Rhys and Keaton’s wedding didn’t come from a lifelong dream or Pinterest board, in fact Rhys never thought she’d ever want to get married. When the couple, who met in high school, did decide to take the plunge, they knew one thing for sure – their day would not be traditional or focused on trends.

Their wedding theme was, ‘The Sun and Moon,’ a reference to their song, When the Day Met the Night by Panic! At the Disco. “The song is about the sun and moon falling in love with each other”, Rhys said, “so we thought it was perfect. We also both love a party, so theme in mind we kept the decor fun and vibrant, with lots of personal touches.”

Those personal touches included stickers of the couple drawn as classic tattoo flash, which they gave as favours, Halloween costumes on the dance floor, and a rock-paper-scissors battle at the altar to decide who had to read vows first. “I lost,” Rhys laughed. “Super lame. But the love in that space was wild. You could feel it. Keaton’s aunt officiated for us, which was really lovely because she has spent a lot of time getting to know the two of us, and has been a loving force in our relationship since the start.” They excited to Paramore, Our House.

Wanting to save money, they didn’t hire a wedding planner. Keaton took the lead on logistics and Rhys handled the aesthetics. “I thrifted nearly all our decor. I took the photos for the invites, designed all the print stuff. Our friends are all creative, so we leaned on them too. Our DJ, the flowers – people really came through for us.”

They kept the budget in check where they could, but feeding nearly 150 guests added up fast. “Food is just so expensive. You really can’t avoid it,” said Rhys. “But we don’t regret where the money went.”

When it came to wedding industry norms, they weren’t too fussed. “Some traditions we kept, others we ditched. Everybody has different taste, and if you’re spending all this money, you might as well do what you want. Weddings have no rules if you don’t care about the rules. I hated that the wedding industry has so many trends, and are SO vocal about them. Things that are ‘in’ and ‘out’ for that season. Like who cares!”

“This is also meant to be fun. The more you try to please other people, the more drama you’ll get. It’s not about your mum, or your cousin, or your brother’s friend’s uncle. It’s about you and your partner. It’s your wedding. It should be saturated in you.”

Her one piece of advice – just pick the damn bridesmaid dresses! “I let mine choose and they looked amazing, but I think I stressed them out massively. I think would have been better for all of us if I just picked them myself. People react better to a decisive and sure set of rules, as opposed to a really open ended task.”

Although Rhys never pictured herself having a wedding, by the end of the night, sweaty, emotional, surrounded by friends, they were both so glad they did. “It wasn’t perfect. Things went wrong. I didn’t care. I got to dance and cry and laugh with the love of my life. I’d do it over again in if I could.”