Cody and Liliana, who have been together since high school, wanted their wedding to be all about their family, friends and who they are. Held in May at Montsalvat Artists Colony and Botanicah, both in Melbourne, they thrifted EVERY SINGLE ITEM for their DIY reception dinner. Liliana wore a Selkie dress customised by a friend, while Cody was in a thrifted suit.

“It was personal, thrifted goodness with extra greenery and vintage charm”, Cody shared. “We took on the theme Love is Strange from the song by Mickey and Sylvia. We had our wedding bands engraved with that saying, and it was a recurring theme throughout the day. We also wanted to personalise everything we possibly could and do as much as we could ourselves.”

The ceremony was short and meaningful and the highlight of the day for them both. They opted for an unplugged ceremony so that their guests could be really present and their vows were personalised and hand written – they both sobbed the entire time.

True to their commitment to sustainability and individuality, Cody and Liliana spent months sourcing antique glassware, doilies, candelabras, and wine glasses to achieve the vision they had. Liliana explains, “We organised everything together. We collected vintage post cards and hand wrote each guest a personalised note, and we had an old phone for people to pick up and leave us a message instead of a guest book, which was then pressed onto vinyl.”

“We really saved money on catering and our crockery as as we thrifted our glassware so
we didn’t have to hire anything. Our catering was done by a place called Just Falafs in North Fitzroy, and it was really good value and also gave our guests the opportunity to share food amongst one another which was so important to us.” For favours they had custom tea towels made.

Finally, for others planning their weddings, the couple share this piece of advice: “Make the most out of the experience and use it as an opportunity to come together. Its so amazing when your day is a reflection of both of you so don’t be afraid to do your own thing, its totally possible!”