Bride-To-Be,The Sapphire Siren, Unveiled In a Tell-All Interview About Planning an Alternative Wedding
By Kate Veling
Tamara Tyndall aka The Sapphire Siren photo by Ninderry Studio.
As a bride whose style is best described as goth glam, Tamara Tyndall was faced with a few challenges when she was planning her wedding. This Tiki loving cat lady personifies dark vintage vibes and a scroll through her Instagram feed (@thesapphiresiren) reveals her immaculate styling and fierce pin up girl aesthetic. She struggled to find vendors who float her boat and suit her style.
Tamara knew what she didn’t want at her wedding, which is sometimes a good place to start. The process of elimination is an effective way to narrow down your options. “There will be no pink at my wedding,” she states firmly. “And I’m not romantic so no mushy, cheesy, typical wedding stuff! Am I the weirdest bride ever?”
No. Not weird, just different. Us darklings like different. She is one of us!
Tamara Tyndall aka The Sapphire Siren photo by Ninderry Studio.
Tamara found that the usual web searches such as ‘Brisbane wedding’ weren’t helpful – they always came up with traditional options. Not what she wanted.” It has been a little bit hard to find things I wanted because I don’t really like typical wedding stuff,” she explains.” It did take some digging around and doing a bit more research online. I found the vendors I went with through looking on Instagram, searching certain hashtags. I Googled things that didn’t include weddings, like ‘unique venues’ to try and find things outside the box.”
“ And I’m not romantic so no mushy, cheesy, typical wedding stuff! Am I the weirdest bride ever?”
“I feel like when we first started planning our wedding we really wanted something simple. As you start planning, you get sucked in to thinking you need all the bells and whistles but now I’ve come back to what I originally wanted. We just want a small, intimate wedding. I was never one of those girls that had a dream for her wedding. I did think it would have all the traditional elements but now that it's come to organising it, we just want to have a celebration with the people we love! We don't want it to be too serious. My vision is vintage elegance although we may have more of a gothic style cake planned.”
“I am most looking forward to having a fantastic time with my partner, Les, and our family and close friends. We are having a quick ceremony so we can get straight into the fun!
In a way, I feel like we are already married as we live together and have two fur babies, but it will be nice to make things official.”
Styled Shoot featuring Tamara and her partner Les photos by Peachy Keen Photography
Here’s a Q&A with Tamara, aka The Sapphire Siren.
Who are you, where are you from and what do you get up to?
My name is Tamara and I am from Brisbane, QLD. I work at a hair salon in Fortitude Valley and on weekends I enjoy going to pinup/kustom culture events and catching up with friends whilst consuming some delicious food. I also enjoy relaxing at home with my partner and two cats, Pretzel and Pikelet.
Describe your style.
I would say that mostly my style is goth glam. I really like 1940's spider web pieces and vintage style with a bit of spookiness attached. I have always loved Halloween and scary movies and I love expressing that through my style. I also really love tiki/tropical styling which is quite the opposite of goth glam - It all depends on my mood!
Tell us a bit about your groom to be? How did you meet?
I met my partner, Les on an online dating app (not Tinder!). He had tattoos and a beard which is totally my thing! I first met up with him when I was out with some friends and then we met up again and had a proper date. We had a lot in common and hit it off really well. We went on a few more dates and then we were pretty much living at each other’s houses and the rest is history! I can't imagine doing this life gig with anyone else.
How long have you been engaged? Have you set a date for your wedding?
We have almost been together for five years and we got engaged in February. Our wedding is booked for May, 2019.
Styled Shoot featuring Tamara and her partner Les photos by Peachy Keen Photography
Tell us about your vendors…
Dress: I bought a 1930s satin wedding dress off a Facebook vintage buy swap sell page. It was so cheap –$165 dollars! It might need some alterations but my friend can do that. I just wanted something really elegant and vintage style. I did contemplate wearing black – it crossed my mind. My bridesmaids will be in black though.
Venue: We’re having the ceremony at the venue we’ve booked for the reception – The Mill on Constance. It’s like a speakeasy bar in an old heritage building in Fortitude Valley and they have a function room out the back. It’s super easy and they don’t charge you extra for it. It was really hard to find somewhere I really liked that didn’t charge an exuberant amount to have the ceremony there. They do American food which is totally up our alley. I went there for dinner to check it out and I really like the vibe.
Photographer: Kristina Wild – I’m so excited to have her! She is an amazing photographer and human.
Cake: I went to the Vintage Bride wedding fair earlier this year with mum for a bit of a look and that’s where I found our cake lady, Confetti Cake Co. I’m thinking I want a red velvet, two tier cake and she also does donuts so I want some of them too. We’ll decorate it with flowers and I bought a love heart spider web cake topper that says ‘Mr and Mrs’. Even though I love spooky stuff I didn’t really want my whole wedding to be that theme so I thought that was a good hint of Halloween without going overboard.
Celebrant: Our celebrant is Sally Corfield. This might sound bad but that’s the part I just want over and done with. The reception is what I’m looking forward to the most. I was just looking up easy marriage celebrants and she does a short and sweet ceremony package. I just didn’t want someone who was over the top lovey dovey. It’s not us.
Hair & Make Up: I’m having Teena Jade Artistry for makeup. I found her through a photographer friend and she has worked on a few shoots with her. For hair I am contemplating getting a wig from Necias Hair Styling in the UK. She makes the MOST amazing vintage styled wigs that look so real. I’m wanting a beautiful waved pageboy style.
Honeymoon: We were going to wait and go to America but I really want to go somewhere and chill out for a week after so we’re thinking going to Bali and getting a villa with a private plunge pool. I think that’s a better idea to have a relaxing wedding.
links for vendors:
themillonconstance.com
confetticakeco.com
kristinawild.com
sallycorfield.com.au
facebook.com/TeenaJadeArtistry
neciashairstyling.moonfruit.com
vintagebridemag.com.au/vintage-bride-wedding-fair-brisbane/