Singing to the same tune

Sonja says: "When two people unite due to a shared love or interest, then decide to unite for the rest of their lives in marriage, what better way to represent that than with the thing that brought them together in the first place?

Meeting on a sweet note, Hayley and Frank shared a love of music and as they fell in love with one another, kept the music going in their lives..."

My number one passion in life has always been music. I'd breathed music since I was knee-high, and after finishing high school I was thrilled to learn I'd secured a spot at Melbourne University to do a Bachelor of Music.

I was one step closer to my goal of becoming a music teacher and throughout my time at university I featured in various theatre productions.

One night in November, 1999, I was about to step on stage to perform in a Guys and Dolls amateur production when I met the stand-in trumpet player, Frank.

Then 22, I was smitten by Frank. I don't know what it was about him, but as soon as we met butterflies filled my tummy. Frank also had a broad musical background, brought up playing the piano and trumpet, and had just enrolled in the Army Reserves as a musician.

Although we'd just met, my heart sank to learn that meant he had to move around a lot.

And after spending the following weeks getting to know Frank even better, over dinners and watching one another perform in our bands, I knew I couldn't handle him leaving!

Over the next year of being a couple and falling even more in love, Frank gave up the Army Reserves in late-2000.

Even better, with his love of music, Frank decided to do a Bachelor or Music also. As I'd just finished my course, I helped him out over the following year as I began teaching, both also continuing with our bands and theatre work.

By 2005 we bought a house and were playing together in a modern-pop band called Party Feet. We loved performing together, our joined love of music bringing us even closer.

On Christmas morning 2006, after we'd opened our presents Frank said he'd forgotten to put one under the tree.

I nearly fainted when he presented me with a gorgeous, sparkling engagement ring! We set our wedding date for October 6, 2007, before we started discussing wedding plans.

As we met through our combined love of music and it was a massive part of both our lives, we thought setting a music theme for the wedding would be perfect.

We spent months sorting out all the details- our invitations, table decorations, cake and heaps more representing our love of music.

Our wedding day was perfect and everyone loved how we'd incorporated our passion into the most important day of our lives.

I'm now the Director of Junior Music at Woodleigh School, Frank is the Director of Performing Arts at Casey Grammar, and we both still play gigs with Party Feet and couldn't be happier!

Hayley Blakiston, 28.  

To put our theme together we sourced everything from various stores, suppliers and some generous friends helped us out also.

Here are some of the details of our music-themed wedding:

Bomboniere

To match our cake, we decided to have little silver three-tiered wedding cakes to hold our guests name place cards, which were complete with treble clefs. We bought them off eBay.

Cake

My mum's partner's sister generously offered to do our cake, which was a three-tiered American style. With three layers on top of each other, it had red ribbon around it with iced music notes on one tear, hearts on the second and musical notes on the last.

Ceremony Location

We held our ceremony at Holy Trinity Church in Balaclava, www.holytrinityparish.info/

Celebrant

We were married by Reverend Geoff Cheong.

Reception

We held our reception at Bayview on the Park, Albert Park Lake. http://www.bayviewhotels.com/bayviewonthepark/

Decorations

We had rose petals, little black musical notes and treble clefs scattered on the tables, and ivy as centerpieces. It looked fabulous! We sourced everything from Spotlight and Officeworks.

Bride & Groom's wear

I bought my dress from Spurling, http://www.spurling.com.au and Frank hired his suit from Ferrari Formal & Bridal, http://www.ferrariformal.com.au.

Invitations

We decided to make our invitations ourselves. I got treble clef ribbon and little musical notes to put on them, and we used a grey/back and red colour theme, sealing them with treble clefs. Again, we used Spotlight and Officeworks for the materials.

Music

The music on our big day was something we wanted to be perfect, since it was our passion and overall theme. Luckily we have many very talented friends and at the church we had a brass quintet made up of our friends, and had another friend playing on the organ, while another played the piano and sung. At the reception we had our band, Party Feet, perform.

Photography

We had Ron Layton- http://www.laytonphotography.com.au/ - as our photographer. To top off our day, we had photos taken outside of Melbourne University, where we'd both by then finished our Bachelor of Music degrees.

Transport

Our bridal party arrived in a Chrysler 10-seater limousine.

Accommodation

The bridal party stayed at Bayview on the Park over the weekend, and many of our guests stayed there also. We got a free night's stay and also can return every year on our anniversary free of charge!

Honeymoon

We had a fabulous 7-week trip to the USA and China.

"With their musical theme a number one hit, Hayley and Frank will forever have picture-perfect memories of their wedding day, and continue to sing to the same, sweet tune."