Sophie Cachia on her wedding day: “Why did I wear black on my wedding day? To be honest, because I wanted to.”

Sophie Cachia originally wrote for Mamamia about her wedding in April, 2016.

On October the 10th of last year I walked down the aisle, arm in arm with both my father and grandfather, off to marry the love of my life. We got hitched in a gorgeous half-knocked down Chapel that goes by the name of The Church of Bang Bang Boogaloo and partied late into the night (okay… the next morning) with 140 of our favourite people.

Most girls dream of the day when it’s their turn to scroll Pinterest and shop windows for that white dress. Over the years, we’ve said goodbye to the traditional sweetheart neckline and hello to unique creations by top designers, some charging 30+ thousand for that white dress. After my engagement, I’d have friends tagging people in photos all over Instagram stating, “OMG, I can so see you in that white dress!”

The thing was though, I never saw myself in those white dresses. Hence why, only last Saturday, I took the plunge into married life in nothing other than a custom black wedding dress.

The first thing I must state is that my choice had NOTHING to do with the old ‘white wedding dresses are for virgins.’ Evidently though, my 18-month-old son Bobby is proof that that boat sailed years ago. I only assume that throughout my experiences and knowledge of our generation that if only virgins wore white, we’d be seeing more of an array of multi-coloured brides.

If you were to specifically ask me why I wore black on my wedding day, I can only answer in the most honest and direct way possible; because I wanted to.

Black is classic.

It looks good on just about everyone.

It’s bold, it’s sexy, it’s daring. Watch: Mamamia staff share their biggest wedding regrets. Post continues after video

I find wearing black to be extremely striking, hence why it’s my go-to choice of colour to wear on any occasion.

These reasons stated above, combined with the fact that my now husband suggested I wear black when we first got engaged, as he knows how much I like to wear it, were the reasons I did so.

People that know us (now) Cachias, know that we don’t do anything by the book. We are your average mid-20s couple but we do like to stand out from then crowd. Call us try-hards or attention seekers if you will but the way we look at it is, why would you want to look the same as everyone else? Especially on the biggest day of your life.

We didn’t see the point in doing anything traditional because traditional simply isn’t us.

We threw a surprise wedding disguised as my 25th birthday party. We wanted to get married in the best way that celebrated us as a couple. That way was to do everything that reflected us as individuals – rejecting any form of expectation when it came to standard wedding protocol.

Therefore, our ‘wedding’ was simply a big party bash where we served pizza and paella, sacked the wedding cake for a Mr. Whippy Van instead and served a Cachia favourite of Ouzo all night.

Upon telling my fiancé at the time and mum that this was my wish – neither one of them blinked an eye. “Great” they both said, as it was a very me thing to do. Jaryd wished to wear something with WOW factor on his wedding day too.

So he opted for a paisley shirt and red velvet jacket (both from Politix) over the top of women’s black wax-coated jeans from (Bronze Snake in Fitzroy). He chose to wear these jeans to give the effect he was wearing leather pants because he couldn’t find men’s ones that were tight enough.

When I took my idea of a black wedding dress to the amazing Anthony Montesano from Signor Mont Couture, he couldn’t have been more supportive. He said he had always wanted to do a black bride but had never met anyone with the confidence nor vision to do so in their head.

It was such an amazing experience working with such a creative genius who helped bring my dream to life. Combine that with the edgy vibrant blooms from Mary Mary Studio and my complete look couldn’t haven’t turned out more perfect.

None of our guests were really surprised by my dress because I suppose they all know me as a person. The amount of ‘I knew you’d never wear white’ was exactly what I expected.

I’ve been completely blown away by the positive response my gown (and our wedding in general) has attracted. Yet at the end of the day, I suppose that doesn’t matter because I didn’t do it for anyone else but myself and Jaryd. If I cared about people’s opinions and judgements, I wouldn’t have made such a move in the first place.

I don’t really see it as a bold choice, or taking a risk. I simply see it as me wearing exactly what I wanted to on my wedding day, not what I thought I had to wear.

Quite simple, really.

What traditions did you break at your wedding?

You can read more from The Young Mummy here, or follow the Cachias on Instagram here. Image: @TheYoungMummy/Instagram.