Days before Australian singer Delta Goodrem tied the knot with her longtime partner Matthew Copley in their ‘fairytale’ Maltese wedding last month, one prominent local wedding planner was losing sleep to make sure all the last-minute details were in order for their perfect day.
Sarah Young, who specialises in destination weddings, worked with the couple for a year to make sure their big day was everything they dreamed of.
“Although I have planned over a thousand weddings, I experienced sleepless nights before their wedding because I cared so much,” she said.
Yet, all the hard work was worth it.
The ceremony took place at the Baroque St Paul’s Cathedral in Mdina, and the celebrations moved to Palazzo Parisio in Naxxar.
“We were a team of ten, and everything was flawless. It was one of the best weddings we ever executed.”
She recalled how the couple said Young and her team “exceeded their expectations”.
“They are a beautiful, humble and lovely couple to work with,” Sarah Young told Times of Malta.
“I’ve worked with hundreds of couples during my 24 years of experience, and to be honest, I had withdrawal symptoms when they left; they were just so wonderful to work with.”
The Maltese connection to the couple’s love story began in 2023, when Copley proposed while the couple was visiting Malta to perform at Isle of MTV. The proposal took place in the gardens of the Phoenicia Hotel.
During the trip, the couple spent time with Copley’s Maltese family members, whom she described at the time as the “best tour guides possible.”
Young also wanted to highlight how Goodrem and Copley wanted to source everything locally and wanted to give back to the Maltese economy.
Wedding planner Sarah Young has organised over a thousand weddings, but she experienced ‘withdrawal symptoms’ when Goodrem and Copley left the island.The florist, decorations, music arrangement and transport were all locally sourced.
“It’s important that the world knows that Malta is capable of providing a fairytale wedding, and that is exactly what we did,” she said.
Once Vogue published the wedding photos, Young received messages from wedding planners across the globe, congratulating her for organising such a beautiful wedding.
Privacy was on top of the list of priorities for the couple’s wedding planner: “Privacy was very important to the couple, as they wanted to make sure their love story was celebrated and that they had the right to enjoy the day themselves with their loved ones,” Young said.
In an exclusive article with Vogue Australia, Goodrem recalls the night when her long-term partner decided to pop the question at the Phoenicia Hotel.
“White rose petals, fairylights throughout the gardens and a string quartet at sunset – it was magical.”
Goodrem wore three bridal looks for her wedding, one for the ceremony, and two others for the reception.
One of her dresses was designed by Paul Vasileff, the creative designer of the Australian formal wear label Paolo Sebastian.
According to Vogue, Delta and Vasileff wanted the dress to feel like it was “at one” with the wedding location.
Vasileff said that when he saw the cathedral’s “soaring frescoes”, he knew a ball gown was the ideal dress for the bride-to-be. He said the design was about finding a balance between “classic and couture” and “fairytale elegance”.
Goodrem described her ceremony gown as “a statement piece, but a fairytale dress.”
The other two dresses were designed by Australian high-end bridal label Con Ilio. Goodrem said she had collaborated with Con for many years, from red carpet looks to tours, so it only made sense for the singer to wear not one, but two custom-made pieces by Con Ilio.
One piece was a modern drop waist gown, hand-beaded with crystals and pearls, and the other was a high neck silk dress, ideal for dancing the night away during the after party.