penny & david

Penny Greenhill & David Jenkins { 10 NOVEMBER }

STILLWATER AT CRITTENDEN, DROMANA, VIC

Penny and David have lived their whole lives on the Mornington Peninsula. Despite having many mutual friends their paths had never crossed until a chance encounter at the local races. “We both have a keen interest in racing. For me it’s the fashions on the field and the horses and for Dave, it’s all about the races!”

David proposed to Penny after dinner at Rockpool at Crown. “Upon returning to our room, without too much fuss Dave asked me to marry him. It was just perfect.”

SAVE THE DATE | With so many beautiful venue options right on their doorstep, Penny and David knew they wanted to tie the knot on the Mornington Peninsula. “We love the Peninsula and all it has to offer. As soon as we drove down the tree-lined entrance of Crittenden Estate we knew we had found our venue. With its manicured lawns, lush green vines, willow trees and lake everything was in perfect harmony. It also reminded us of our garden which we love!” While visiting Stillwater at Crittenden, Penny and David were told that their preferred date of Easter 2018 was booked but there was an opening in November 2017. “We thought, ‘Why not?’ We locked it in and got planning straight away because we only had 7 months to make it all happen!” The stars were aligning when Penny and David’s favourite wedding band, Like This Corporate Band had only one available date for 2017 and it just happened to be the 10th of November!

WEDDING MORNING | “My mum, bridesmaids and I decided to treat ourselves and booked a Lair Suite at Jackalope Hotel as our base for the morning of the wedding. The incredible architecture and decadent interior of the room provided the perfect backdrop for our morning of pampering. We listened to music and sipped glasses of sparkling wine while we had our hair and makeup done. It was so much fun spending time with the most important ladies in my life.” In order to cure any anticipation nerves Penny and David decided to have an intimate ‘first look’ moment prior to the wedding. “I would definitely recommend it, if you’re happy to stray from tradition.”

I DO | “Our ceremony was private and personal. We wrote our own vows and it was so special to share them in front of our nearest and dearest.”
A hilarious moment came when the page boys and flowergirl were due to walk down the aisle. “We’d had a rehearsal the day before that wasn’t overly successful so for the wedding my bridesmaid was working hard to herd the kids down the aisle. David’s best man was also ‘helping’. He had stowed a couple of lollipops in his suit jacket as an incentive. As soon as the kids saw the sweets they bolted down the aisle. Our guests were crying with laughter!”

CIRCLE OF LOVE | The ceremony arbour reflected the symbol of the wedding ring; circular and never-ending. “It was the perfect representation of our love and marriage ‘with no end’. From this inspiration I turned to my handy husband who was willing to build it. Whenever I come up with wild ideas I say to Dave, ‘Make that happen babe’ and he does!” The white arbour was decorated with masses of hydrangeas and trailing ivy. “David and I love our home garden which features lots of roses including our favourite, the climbing rose Pierre de Ronsard. We were keen to incorporate it into the wedding along with peonies. A rambling, deconstructed garden style was the brief for all the flowers at our wedding.”

CLASSIC ELEGANCE | David and Penny had a clear vision for their wedding. A day of delicious food and wine, elegant styling and a fantastic band to dance the night away. The wedding was styled with a timeless feel and an abundance of white and soft pink coloured blooms. “We wanted the overall feel to have a classic elegance with a contemporary edge. When we first visited Stillwater at Crittenden we noticed the antique gold metal work detailing at the bar and the reception desk so decided this would make a nice accent colour.”
In keeping with this idea, Penny’s bridesmaids wore gold silk gowns. “We were struggling to find the specific tone of gold we wanted so we decided to have the dresses made. It was actually curtain fabric! There was no reason why the material couldn’t be used as dress fabric too, so that’s what we did!” As an interior designer, Penny went about designing the look of the wedding using the same principles she uses for work. “When designing interior schemes I don’t like things to be overly matched, more complementary to one another. We didn’t overdecorate the ceremony or reception but we had breathtaking flowers which were all strategically placed for maximum impact.”

MODERN CHIC | With a flair and passion for design, Penny was excited to have her gown created by the team at Cappellazzo Couture. “I loved the bold but also understated detailing of my dress. It was elegant with a contemporary edge and reflected my love of architecture and design. The neoprene fabric was beautifully sculpted and folded. Sonia at Cappellazzo Couture is a magician, it was everything I had imagined and hoped for. I absolutely loved it!”

David wore a navy tuxedo. “David’s tuxe had that classic wedding look but the colour gave it a modern twist!” David and his groomsman Andrew both had shirts with black glass buttons. They also wore black knit bow ties.

The couple’s flowergirl wore a soft gold tulle and sequin dress and the page boys looked dapper in their white shirts, knit bow ties, navy trousers and braces.

BUILD ME UP BUTTERCUP | “We wanted to support Peninsula based suppliers as much as we could for our wedding and enlisted the team at Sweets For Tilly for our wedding cake. We had a two-tiered cake with three flavours, vanilla bean buttercream, hazelnut and raspberry and dark chocolate mud cake with chocolate buttercream. The top tier had semi-nude icing and the bottom tier had generous swathes of buttercream icing. It was finished with a gold ombre effect and presented on a gold cake stand.”