Shh… Kate & Bill do their surprise wedding in vintage style

Not chasing a traditional wedding? A surprise could be for you…

After meeting in the wee hours of a Saturday morning following their work Christmas parties, Melbourne couple Kate O’Connor, 34, and Bill Helms, 26, decided early on in their relationship they wanted to get married. “Neither of us wanted a traditional wedding so we settled on a surprise wedding and began planning straight away,” explains Kate. “We told only our parents and my little sister.”

Despite also skipping the traditional part of a proposal, Bill was still working away behind the scenes to make sure he officially asked Kate for her hand. After plans to secure his grandmother’s engagement ring fell through, he got creative. “When I was painting nails at the market on the Saturday morning, he wandered in and out of op-shops and novelty shops looking for something suitable but then decided to make a diamond ring out of cardboard and paint it with my nail polishes. It’s the best thing I have ever seen,” smiles Kate.

Their engagement party turned wedding was a retro-style affair held on January 17, 2015 at inner city cafe, Hobba. “Bill and I walk past Hobba all the time and I just like the fairy lights, the exposed brick walls and the big industrial lights,” says Kate.

Photos courtesy of Iain & Jo We tell Love Stories.

“We woke up together; had coffee together, got ready together, drank champagne together, walked into the venue together,” smiles Kate.

“We worked tirelessly to make candles, burn CDs of our story in song, re-label wine bottles and made endless trips to the op-shop to collect vases, tea cups and doilies,” explains Kate.

Kate’s dress is an original from the 1950s, a gift from her Grade One class.