Jo and Tristen met through their love of music and so it was only right that their wedding reflected this. “We are both DJs and I run a small festival annually in an inner suburban Melbourne backyard”, began the bride. “We met through our love of music and after six years together Tristen proposed to me during one of these festivals just as one of my all time favourite bands finished playing one of my favourite songs. It was fairly loud so although he says he whispered “marry me?” gently into my ear, it was more like he shouted it. Needless to say, I said yes and the planning began.”
The ceremony was held at The Tote, a pub with musical heritage. “Ever since I first began frequenting The Tote, I have wanted to get hitched there. I spent so much time from my teens until now. This pub means so much to the Melbourne music community that in 2010, when it was set to shut its doors, everyone kicked up such a fuss and had a march of about 20,000 through the streets of Melbourne to protest the reasons for the closure. When I was told about the venue’s imminent closure, I was inconsolable, not just because of it’s importance to Melbourne’s live music scene but because my future wedding plans (we were not even engaged at this stage), had been ruined. Luckily, months later, the pub was sold and bought by another live music loving combo and reopened to the great happiness of me and everyone I know.”
“Unfortunately my plans for a beer garden ceremony were thwarted by the temperamental Melbourne weather so instead we got married on the stage in the band room. Jon Von Goes was our celebrant and he kept the crowd smiling and laughing all through the ceremony which is exactly what we wanted – no stuffy church, no long winded speeches, nothing about religion and everything just how we liked it.”
Jo wore a dress with apple details that was handmade by her mother and Poetic License shoes called ‘Apple Pie’ which she changed for red Converse later in the day. “I’m slightly obsessed with apples, I love how they look and just the word”, she explained. “My festival is called Applecore, my old band’s names were She’ll Be Apples, then we changed it to Applecross. Tristen’s DJ name is DJ Applejack. So yeah, I like apples. When Tristen popped the question, I started planning slowly and began to accumulate as many apple-y type things as I could find – decorations, fabrics, candles, badges, confetti… in fact so much so that our spare room looked more like an apple orchard than anything else.”
“Both Tristen and I lived in London for some time 10 years ago (before we met) and still have great love for the city so we both wanted to give it a little nod. We hired a double decker bus as out transport. This might not be that unique for all you Brits, but it was such a novelty cruising around the streets of Collingwood and Fitzroy. We don’t see them too often here.”
Finally, and most obviously, the music played a huge part in this wedding. At the reception they had friends who pay in various bands as the entertainment. “Our mates went all out and created the wedding band to end all wedding bands. We gave them a list of 200+ songs to choose from but apart from that they kept everything a complete secret from us. They played two sets of all of our favourite songs and even Tristen and I got up to play in couple of them!”
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- Photography: Samara Clifford Photography
- Ceremony Venue: The Tote
- Reception Venue: Thornbury Bowls Club
- Bride's Dress: Custom
- Bride's Shoes: Poetic Licence ,'Apple Pie'
- Bride's Headpiece: Rebecca Young
- Hair: Allison Brown
- Make Up: Danee Sunshyne
- Cake: Polly Wants Cake
- Transport: Dee Decker
- Catering : Sausage Sizzle & Julian Wu
- Celebrant: Jon Von Goes