Real Wedding – Hilary & Michael, Tooborac, Taungurung land, VIC
For Hilary and Michael, a couple who are self-proclaimed adventurers, seekers of new experiences and throwers of curve balls, their wedding celebration was destined to fly far from the traditional path. Always open to that unique sense of wonder in life’s delights, planning their dream day involved leaning into the raw beauty of the natural surroundings, entwining elements of their artistic creations and personalities, and celebrating both their relationship and their incredible community.
The result was a vision of unbridled celebration under a lunar eclipse, filled with stunning natural aesthetics and seemingly effortless fun – an excellent coupe for a outdoor wedding in unpredictable Victorian climate. The culmination of the day, watching the sun set over long tables of their closest people on a New Years Eve, was, in Michael’s words, simply magical.
Captured in aesthetic artistry by our friend, superstar photographer Rolan John, this is a day big on heart, passion and purpose.
Scroll on to see the celebration unfold.
The meeting.
Back in 2009 when Hil grate-crashed the house party Michael and his older brother were hosting while their parents were away travelling! Hil thinks she spent the party avoiding the host for fear of being caught out as a gate-crasher, so really, there were a number of house parties before the first study dates, before the first awkward dates, before we really got to know each other.
The ‘one’.
Our first backpacking trip together was a time when we really started to understand that we were fellow adventurers. Seekers of new experiences. Throwers of curve balls. Always ready to just jump on a train to see where it goes, or to bet a little discomfort for the chance of something exciting or exhilarating.
These days, with our lives based a little tighter to the place we call home, we still make our own adventures and find ways to keep that unique sense of wonder as we wander through this life of delights.
The proposal.
Hil asked Michael when they were road-tripping through the West Macdonnell Ranges, NT.
She popped the question in the middle of Australia, in the middle of a hike, literally in the middle of a river crossing!
Planning process.
After we decided to get married (finally, after more than ten years dating), we sent out invitations and then left the country for six months! It was a trip we had postponed due to covid and we thought that we might actually have more time to plan a wedding whilst abroad compared to our normal busy working lives at home. Many called us crazy, but it was actually shockingly easy to plan a wedding from afar.
Style inspiration.
The natural setting was going to be more beautiful than anything we could ever come up with, so we wanted the event to be a celebration of place. The colours, the textures, THE ROCKS.
We loved reading about real weddings where couples tackled out-of-the-box events. We loved reading about how others twisted tradition to make the day more of a reflection of their personalities. We found it super helpful to investigate the logistics of how they pulled it off and track down the vendors who assisted them.
It’s true that taking the non-traditional route is less easy, but more fun!
The ceremony.
Hil’s siblings (all talented musicians) performed an acoustic song whilst the remainder of our families walked us down the hill, to our ceremony location. We loved the idea of our families coming together at this moment.
We had our wonderful friend Ellie marry us (how lucky are we to have a close friend as a celebrant).
Our ‘bridal party’ was a crew of 20. They had been key to our lives, to encouraging us to have a celebration and in helping us set up the mini festival that was the wedding, and we wanted to involve them in the ceremony somehow.
As part of her art practice, Hil has been working with Cyanotype printing. In advance of the wedding, she had worked with each of our friends to create a print, essentially an indigo blue banner, printed with an object that was emblematic of our relationship.
Just before our vows, we asked our bridal crew to present these banners to us, which we pinned on a line behind us as a backdrop. Michael and Hil also presented one to each other as we said our vows.
The look.
Michael wore a deep green cashmere suit with warm orange lining. The creation of the suit came from a surprise tuk tuk ride to a crafts village when we were in Jaipur, India, earlier in the year.
Hil wore a self-designed, hand-made dress by her Mum’s (both Michael’s and hers). Michael’s mum is a dressmaker and was able to work wonders after Hil had become obsessed with the hand pleating technique of Fortuny, Venice. She somehow convinced her to hand pleat 15m of silk fabric and construct the incredible hand-tailored number.
The wind on the day caused havoc in many ways, but it worked wonders in showcasing the amazing textures of the dress as it billowed and rippled.
Favourite moments.
Hil – Coming down the steep hill and looking down to where all of our family and friends were gathered by the creek where the ceremony was set. My view was filled with everyone I love in the world, and set in the most lush Australian setting. As we traversed down the hill, we were finally sheltered from the wild winds that had been battering us in the lead up. It suddenly felt calm and tranquil. The sun was beaming. Everything felt sparkly.
Michael – Watching the sun summer set over the rows of guests eating dinner, as one big family. It was a moment where I felt like the hard work of organising the day, had finally come together. The scene of loved ones happily dining on food cooked with care, celebrating our love, as the heat of the day left and the stars started to emerge, was magical.
Meaning of marriage.
We were never really set on the idea of getting married. It seemed like a terrible amount of fuss for someone who had never dreamt of the white dress, or who didn’t enjoy being the centre of attention. And we, as a couple, hadn’t felt the need for formalities to prove anything. We already felt pretty cemented together.
But a number of wonderful friends and family kept on hinting that perhaps, although afraid of the limelight, we did deserve to be celebrated. So we thought, why not have a party with 100+ people and ask them all to sacrifice their New Year’s Eve with us?!
But in this decision, we wanted to do it with purpose. With passion. And with the people that mean the most to us. To us the day was a representation of equality. Of us, as two people, coming together to form one stronger unit.
Hilary asked Michael. And Michael has asked Hilary. We recognised we are both leading and pulling each other into this life. On the day we were surrounded by our family; held up by our pyramid of people.
It was a celebration of us, Michael and Hilary. But really, a celebration of our community; our beautiful guests, who made us the people we are.
Wedding soundtrack.
We walked into the ceremony to: Brazilian Soul by The Knocks ft Sofi Tucker
Our ceremony featured: River by Leon Bridges and Deep in Love by Bonny Light Horseman.
Our midnight dance was: The Wine Song by The Cat Empire
Our wedding video track was: Can’t do without you by Caribou
Funny stories or near disasters.
The date of our Australian summer wedding was sandwiched by unpredictable weather events. Rain in December. Flash flooding. Extreme wind warnings. So we actually felt incredibly lucky that on our wedding day, it was a beautifully warm 28 degrees with a clear sky. It didn’t stop the wind from blowing away flowers or ruffling hairstyles, but the sun was everything we could have hoped for.
In the evening, the clear sky meant that the temperature dropped significantly as soon as the sun went down. But we had warned our guests, and the jackets, ski gloves, beanies and even sleeping bags, which slowly appeared throughout the evening, made for cosy dance floor attire.
Planning surprises.
Perhaps this took others by surprise more than us, but we are pretty proud of the fact that we organised a intrinsically local, DIY wedding remotely, being out of the country for the six months in the lead-up to the day.
Words of wisdom.
Together, we are a wonderful union of a creative and a planner. We so enjoyed the process of planning the day with hands-on involvement. But it was a lot.
A friend had given us the sage advice that as long as there was a celebrant, some wine, some snacks, and that we both turned up, everything else was an added bonus on top.
Last words.
There was a moment where Michael’s sister pulled us both from the dance floor after all the formalities had finished and everyone was letting loose with the DJs. She pulled us to the edge of the marquee and pointed up at what was a full, red moon; a blood moon! We had noted on our wedding invites to bring your dancing shoes and to prepare yourself to howl at the moon – not realising it would actually coincide with a full moon, let alone a lunar eclipse!
Love the wedstival vibes, non-traditional take and perfectly personal details of Hil and Michael’s celebration? Monique and Matthew also chose to do their wedding day their way, and the result is an epic affair of uplifting emotion.
HILARY & MICHAEL’S VENDORS
Ceremony & reception venue: Private – Hilary’s uncle had secured the ex-agricultural property with the intention to re-wild it with indigenous planting. In the interim, he was happy to let us host a celebration on the land.
Celebrant: Ellie Hansford
Photography: Rolan John Photo. Rolan was incredible. It felt like he was an old friend, making us feel so incredibly comfortable, whilst managing to capture the magical moments of the day. Looking at the photos he took, it felt like he managed to clone himself somehow. He didn’t miss a shot!
Videography: Keirran Voelkl. Similarly Keirran made us feel at ease behind the camera and worked his magic in bringing out the emotion of the event through film. He listened to our brief and then helped us better it with his creativity and style.
Styling & florist: By Hil and bridal crew. Hil lent on her experience in event design and immersive theater and then lent on her wonderful creative friends (many of whom work in the design industry) to style and beautify our setting.
Hair: Felicity Schill – she worked wonders and helped with disaster control when we saw the windy weather outlook.
Make-up: Dani Fischer MUA – made Hil feel natural and like the best version of herself.
The dress: By Michael’s mum
Shoes: Zeroe
Rings: Jill Hermans Jewellery
Suits: Custom made on a recent trip to Jaipur, India
Stationery / Signage: Beer labels – Natstud Art, see below ‘Brewing’
Hire: North Central Hire
Honeymoon: We did it in reverse and took a six month trip prior to the wedding!
Other: Brewing (beer & gin): Michael brewed four delicious types of beer from our small inner city terrace kitchen while our talented friend Jase distilled four types of gin for us. Each type of beer; a raspberry sour, a galaxy ale, a Belgian saison and an amber ale, and each flavour of gin, a citrus, sloe, lavender and hibiscus gin, received a punny title, witty tasting notes and a personalised graphic label by the talented Natalie as mentioned above.
