San Remo Ballroom · Melbourne
A Party Built Around Two Italian Families
Kate and Nicholas’s 260-guest Italian family wedding at San Remo Ballroom, Melbourne, with a St Mary’s ceremony and a feast guests still discuss.
Kate and Nicholas did not need to wonder whether 260 Italian guests would bring the energy. They planned for it. Their wedding had one clear brief: good food, proper music and enough room for two large, affectionate families to be exactly themselves.
It was the sort of celebration where people were deeply invested in every part of the occasion, and where a quiet dinner was never really on the cards. For Kate and Nicholas, a wedding that felt like a family party was not a trend or a loose idea. It was the point.
A family history already in the room
Their story had begun five years earlier, long before Nicholas proposed at Crown with red roses and photographs marking the years they had shared. Once engaged, they moved quickly. Within a week, they had found and booked the place that made sense for the party they had in mind.
The ceremony at St Mary’s Catholic Church in St Kilda carried a different kind of significance. Kate’s Nonna had married there more than 70 years earlier, giving the occasion a connection that could not be borrowed or styled in. For a family with such a strong sense of history, it was a meaningful place to begin.
There was also a small piece of wedding-morning drama: Kate was stung by a bee. It is the sort of thing that could have unsettled anyone before a 260-person wedding, but antihistamines and the steady presence of makeup artist [Adele Rossi](https://www.instagram.com/adele.rossimakeup/) helped keep the situation in proportion. The story became part of the day rather than the thing that defined it.
The tables mattered
At San Remo Ballroom, Kate and Nicholas made a deliberate choice to use circular tables. It was a practical decision with a personal consequence: it brought their families into the same conversations and gave the evening the feeling of two groups becoming one larger, noisier unit.
The centre of the room belonged to the dance floor, but the meal was every bit as important. With two food-focused Italian families in attendance, there was no chance of the menu being an afterthought. Limoncello Spritzes, potato and ricotta gnocchi with pulled oxtail, and a white chocolate and raspberry cake by [Priscilla’s Cakes](https://www.instagram.com/priscillascakesmelbourne/) gave guests plenty to discuss.
A year later, people were still talking about the food. That is a fairly serious endorsement in any Italian family, and perhaps the clearest measure of how well Kate and Nicholas understood their guests.
No shortage of opinions about the music
The dance floor stayed busy because Adrian Cardamone of Carda Music knew the assignment: 80s favourites and Italian classics, played for a crowd that had no interest in sitting politely through the evening.
That combination of food, music and family meant the reception had its own momentum. Guests came ready to participate, rather than simply observe, and Kate and Nicholas had built the evening around that certainty. Transport by [Always Classic Cars](https://www.instagram.com/alwaysclassiccars/), florals by [Flowers For Ever After](https://www.instagram.com/flowersforeverafter/) and planning with [Kerr Events](https://www.instagram.com/kerrevents/) supported the occasion, but the real energy came from the people in the room.
Kate later said that when they first saw San Remo Ballroom, they could already picture “the energy, the noise, the laughter and the dancing”. They were right. What guests seem to remember most is not one single moment, but the feeling of being part of a wedding where everyone had been invited to bring their full selves to the party.
Wedding Team
- Shoes
- @baredfootwear
- Transport
- @alwaysclassiccars
- Entertainment
- @cardamusic
- Stationery/Signage
- @prodigyeventsvic
- Videographer
- @allureproductions
- Photobooth
- @ozphotobooths
- Audiobook
- @offthehook.au
- Bridal Dress
- @luvbridal
- Centrepieces
- @flowersforeverafter
- Church
- St Mary St Kilda East
- Event Stylist
- @kerrevents
- Hairdresser
- @bridalhairbyjuju
- Make Up
- @a_p_artistry
- Make Up Artists
- @adele.rossimakeup
- Men's Suits
- @menzclub
- Photographer
- @warrenphotography
- Rings
- Westin Jewellers – W.Eckstein & Co.
