Paris and Danni’s elopement may just be the ultimate anti-wedding! Re-planned in just 48 hours thanks to ever-changing COVID restrictions, they held a private ceremony at a cottage in Meander, Tasmania with only their closet friend, a photographer and celebrant there with them. It all worked out great though as their new date, July 14th, is actually International Non-Binary People’s Day!
“We met and developed our friendship through indoor rock climbing, mostly bouldering (no ropes!)”, Danni told us. “For our wedding we were inspired by nature. We wanted to have a nice little holiday where we could be connected with each other and our environment. We basically did none of the expected things. We wanted our wedding to be an honest reflection of our authentic selves, a continuation of our relationship rather than a massive milestone.”
Both non-binary, it was important to this pair that their ceremony felt right for them. They worked with their officiant Sarah Rooks to write a ceremony and vows which was perfect. “There was no music and no decorations”, they continued. “We stood around a fireplace and had a bare minimum ceremony. We wanted the focus to be on us and the environment. I wrote my vows months in advance, keeping it informal and short to kind of match the ceremony. We’d discussed this as I was writing so I thought we were on the same page. Paris wrote their vows the night before the wedding, and the next morning when I realised they were several pages long I had a bit of a cry because that’s what I was afraid of, Paris outshining me. We reassured each other and it was okay, but we laugh about it now.”
They made their rings themselves, hand-carving them from wax and then having them cast in sterling silver. “The rings (which we just wore the whole time instead of ceremonially putting them on each other) were made by us and Paris wore theirs on their pinky because that’s where it ended up fitting best!”
After the ceremony and signing of the papers, they went up the mountains with their photographer for some moody, rainy photos. The fog was coming in so they brought a lantern with them which made for some really beautiful and unique shots.
“Our biggest expense was our photographer, Omar. We wanted someone who was capable of bringing out and capturing our authentic selves in their own unique style. Omar is amazing and we thoroughly enjoyed having him in our day. We deeply regret that we forgot to take a photo with him!”
