’d worked with since my Thom Browne days, someone I trusted completely with the level of intricate detail,” the bride recalls. “The beaded panels took 1,100 hours and over 200,000 hand-stitched bugle beads to complete.” A nipped in silhouette with an exaggerated hip completed the bride’s own design. She called on previous colleagues from her time at Kyha Studios—pattern maker Domenica Pititto and dressmaker Lauren Alexander to support the task.
For her second look, the bride wanted to wear something movable. “I designed a draped silk Georgette gown that felt like water against the skin,” Sophia explains. “We added godets for extra movement and because the fabric was sheer, every French seam had to be precise. Jacaranda blue felt like the perfect something blue and I finished the look with my Dries red heels for a pop of colour and a custom corset underneath. The corset was heavily boned and it gave me the most insane waist.” She topped her second creation with a mink fur that she’d sourced from a vintage store in Paris. Sophia kept her make-up pared back for the occasion, enlisting make-up artist Emma Jane to provide a muted look which reflected her appearance everyday.
By the time the guests were seated, the couple crashed onto the scene in a farm buggy festooned with ribbon—instead of Chris’s Porsche 911, eliciting delight from their guests and kickstarting the exuberance which would follow into the night. Community and celebration remained constant as the day progressed.
As the bride put it, “What made [the day] so special was having so many people who have shaped our lives all in one place. Friends flew in from London, New York and even Sweden’s arctic circle. Nothing quite compared to the Greek dancing—the plate smashing and dancing brought everyone together in the most joyful, uninhibited way. It didn’t matter where you were from or whether you knew the moves… by the end, everyone was involved and no one wanted it to stop,” she recalls. “We didn’t believe everyone when they said it would be the best day of your life—but it really was.”
Here, look inside Sophia and Christopher’s open field ceremony at the Macedon Ranges.