Shura Taft’s handsome face is a regular on TV screens and high-profile, glamorous events. And yet he is about as down to earth and kind and as anyone you could ever hope to meet. Shura has harnessed his skill as a professional presenter and MC and is now gifting those talents to engaged couples as a marriage celebrant delivering fresh, fun and touching marriage ceremonies. You can find out more at www.shumarriesyou.com.au.
We are thrilled to cheers a virtual whisky on ice with the charming fellow as he reflected on the best day his life – his wedding day.

My career has really been a sensational ride that has taken me to seriously great places and allowed me to work with some incredible people and brands. I have hosted kids, travel, sport, music and reality television shows, have travelled and shot ads for brands such as Expedia and Mercedes, I’ve hosted events in front of thousands of people and I’ve been truly blessed more recently to be allowed to be part of people’s special day by marrying them. I really do look forward to every single day and what adventure it might bring.

I still say to people my wedding is the best day of my life. Yes I love my son and the joy he brings, but the day he came into our lives wasn’t the best DAY of my life. The result was incredible but when else in your life do you get a room full of your absolute favourite people in the world and eat, drink and party with them to celebrate you committing to your one and only? Never, that’s when.

Our wedding was in April of 2016 and we had our ceremony at the West Beach Bathers Pavilion in St. Kilda on the water. Then our guests wandered through the Catani gardens to Circa the Prince and partied the night away with gorgeous food, open bar and a dance floor that went off. We chose to do a stand up wedding and were very lucky that at 12am when Circa closed, they let us move downstairs to Cantina bar where our entire party raged on til 3am! It couldn’t have been better.

Pre wedding I invited a close group of mates to come and get ready together at our place and then met a larger group of guys at the venue pre ceremony for a nip of whisky and a little pump up session. That was really special.

On the night, our wedding dance to Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ was pretty memorable. Added to which, one of my wife’s friends sang us a number of songs on the night, including the intro to our dance, which was incredible. Having a whisky and cigar bar also brought this awesome vibe to the balcony and had people hanging and chatting all night when they needed a break from dancing.

My wife gave the most hilarious and incredible speech which brought the house down and certainly upstaged me but I think as a whole it’s hard to break up individual moments as the night just gave so much.

Without sounding too ridiculous, there truly isn’t one thing that we would have changed. For us everything was perfect.

Rutherford Entertainment went above and beyond to make sure our wedding was a huge success. From helping us find our venue and choose the right music, they helped us to design the wedding in a way that would bring the most fun. We ended up getting a guy called Austin on saxophone and Matty Charles who is a ridiculously good rapper/MC who rocked the dance floor. Nick Rutherford was our DJ and he absolutely nailed the music and then when the night wrapped up at 12 he and Austin moved all their equipment downstairs and made a new nightclub for us til 3am. I couldn’t recommend them more highly.

Advice I have is that I think men need to be involved in their own wedding and not just expect their wife to do it or make all the decisions. It’s important the day/night really represents both of you. I think a tailored suit is a great idea as well. If you’re ever going to get one nice suit made in your life, make it this day – where you will have lifelong memories to look back on and let’s and let’s be honest you can wear that suit again a million times, it’s not a wedding dress!