Aaron and Emma’s Australian wedding had a retro tropical theme. “Think a Connery-era James Bond-esque tiki bar plonked in the middle of a leafy oasis during twilight”, explained the bride. “We officially coined it as ‘Sparkly Jungle Chic’.”
“You’d be hard-pressed to find anything traditional about our wedding! The most controversial element was the bridal party, as two of my three ‘bridesmaids’ were blokes (they’re my three best friends, and frankly, a gal’s gotta do what a gal’s gotta do) and the fact that Aaron and I got to hang out before the wedding (we began the morning by doing the dishes together!), thus spitting in the general direction of superstition.”
“Our decision to have a vegetarian banquet, as catered for by the ASRC meant a lot to us, as we were grateful to have the opportunity to support asylum seekers who have the right and capacity to earn an independent living alongside us. Also there was no bouquet toss. Mainly because I was using my mum’s bouquet from her wedding in the 1970s (made of artificial flowers) but partly because I think bouquet tosses are way scary!”
There was plenty of DIY at this decor-heavy celebration. “The biggest project was creating the 30-something centrepieces, which were terrariums featuring random curiosities we collected from vintage markets and via donations from friends”, Emma said. “We included toy dinosaurs, Star Wars figures, jungle critters and (the piece de resistance) a giant, ferocious Tiger Woods, laying waste to an unsuspecting streetscape, all aflame and be-rubbled!”
“Aaron’s mum and aunty made the beautiful, floral arch and our favours were bottles of home-brewed, organic ginger beer, featuring a label made by Aaron.”
“My advice to other couples is this”, she concluded, “1: Wedding week is the worst week ever. Don’t make too many plans and make sure there’s lots of scotch in the house. 2. Grow some balls and only invite people you know and like. We don’t really have any wedding regrets, but I wonder if it would have been nicer to have had a more intimate guest list (we had 160!) 3: Try not to listen to too much advice and 4: Are you sure you want to go strapless /full-skirted? Choosing an independent designer for my wedding dress not only saved a bucket load of cash, but guaranteed I was getting a unique, one-of-a-kind dress that was custom fitted, suited me to a tee and constructed with care.”
