Sign up to our newsletter<\/a><\/p>\nFast 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\u2019s, 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 \u201cvery unexpected, but very us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just like the engagement, their ceremony had to be a mirror of their own experiences. \u201cWe wanted one big celebration that honoured both our Greek and Italian heritage, something that felt more like a festival rather than a formal wedding,\u201d Sophia tells Vogue. She wanted to recreate a relaxed, unfussy celebration, which focused at heart on bringing her community together, and throwing a soir\u00e9e like no other\u2014one that a guest would find difficult leaving.<\/p>\n
Sophia engaged Lucy Benbow of LB Studios to execute her vision, who gradually inherited 17 chaotic spreadsheets\u2014which magically became the most seamless, uninterrupted day. Sophia\u2019s family farm in Woodend, situated in Victoria\u2019s 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\u2019s family for over 60 years. Four generations later, it would become the backdrop for the most memorable celebration to come.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s wedding.<\/p>\n
In preparation for the ceremony, the bride\u2019s parents tended to the farm\u2014hoping 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2014courtesy of the mothers of the bride and groom. \u201cWe had originally ordered entr\u00e9e plates, but a week before the wedding discovered only one box had been delivered,\u201d Sophia recalls. \u201cGiven 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over 200 napkins were also sourced from Sophia\u2019s nonna\u2019s \u2018cassone\u2019, an ornate Italian marriage trunk from the Renaissance. Curtains plucked from nonna\u2019s house festooned the high tables, and the seating chart was printed on one of her old tablecloths. Sophia\u2019s bridal bouquet was also wrapped in her Nonna\u2019s linens.<\/p>\n
When it came to her wedding day, Sophia\u2014a fashion designer herself, and currently the design manager at July\u2014had 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. Moir\u00e9 was the fabric of choice, with its easy shift and ripple\u2014and the movement was captured entirely through beadwork.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called on a supplier I\u2019d worked with since my Thom Browne days, someone I trusted completely with the level of intricate detail,\u201d the bride recalls. \u201cThe beaded panels took 1,100 hours and over 200,000 hand-stitched bugle beads to complete.\u201d A nipped in silhouette with an exaggerated hip completed the bride\u2019s own design. She called on previous colleagues from her time at Kyha Studios\u2014pattern maker Domenica Pititto and dressmaker Lauren Alexander to support the task.<\/p>\n
For her second look, the bride wanted to wear something movable. \u201cI designed a draped silk Georgette gown that felt like water against the skin,\u201d Sophia explains. \u201cWe 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.\u201d She topped her second creation with a mink fur that she\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n
By the time the guests were seated, the couple crashed onto the scene in a farm buggy festooned with ribbon\u2014instead of Chris\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
As the bride put it, \u201cWhat 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\u2019s arctic circle. Nothing quite compared to the Greek dancing\u2014the plate smashing and dancing brought everyone together in the most joyful, uninhibited way. It didn\u2019t matter where you were from or whether you knew the moves\u2026 by the end, everyone was involved and no one wanted it to stop,\u201d she recalls. \u201cWe didn\u2019t believe everyone when they said it would be the best day of your life\u2014but it really was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here, look inside Sophia and Christopher\u2019s open field ceremony at the Macedon Ranges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Sophia Martin and Christopher Kakoliris, a tumultuous period like a global pandemic might as well have been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134,22676],"class_list":["post-762266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-wedding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}