When two band members fall in love and decide to get married, you know it’s going to be a party. Taking inspiration from venues they’ve played at together and their favourite music festival, Mit and Jag set out to create a dreamy, retro and fun multi-day homage to their unique story at the incredible Camp Sunnystones – an architecturally significant 1970s school camp set in the bushland of regional Victoria in Australia.

A completely DIY venue, the couple created their decor from rescued rubbish and second hand items. And of course, they reformed their band The Good China to perform a very special song in lieu of a first dance.

“We prioritised having a day that really honoured our style and celebrated our story”, the couple wrote. “We reflected and challenged a lot of the traditional elements of having a wedding; we ditched the cake, we performed a first song instead of a first dance with our old band, we chose a 70s school camp so guests could enjoy themselves and stay the night and we tried to minimise waste by scavenging hard rubbish for decorations or buying secondhand.”

Other than having to deal with vendors being super busy and hard to nail down post-Covid, the only real challenge they had when planning the wedding was navigating family expectations of maintaining tradition. Mit continued, “Our family are important to us, so we compromised by having a small elopement at a beautiful little chapel three months before the big wedding with our parents, brothers and my uncle presiding. It was a very special day and another unique way that we were able to commit our love to one another. Even though we had already eloped, we still wanted to have a ceremony at our big wedding. We took this opportunity to have light-hearted vows and readings that meant something to us.”

Their biggest objective for the reception was to make people DANCE! They were torn between honouring their musician pasts by having a band, and having a DJ so there was a continuous flow of music. They decided to hire vinyl DJs, and everybody loved the music! “It was the perfect way to not only match the retro aesthetic but ensure there was enough vibe to keep the dancing going”, they said.

Mit is a crafting queen so there were were so many DIY projects in this wedding including her crown, her custom Converse hi-tops, the bathroom kits and the handmade streamer garlands (that Jag and his mother spent hours helping with). They decided to name each of the bedrooms after their favourite Melbourne venues that their band had played at, so she crafted room signs out of vinyls and flowers that she collected.

Even some floral print wallpaper that she that saved when she was clearing out her grandmother’s house when she passed away over 15 years ago was used for confetti cones and signage. Jit did all the stationery, designing everything from the business card Save the Dates with custom Mit and Jag glow in the dark guitar picks, to the tassel fringed wedding invites and the Billboard 100 event timings board.

“There are only two things we would have done differently”, Mit responded when asked if they had any regrets, “Terminating a contract with a tipi company who were deeply unprofessional and let us down at the last minute, sooner and ordering Jag’s suit earlier! He ordered a beautiful custom green suit and it turned up in cream! The vendor did a great job in organising the correct suit, but it got held up in customs and Jag had to find a whole new outfit two days before the wedding!”

“Also, as a plus size bride (size 22) I found dress shopping very frustrating. In a world that has started to embrace inclusion, I felt that the wedding industry was incredibly behind. There’s a huge opportunity out there to have more fashion forward extended sizing in samples.”

Ultimately though, despite those stresses, the wedding was exactly as they hoped it would be. As Mit concluded, “We have to say a big thank you to everyone who helped us get through the wedding planning and celebration. Having such incredible support and love, made us incredibly grateful for the people in our life. From donating their time and skills to making sure we had eaten or had a drink in our hands, we felt so utterly loved and really relished the big bubble of love our wedding day brought us.”