Hey everyone, it’s Mel from TGE again! I had the chance to chat with Jac Moore from Moore Celebrations about her wedding day details, find out from this amazing standout celebrant about what it’s like behind the veil to tie the knot and experience saying ‘I do’.

The Girlfriend Edit Interview with Jac Moore from Moore Celebrations

M: Jac, we absolutely fell in love with the photos from your wedding day, the dress, the flowers, the dance moment!! OMG, we loved it all (insert heart eyes) it’s the stuff of little girls’ dreams!

But let’s take a step back for a sec, we want to hear about how you two first met!

J: We met back in 2016 working at Brisbane Racing Club. As crappy as it is, we can’t remember the first time we met lol. We were just work colleagues. He was the cellar boy, and I was the events girl. We kissed one year after a Christmas party, but it took a few months for things to become more official and the rest, as they say, is history.

M: So, we know that you yourself are the kick-ass wedding celebrant Moore Celebrations what made you decide to enter the wedding industry, and what do you love most about your job?

J: Why thank you! That’s very flattering! I have always had an endless love affair with weddings and being organised. The first run sheet I ever made was for my 11th birthday party (yes, I’m that dorky!). I loved putting everything together, working out what games we’d play, what things Mum needed to buy, what we’d eat, how we’d decorate the house, etc. I’ve always been a list girl, so I think that went hand in hand with events. I studied a Bachelor of Business and majored in Event Management at uni. I remember watching the movie ‘The Wedding Planner’ as a teen and thinking how cool it’d be to have that as a job (mainly the cool headset!). Be the person who knows everyone in the industry, troubleshoot and fix problems on the day, and be there to support people at such a happy time of their lives. I had been an event manager in the industry since 2008 before becoming a Marriage Celebrant in 2018.

What do I love about my job? I don’t think we have long enough to answer that! I love seeing all the planning come together, I love seeing people on one of their happiest days, I love writing and sharing people’s love stories in a personal and creative way, I love surprising my couples, I love MCing receptions, I love dancing! I love it all!

M: Do you think that being a wedding celebrant helped you with your wedding planning? Is there any advice you’d give to couples planning their wedding day?

J: Absolutely! I couldn’t ignore my previous work experience – it’s engrained in me. It’d be so hard to know where to start without it! We also had a relatively short engagement too (8 months). This being said I still found certain elements challenging. Being a qualified Marriage Celebrant doesn’t help when it comes to family dramas, other people’s opinions, budgeting, seating plans, etc. I still struggled with a lot of things couples usually struggle with.

There is SO much advice I’d give to couples planning their day but I think the most important thing is, sitting down with your partner, working out what aspects of the day are really important to you both and working through an initial budget of what you can realistically afford, prior to doing any of the planning.

It all hinges on what aspects are most important to the couple, i.e. if their guest list of 200 people is their most important element, then it will trump other items like what food they are serving. They will need to be flexible with the catering offering available and what they can realistically afford for 200 people. This might dictate the whole wedding style, i.e. their budget might only stretch so far and if they have to have everyone attend, then they might be swayed into having a cocktail style/ food truck/ more casual wedding style than a formal sit down.

M: When it came to your wedding day, did you already have a good idea of how you wanted the day to look and feel?

J: Yes and no.

I knew I wanted it to be different to other weddings I’ve planned and not feel like ‘work’. To combat this, I knew we needed a venue that was fresh and didn’t remind me of anyone else’s wedding. I wanted to have unique elements that made our day feel us and be different and special.

I also knew what I didn’t want. For us personally, I didn’t want:

• to have 300 people there that I barely knew
• to have neutral tones as I have seen many (very beautiful) weddings like this in the last few years, I wanted something that popped more
• bridesmaids’ dresses that matched (no 2 bodies are the same so it seems silly to me to put everyone in the same outfit)
• an empty dance floor
• anyone leaving with an empty tummy
• our day to be overruled by other people

M: What fun additions did you decide to include as part of your wedding? For example (live paint artist, fireworks…)

J: For me personally, a wedding is truly amazing and memorable to attend when it is incredibly personal to the couple. We had a few really unique elements that I think made the day very ‘us’ and it didn’t feel like anyone else’s wedding.

We had 2 ceremonies to honour both of our backgrounds and beliefs. The first was a Catholic Ceremony at a church followed by a commitment ceremony on the rooftop of our reception venue. Being a celebrant, the commitment ceremony was really important to me, and who better to run it on the day than my Marrying Kind gals. I couldn’t possibly choose just one so all 5 of them shared the role of telling our story. It was really special including such wonderful friends in our day.

We had some time on the terrace before guests were able to access the room. It was important to us that our guests were entertained during this time. We had the incredible Oscar Richardson on guitar and vocals. I could honestly listen to him all day. He is incredible!

Bonbonniere is one of those things that if it’s there, people usually say ‘Oh that’s nice’ but if it’s not then they don’t notice. We tried to hit a few birds with the same stone by having an illustrator attend. Queue Eugenie! She entertained guests by drawing a little sketch of couples (entertainment), which they could take home (bonbonniere) and before doing so, snap a selfie holding their sketch and paste it in the guest book (photobooth element).

We LOVE cake but hate the thought of it being wasted. We still wanted to have something ceremonial and a bit different so I built us a pinata to whack open to Def Leppard’s Pour some sugar on me. It was as epic as it sounds! Inside were glow sticks for the dance floor, confetti and his and hers chocolates (Mars Bars and Cherry Ripes). We also had a dessert station with Krispy Kreme’s, Brownies and Monte Carlo’s (groom’s favourite!). Everything got eaten and it was so us!

M: Your dress was absolutely gorgeous! How did you know it was ‘the one’, and was there anyone with you on the day when you went to choose your dress?

J: Thank you so much! It was so so gorgeous! I went dress shopping a few times but knew I had to act quickly due to ordering times post covid being 6 to 9 months (and us having a very quick 8 month engagement!). I went to a sale day at White Lily Couture and headed in with a very open mind. Knowing quite well that things can look completely different on the hanger to how they look on! I tried on about 10 dresses in 15 minutes! I was very quick with either liking or disliking something. It was like speed dating with dresses haha! I started to get an idea of what styles I liked but due to timing, we opted to come back another day and see all of their fabulous floor stock (not just sale stock). It was on this day that I tried on THE dress! It was comfortable, felt very me and also matched our wedding venue quite well as it was soft and romantic. I never imagined having a ball gown for a wedding dress but here we were! I was pretty sure about it but wanted to check out another store up the coast before making the final decision.

Tip: If you keep comparing everything to one dress you already like, then that’s the one!

White Lily were amazing to deal with (seriously the whole team were incredible!) They unfortunately couldn’t guarantee they could get the dress in from Spain in time. I ended up purchasing the dress from a store in Sydney that had the size in stock and it arrived to me within 2 weeks. From here, I took the dress to Brisbane Bridal Alterations who worked their magic! They trimmed the hem (obviously I’m not 7 feet tall!) put breast cups in, added a bustle, and took the corset in. They also created the most magical bows for my shoulders! (a complete custom creation but 100% necessary in my opinion) and they adjusted my ‘party’ dress for later in the evening.

M: What was the most memorable part of your wedding day, and is there anything you wish you could do over?

J: The whole day was amazing! I really wish we could redo the whole day again (and just not pay for it haha)! We were just non-stop the whole day and didn’t really get a chance to catch our breath. It was such an amazing time having all of our favourite people together.

M: Were there any wedding day traditions you chose to include and others that you decided to leave out?

J: A bit of both really.

Traditions we included: getting officially married in a church, having my dad walk me down the aisle (but not because I was being sold as property lol), not seeing each other the day of the wedding, having speeches, having the something’s, i.e. something old (my nanna’s brooch), new (my dress), borrowed (my veil) and blue (my underwear!).

Traditions we didn’t include: having an official cake, having a garter toss/bouquet throw, engagement party, etc.

M: We saw that your cute pooch made the wedding guest list, how important was it that Flo/Florence was there on your wedding day?

J: Aww Florence! Anyone who knows us knows how much we adore her. She’s a part of our little family. She’s not great at long car rides or around a lot of people but I wanted to see her on the day and have some pictures with her. SJ from Little Paws was amazing! Came and picked her up, took her for a walk, made sure she looked pretty and was hydrated, etc then brought her home and fed her dinner. It was so nice having some pictures with Florence and also knowing she was in safe, professional hands and being taken home where she was comfortable. We didn’t have to worry about anything which was great.

M: Oh and the fun part! Where did you both decide to Honeymoon?

J: Oooo yes!!! Well, we went up to Montville for a ‘minimoon’ 2-night getaway straight after the wedding. My husband had to go back to work for end of financial year plus we wanted to go somewhere tropical when it was a bit warmer. We have a further 3 nights booked for Hamilton Island in late August/early September and we can’t wait! Very much looking forward to going to the reef, relaxing on the beach, drinking cocktails and eating all the things!

Thank you for sharing absolutely gorg wedding day with us Jac!

We know our readers will absolutely love seeing a real life celebrants point of view on tying the knot, and hopefully it will give them the confidence and boost needed to do things their way!

Have you got a real-life story to share?

Maybe it’s from your Hen’s Party or Bridal Shower, your engagement party, wedding, or honeymoon?

If so, we want to hear from you!

You can reach out to us here – hello@thegirlfriendedit.com.au

Don’t forget to add all the details, as well as inspo photos, we want to know everything!

TGE xx

Bride – Jac Moore @moorecelebrations | Venue @thomasdixoncentre | Catering @alfreshCo_catering | Cake + Brownies @iheartbrowniesofficial @krispykremeaustralia | Celebrants @the_marrying_kind | Photographer @mezicstudio | Videographer @filmed_by_bolton | Suit: Rhodes & Beckett (no longer exists) | Suit alterations @thefittingroom_onedward | Custom shirt @blackjacketsuiting | Dress @pronovias found at @whitelilycouture | Bridal alterations @bridalalterationsbrisbane | Wedding party attire @stfrock @theiconicau @tussahthelabel | Rings @xennoxdiamonds | Florals @bouquetboutique | Illustrator @eugeniezhan | Transport: Get Chaffeured | Hair and Makeup @thebeautycase | Entertainment @stewartkruger | Tables @brandition | Table runners and disco balls @maineventweddings_ | Welcome sign and seating plan @itsasign_designs_bris | Dance Lessons @weddingdancediva | Pet sitting @littlepawsbrisbane | Styling, other signage, stationery, candles, etc DIY @moorecelebrations