The Waterfront Function Centre wedding photos: Lauren and Adam stand on sandstone rocks at Mistral Point, her lace train spread wide, Sydney
Home/Weddings/The Waterfront Function Centre, Sans Souci
Real church wedding · Sans Souci, Sydney

The Waterfront Function Centre Wedding Photos: Lauren & Adam

The Waterfront Function Centre · Sans Souci NSW · Sydney

Church & Cathedral Wedding · Waterside Wedding · City: Sydney · Venues: Little Bay Nurses War Memorial Chapel · Mistral Point · The Waterfront Function Centre

A frangipani tree holding Lauren’s gown, a wall of stained glass behind the first kiss and a lace train spread across the sandstone at Mistral Point. Lauren and Adam’s day ran from the coast to the bay and finished at The Waterfront Function Centre in Sans Souci, with arms in the air on the marina pontoons, family hugs on the dance floor and a first dance in a shorter lace dress. We were there for every grey-skied, happy minute.

The gallery
Lauren's solitaire engagement ring and drop earrings rest on a black and rose gold invitation reading always and forever.
Adam ties a pink tie for his son and best man, both of them in crisp white shirts.
Adam buttons his white shirt while his son, already in a pink tie, stands close in the soft foreground.
Adam checks his pink floral tie in the mirror during the last few minutes of getting ready at the bayside hotel.
Adam grins beside an older loved one in a fish print shirt by the balcony window at Novotel Brighton Le Sands.
Adam in a pale grey suit and pink floral tie stands arm in arm with an older loved one in a red patterned top.
Adam, two groomsmen in pale grey suits and his son in navy lean on a railing along the bayside promenade at Brighton-Le-Sands.
Adam's son sits up on the metal railing beside his dad on the waterfront, white sand and calm grey water stretching behind them.
Father and son share a face to face grin at the railing, the bay soft and pale behind them.
Adam laughs arm in arm with a bald groomsman in a matching pale grey suit above the white sand of the bayside beach.
Adam and a groomsman hug and laugh in pale grey suits, a small boat out on the bay behind them.
Adam's son jumps high between three men in pale grey suits for a cheeky frame at the beach railing.
A nude lip pencil lines the bride's lips as her makeup is finished, her white satin robe in soft focus.
Lauren in a white satin robe admires her lace gown hanging from a frangipani branch against a red brick wall.
Lauren in her white robe laughs with four bridesmaids in hot pink and pink rose print dresses on the lawn.
Bridesmaids in hot pink hold up their phones as Lauren turns in her gown, an older man watching from the doorway.
Lauren pauses at an open screen door, light catching the criss-cross straps across the back of her lace gown.
Lauren lifts her lace train and holds a bouquet of white and pale pink roses against a plain white wall.
Lauren looks down at her rose bouquet in black and white, gathering her long lace train in one hand.
Lauren beams beside her dad, who wears a navy floral tie, holding her bouquet of white and pink roses.
Lauren's lace train fans across the floor as she stands with her bridesmaids and an older loved one in a navy tie.
Lauren, five bridesmaids and an older loved one smile in a row, holding pink and white rose bouquets.
Lauren rests a hand on a white dining chair, her lace gown and rose bouquet in close detail.
Lauren smiles in her beaded lace gown, rose bouquet in hand, leaning on a white chair in the living room.
Lauren stands by the dining chairs in black and white, her long lace train trailing over the carpet.
Lauren beams through the open window of a white wedding car as she arrives with her rose bouquet.
Her dad walks Lauren down the church aisle of Little Bay Nurses War Memorial Chapel towards its wall of stained glass.
Lauren grins on her dad's arm as they walk past the timber pews to the front of the chapel for her church wedding.
Adam waits at the front in black and white, seen between two guests' shoulders before the church's stained glass.
Adam's son, his best man, and two groomsmen watch the aisle during the church wedding at the Coast Chapel, Little Bay.
Smiling guests fill the timber church pews, an older woman in a pink floral jacket sitting in the front row.
Guests applaud Lauren and Adam's kiss at their church wedding under the stained glass of the Australian Nurses War Memorial Chapel.
Guests in the pews clap and smile, a woman in a lemon satin dress laughing in the front row at the church ceremony.
Guests applaud from the pews of the little church, an older woman in red seated at the front.
The bridal party gathers on the sandstone ledges at Mistral Point in Maroubra under a soft grey sky.
Lauren spreads her lace train across the rock beside Adam as the bridesmaids sit and stand along the ledges.
Lauren laughs with Adam, two groomsmen and his son, her lace train fanned over the sandstone.
Lauren and Adam stand on a sandstone platform at Mistral Point, her train spread wide under a grey sky.
Lauren and Adam walk hand in hand across the grassy headland, her train gathered over one arm.
Lauren smiles up at Adam on the Mistral Point headland, waves breaking along the rocky coast below.
Adam kisses Lauren's cheek as they sit together on the sandstone, her eyes closed in a smile.
Lauren and Adam walk a concrete path towards the ocean, both glancing back over their shoulders.
Hand in hand on the waterside coastal path, Lauren and Adam look back, her lace train trailing behind.
Lauren glances back on Adam's arm along the clifftop path at Mistral Point, Maroubra, with surf rolling in below.
Lauren and Adam share a close smile nose to nose, her jewelled hair pins and rose bouquet in soft focus.
The wedding party throws their arms in the air on the marina pontoon at The Waterfront Function Centre, Sans Souci.
Three men in pale grey suits and Adam's son stride along the waterside pontoon, cruisers and masts mirrored in still water.
Lauren and her bridesmaids line up waterside at St George Motor Boat Club, a big white cruiser behind them.
Lauren and Adam walk hand in hand along the floating waterfront pontoon, the moored boats doubled in the calm water.
Lauren and Adam embrace at the end of the pontoon at The Waterfront Function Centre on Kogarah Bay, cruisers moored behind.
Lauren and Adam gather family around a round reception table, an older guest in red seated in the middle.
Lauren and Adam stand with four loved ones on the timber dance floor at The Waterfront Function Centre.
Lauren and Adam pose with two loved ones on the waterfront dance floor, the room's lights glowing behind the big windows.
Lauren and Adam line up with three loved ones under the curved ceiling at The Waterfront Function Centre, Sans Souci.
Lauren and Adam with four family members, one in a black floral dress, on the timber floor of the bayside reception.
Lauren and Adam smile with two older loved ones, one in a pale grey suit and purple tie, one in a red patterned jacket.
Lauren curls an arm over Adam's head in her shorter lace dress during their first dance at The Waterfront Function Centre.
Lauren laughs in Adam's arms on the dance floor as guests at the tables cheer and clap behind them.
Lauren and Adam dance forehead to forehead, a bright backlight glowing behind them across the bayside room.
The wedding story

Our Waterfront Function Centre wedding photos: a kiss under stained glass, a train on the sandstone and cheers on the marina

Getting ready at Novotel Brighton Le Sands · Ceremony at Little Bay Nurses War Memorial Chapel · Sandstone portraits at Mistral Point · Marina photos at St George Motor Boat Club · Reception and first dance at The Waterfront Function Centre

Read the full story

Pink ties at Brighton-Le-Sands

Our day started with the small things: Lauren’s ring and drop earrings resting on a black and rose-gold invitation that read “always and forever”. We photograph details like these first, while the room is still tidy. Then we went to Adam at Novotel Brighton Le Sands, where he was fixing a pink tie on his son, who was also his best man. A pink floral tie in the mirror, a few last checks, then Adam was grinning by the balcony window with loved ones, Norfolk pines and the bay behind him.

A railing above the bay

We crossed to the promenade with Adam, his groomsmen in pale grey suits and his son in navy. The sky was a flat bright grey that day, which is kinder to faces than hard sun, and the white sand below bounced light back up into the suits. A long metal railing gave everyone somewhere to lean, and the bay gave us a clean horizon. Adam sat his son up on the rail for a quiet chat, then the boys lined up for a cheeky jump frame before it was time to go.

A gown in the frangipani

At Lauren’s, getting ready had spilled outside. We hung her lace gown from a frangipani branch against the brick wall and asked her to step in beside it in her robe, because a garden setting makes a far better dress photo than a wardrobe door. The tree’s shade kept the light soft. Her bridesmaids gathered on the lawn in their robes and dresses, hot pink and pink-rose prints, and we caught a close frame of Lauren at the mirror, lip pencil in hand, with her makeup almost done.

Phones up at the reveal

When Lauren turned around in her gown, the bridesmaids were waiting with their phones up and big smiles. We stood behind her shoulder so we could hold her back and their faces in one frame. At the screen door the light caught the lace criss-cross back, and against a plain white wall the long train looked its best. Her dad couldn’t stop smiling beside her. We finished with the whole bridal party, then a close look at the lace train and her bouquet of white and pale pink roses.

Down the aisle at Little Bay

Lauren beamed at us through the car window on arrival. Little Bay Nurses War Memorial Chapel is a timber A-frame with a wall of stained glass at the far end, so we stood at the back for the first frame of her walk and let the window glow behind her. Her dad walked Lauren down the aisle, both of them grinning. Up the front, Adam waited with his son beside him, and we shot him through the shoulders of the guests so his face sat right in the middle of the moment.

Applause under the stained glass

The pews filled the frame with reactions all through the ceremony: guests leaning forward, an older loved one turning to look back, rows of smiles under that dark timber roof. When the kiss came, the bridesmaids, the groomsmen and Adam’s son all broke into applause. We went wide for that one so the whole stained glass window stood behind them. In a bright chapel like this, we expose for the window and the faces together, which keeps the colours in the glass and the room full of detail.

Sandstone at Mistral Point

From the chapel we drove up the coast to Mistral Point in Maroubra. We sat the bridal party along the sandstone ledges, then had Lauren spread her train across the rock while Adam stood beside her. The overcast sky turned the whole headland into a giant softbox, so we could shoot in every direction. They wandered across the grass with the ocean behind them, laughed over a cheek kiss on the rocks and walked a concrete path towards the water, glancing back at us over their shoulders.

Cheers on the marina

Next stop was the marina at St George Motor Boat Club, where the wedding party lined up on the pontoon with cruisers and masts behind them and threw their arms in the air. The groomsmen strode along the water’s edge, and the bridesmaids posed in front of a big white cruiser. For The Waterfront Function Centre wedding photos, the pontoons are the place to be: we shot from a little higher up so the still water could double the boats while Lauren and Adam walked hand in hand.

A shorter dress for dancing

Inside, we moved table by table and gathered family on the timber dance floor in front of the big windows, with an older guest in red in the middle of one group and plenty of hugs in all of them. Then Lauren reappeared in a shorter lace dress with a flared hem, made for dancing, and Adam was down to his shirtsleeves. Their first dance was playful, her arm curled over his head, before it slowed down to forehead to forehead with a backlight glowing behind them.

Photographer's venue notes

The Waterfront Function Centre, Sans Souci: cheers on the marina pontoons and a first dance by the bay

Read the venue notes

Coast first, then the bay

Lauren and Adam spread their day across Sydney, marrying at the chapel at Little Bay and heading to Mistral Point for sandstone portraits before driving across to Sans Souci. The Waterfront Function Centre was the final stop, and we used it in two parts: the marina pontoons first, while there was still daylight on the water, and then the reception room for family groups, the dress change and the first dance.

A grey day on still water

The flat grey sky that followed us down the coast was a gift at the marina. The water lay calm, so the cruisers and masts doubled in it behind the wedding party. Even light meant nobody squinted for the arms up group, and the big white cruiser behind the bridesmaids stayed bright without blowing out. Indoors, as evening settled in, the room’s lights glowed in the big windows behind the family groups and the dance floor.

Pontoons and the dance floor

On the pontoons we lined the whole wedding party up with the boats behind and called for arms in the air, then sent the groomsmen and Adam’s son striding along the water’s edge. The end of the pontoon gave Lauren and Adam a quiet spot to hold each other with the cruisers moored behind. Inside, the timber dance floor in front of the windows became our family group space under the curved ceiling, before it turned into the stage for their first dance.

Tips for a day with several stops

If your ceremony and portraits are elsewhere, as Lauren and Adam’s were, plan the marina as a short stop on arrival rather than an afterthought; it gives the gallery its bayside frames before guests settle inside. Gathering family on the dance floor before the dancing begins keeps everyone in one spot. And a shorter second dress, like Lauren’s flared lace, frees you up for a playful first dance with arms over heads.

Keep exploring

The Waterfront Function Centre weddings

Every Veri wedding at this venue

Sydney weddings

More real weddings across the city