10 TIPS FOR CREATING YOUR UNIQUE WEDDING
At UM Mag we know how important it is to come up with new and creative ideas that will set your day apart and help you create a truly unique wedding, a memorable experience and ultimately, the best damn day of your life. After all, this is a celebration of your love, so it should be driven by your own desires and expressive freedom.
It is a day to get away from the noise and stress of every day life and focus on what really matters - the people you love. A day to MAKE YOUR OWN RULES.
That is why we have put together this little piece for you. We contacted some of the best in the biz - the wedding industry’s most creative, artistic and rebellious minds - to find out their best tips to carve out a wedding day so good, you will be fist pumping your way down the aisle. Check out these testimonials from our hand-picked selection of vendor greats, and grab yourself some #inspiration to start planning your own wedding.
And if you’re not getting married, well, just marvel at these glorious images and words and forget about that thing you were supposed to do for another ten minutes…
“Ignore the binary noise, and create your own relationship with tradition”
ANNA @LULU&LIME
The main thing I tell all my couples, is to just do your wedding, when you want, where you want, your own damned way.
There are no rules as to how you have your wedding and I'm really lucky that I tend to mostly shoot weddings where the couples are doing exactly that. Have at your wedding what reflects you as a couple. Only do the things you want to do. There are only 100 odd words you have to say to be legally married - other than that you can do and say what you want. You don't HAVE to have flowers, you don't HAVE to have a wedding party, you don't HAVE to have speeches, you don't HAVE to have a first dance. Wear what you want - I've had brides wear everything from black, to sparkles, to florals to white, and grooms from pink sequins, to red velvet to denim to a bow tie. As long as you're doing you, you can't go wrong. You may get a few 'nay-sayers' leading up to the wedding, but on the actual day, they'll be so overwhelmed by the love and the awesomeness that is your day, they won't even remember they had any doubts in the first place. You can't keep everyone happy, but ultimately this is your day, not anyone else's.
PIC: Seb and Amelia walking/dancing through the streets of Melbourne in marital bliss.
IG: @lulu_and_lime
CREDIT NAME: Lulu&Lime
ANDREW FENAUGHTY @BOTTLEBRUSHFILMS
Don't do anything you think you should be doing purely because of tradition.
Throughout the process just keep asking yourself 'Why am I doing this?' If the answer is 'I don't know' or 'Just because', then maybe it's time to rethink it
Do what brings you happiness and excitement, not what you're expected to do. If the people at your wedding love you and support you, then they'll love whatever manifestation your Union Celebration takes on.
More and more, weddings are becoming an expression of ourselves and our own creativity, so lean into that. Let's be real, so few of us fit the light, bright and fairy princess wedding stereotypes that Disney has fed us for decades
PIC: Our favourite pic by Anna Taylor at Lulu and Lime of Kate and Gaby being married at night in front of a bonfire.
CREDIT NAME: Lulu&Lime
OLI SANSOM @BRIARSATLAS
Ignore the binary noise, and create your own relationship with tradition.
By that I mean ignore the messaging around tradition we’re faced with currently: the pro-tradition that we’re pressed with, as well as the hard-swinging counter wave against tradition. Tradition isn’t just “peer pressure from dead people”, it’s about making the distinction between the day being about us, which the West REALLY wants it to be at the moment, and the day being about our community with a nod to all things past (like most of the other countries on the planet). There’s a reason we’re drawn to ritual - itself a relative of tradition. Because honouring the past is awesome, and giving. And an act of giving and servitude is already proven in plenty of studies to be the most fulfilling thing. So ignore the noise and cult of self, and map out your own prejudices for and against tradition, and then open a clean slate: what does it look like to honour tradition in a way that we connect with, and is there even an opportunity to bring our own ritual into the day, that itself might become tradition to someone else. Putting a name on the bits of tradition that either fill us with joy or make us want to chew on a cyanide pill is a really great way of creating a healthier relationship with tradition, and not throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Through that process of honouring and openness, it might actually lead to the creation of a more unique experience in and of itself, anyway. A blank sheet of paper and no boundries is not an artists friend.
PIC: David and Dat, in a 50’s American diner. These two train-obsessed lads got married ON a public train carriage, in between two stations, after their whole community took over (with the exception of one bench seat occupied by an unwitting random couple who got to witness it) the carriage! Perfect.
IG: @briarsatlas
CREDIT NAME: Briars Atlas
CASSILDA PARKINSON @CASSILDAPARKINSON
Don’t try to appease relatives and think outside the box for all things like, entertainment, venue, styling, what you wear, etc. Don’t hold back. Go all out and be gloriously YOU.
My favourite unique wedding was the one were the couple wanted to get married in a KFC car park, but decided a grunge rave warehouse in Sydenham would suffice. Instead of typical wedding decor, they got all the decorations from a film and theatre props hire company (including a to scale velociraptor) The bride wore purple to compliment her beautiful blue hair.
PIC of Rebecca and Corey marrying amidst a see of fairy lights, dinosaurs and disco balls in a packed out warehouse by ALEX BLOOM.
CREDIT NAME: Alex Bloom Photo
ROSS JENKINS @BLOOM.BOY
When selecting your wedding florist, go with the one whose style resonates with your own.
I know people shop around to get the best deal but if you want something personal and uniquely you, the style should take priority. There’s a lot of florists out there, each with their own approach and you will get the best out of a florist if you connect with what they do. One of my favourite weddings to work on was Mark and Coco. They came to me because they love what I do and all their inspo references were of my own work. They totally trusted me to do just my thing and got some of the best wedding florals I have ever done!
PIC: Mark and Coco's wedding
IG: @bloom.boy
CREDIT NAME: It’s beautiful here - Melbourne wedding photography.
“Go all out and be gloriously YOU.”
ANTHONY CRIBBES @THEALTARELECTRIC
We will stay clear of the responses of - 'Just do it your way’ or ‘don’t listen to what others think'
From our perspective we just think it’s important to embrace every part of what makes you unique as a couple. Then make sure you celebrate that in the most fitting and fantastic way as possible. And don’t be half arsed about it, as Eminem said ‘you only get one shot’…so don’t end up with Mum’s spaghetti down your front. Go all in on yourself and remember if you ain’t vibing it, don’t have it (and wear sunscreen)’.
PICS: Jimmy and Nina’s wedding. Nina is German/Italian and they’d planned a big hitching in Europe during the Northern Summer. They ended up eloping (with a few mates in tow) at The Altar Electric, got matching tatts straight away, and then sat down with their crew for dinner at a swanky restaurant.
W: www.thealtarelectric.com.au
CREDIT NAME: SLEAP PICTURES
JAC THE HITCHER @JACTHEHITCHER
First off, I feel the term "unique wedding" doesn't quite sit well with me. Right there is what I feel is wrong with this industry: the need to constantly compare one's wedding to another, competing to find something that has never been done before - to one-up - the constant need to impress others. It's some superficial bullshit.
Instead I'll use the term "Individualised wedding" - to add your own individual character and personalities to your wedding day - make the day totally *you*.
Here's my tip:
STOP COMPARING YOUR WEDDING DAY TO OTHERS' AND DO WHATEVER THE FUCK MAKES THE TWO OF YOU HAPPY WHILE YOU SIGN THE PAPERS.
...and if that is ditching the crowd, renting an Air BnB, staying in your jimmyjams and doing the legal shit over waffles, coffee and doughnuts at 11:11am - because you know that you're just two introverted, supersticious goddamn Lords who have an affinity with caffeine, carbs and not wearing a bra... then I am here for it, honey.
That's exactly what Renee and Omar did and it was everything.
PIC: Renee and Omar Elopement
IG: @Jacthehitcher
CREDIT NAME: Kings and Thieves - Elopement and Wedding Photography
PAUL VOGE @PAULVOGE_MARRIAGE_CELEBRANT
Every wedding should be unique, there is NOTHING stopping this from happening. The only person who will stop it is the celebrant... and if they are then you have the wrong celebrant.
A wedding ceremony can take 1 min... as far as legal stuff is concerned... other than that you can go nuts and do anything you want... don't let anyone tell you, you can't. If anyone says "You can't do that in a wedding ceremony"...just uninvite them and do it anyway.
In saying this, weddings I do are not crazy or weird or anything like that, they are just super normal and reflect the couple and their personalities the whole time... that's what you want in the end... something that fits the couple's vibe... my main goal in a ceremony is to relax the couple, because getting married can be stressful at times, so if I can relax a couple and make them forget they are at a wedding then I am stoked.
I love talking to other guests and involving them and the couple not knowing what they are going to say and seeing them react and laugh or cry or start giving their friends and family shit... it all relaxes them.
No POEMS no BIBLES... just normal rad shit!!!
PIC: Lyn and Jez’s wedding
W: paulvogemarriagecelebrant.com
IG: @paulvoge_marriage_celebrant
CREDIT NAME: Kristina Wild Photographer
SARAH THOMPSON @SARAHTHOMPSON.CELEBRANT
Illuminate your little patch of ground, the people that you know, the things that you want to commemorate…
At my own wedding (more than six years ago), I wore dark jewellery and black shoes even though the bougie lady in the store (while looking at me at like I was Morticia Addams) told me it was sacrilegious. We didn’t have a cake, we didn’t have wedding favours, and I refused to carry the family horseshoe because it was creepy and ugly AF. We thought long and hard about the wine selection and the music (these were important), and we didn’t have a bridal party table because we wanted to feel like we were in the middle of a big dinner with our mates.
Writer Alan Moore once said, ‘Life is a lot more interesting if you are interested in the people and the places around you. So, illuminate your little patch of ground, the people that you know, the things that you want to commemorate. Light them up with your art, with your music, with your writing, with whatever it is you do.’
Take this advice, and transfer it to wedding planning.
We put much of the archaic symbolism stuck to weddings (like dog shit to a shoe), and made our own, and I encourage people I work with to do what feels authentic to them, to make choices that light them up.
PIC: Elana entering the ceremony with her dad and then rapturously kissing her man, Jimmy.
CREDIT NAME: Greg Lewis
DAVE LE PAGE @DAVELEPAGE_
My advice for couples wanting a unique experience is to selfishly create the event that you’d dream of attending.
Too much time and worry is spent catering to a broad range of guests, when if they know and love you enough to be celebrating YOUR day they would only expect & be thrilled to be sharing something that screams how unique you are.
PIC: Dreamy porcelain bride with blood red roses
IG: @davelepage_
WEB: davelepage.com
CREDIT NAME: Dave Le Page